Thanks, Lori. We plan to use Romabio and I’ve heard it’s a great product.

Nelly, our windows are a metallic brown, put in by the previous owner. I have grown to love them. They’re dark but not black. We did just enlarge them, and move them closer together, but we couldn’t make them as big as I’d like (certainly not like the picture I swoon over), which is partially why I’m worried about going so light. Because of the construction junk in our front yard at the moment, I don’t have a good picture of the larger windows. To be honest, they’re still not that big.

Groveraxle, I’m super into seeing your virtual paint job, even if it’s just to show a massive mistake. Thanks! I’d like to avoid hating this paint job. I’m confident I want to paint it one color because we don’t like the contrast between the siding and the brick, and I love painted brick, but I have gobs of confusion about what color to paint it.

Groveraxle, the two and half (?) car garage looks like a smiling mouth and the windows eyes, so this photo basically looks like it’s laughing at me. Was that purposeful? Either way, I can’t see past my tears I’m laughing so hard.

It doesn’t look that great but what if the windows were a bit longer and closer together?

Following. I hope you don't paint the brick. I do think a color like SW Warm Stone would be a nice change from the really dark siding though.

Anna, I see the face, but that was not my intention. In fact, without that stupid X in the middle, it wouldn't look so bad. Here's what it looks like if you paint only the brick and leave the siding gray:

I like that ^^^

I think that last combination looks good.

This is one of those Dilemmas that's not a Dilemma since the OP' has already decided to do what some of pros are advising her against. She wants everybody's approval, not advice.

Incorrect housegal200. I want to know what color to paint my brick and siding. Just because some people don’t like painted brick and dig my house as is, doesn’t delete the dilemma. It just means there are a handful of people out there worried about me ruining my house by painting it. I think it’s actually really nice that they took the time to comment but I obviously disagree. That’s how design goes.

I also like to wear white after Labor Day.

Groveraxle, thanks for the paint jobs! I have no idea how to do that and my attempts to try virtual painting with the free online tools were laughable thanks to my inability to color in the lines. These are helpful visuals. I’m going to stare at them for awhile.

Considering the cost of repainting the house, it would be worthwhile to get a color consultant. Seeing colors on the internet is limiting. No one knows where you're located, what direction your house faces, what other houses are around, what the larger setting is like. When I saw the photo of your really nice current house that's so well integreted into its setting, I thought it was an inspiration of what you wanted, not what you planned to get rid of!

It's also really hard to wrap my mind around prioritizing a few windows over the incredible brick chimney, pillars, etc. There are tons of white houses of the same era as yours where Dilemma posters want to know what to paint their house. Commentors then show dark brown or charcoal brown navy or charoal depending on the roof, window, etc. But if you want to go in the farmhouse-y direction with the modernish house you have, go for it.

Or is this the washed brick direction you want but with bronze windows?

I think without seeing how the house looks currently it would be hard to determine. Can you show a picture including the new entry and windows.?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><md>Full disclosure, my architect suggested white and a color consultant suggested BM Cloud Cover. I was worried about making the decision and posted here to see if there were some outside the box ideas we hadn’t considered. I was not expecting to get such a strong reaction to stay in my current box! In my area/neighborhood, our house is considered dated and undesirable. I am walking away hearting my house even more though, so that’s an unexpected turn. Thanks, Houzz community.

Still going to paint it because the pros I’ve talked to advise that, so, I think I should stop torturing you nice, design-loving people with my indecision given I don’t have any useful current pictures and I’m going to refrain from inviting you to stand in my front yard. My house currently has construction trash and scaffolding out front, which is only a mild improvement over the oddly-placed, overgrown bushes in the original picture I sent.

If you care, I will come back to post the after picture. Just so you know, at that point I will no longer be in design dilemma mode and will be hoping for your approval (or your polite silence).

Good luck! There really wasn't enough visual or other information to offer the advice you were looking for.. You have an architect? A color consultant already? Go with what they say. Nobody here could really picture what you were having done--sounds much more comprehensive than you let on. The out of the box advice was to stay in the box!

And yes, it would be great if you would post a picture of the final result! Thanks for sharing your dilemma!

Anna, let me make a couple of positive remarks since this discussion has taken a turn. While I like your house the way it is, and am somewhat (though not always) averse to painting brick, I think your house will look good painted some version of white as well.

Your house has great proportion and balance and, except for the enormous shrub in front of the garage (which I removed and I hope you have too), I think your landscaping is perfect.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you strive to keep the definition of shapes formed by the roof and different planes of the brick and siding. I, for one, have not been tortured by this dilemma and really enjoyed working on your house. I do hope you will return to show us the final result. ;-)

Stain the brick gray, paint charcoal and trim out with cedar or redwood.

Decoenthusiaste, that first house is gorgeous. I’m gonna stare at that one for awhile.

I stared for awhile. Will bronze (not black) windows work with charcoal siding and gray stained brick? Can’t change our windows.

I love painted brick on houses and think a soft white will look gorgeous. Just my two cents. :-)

Yes, Anna, your bronze windows will work, but part of what makes that first house from deco work are the cedar accents. Gray/charcoal, and cedar and bronze is a winning combination.

groveraxle

Your pics are always great. Noticed you removed the large shrub from in front of the left side of the garage in the "brown" version pic.

Was wondering what you'd think of adding trim boards in a contrasting color to the wall above the garage. As is (brown version) especially without that shrub, I was thinking this house might be a reddit pareidolia ("eyes" and expressionless mouth) candidate.

I painted (Romabio limewash) the funky 1960's brick on my house and I haven't regretted it for a moment.

To end the mystery of the giant shrub - there’s more brick behind it and another bronze window. We let it get out of hand when second baby showed up. It’s much smaller now but is likely to go in its entirety soon. (But I’m not sure I’m ready to say goodbye to groveraxle’s smirking garage face.)

Part of the problem here is finding enough places to trim out in cedar. This version looks too disjointed, like the cedar was an afterthought:

Trim out around garage doors? Add cedar fence panel to right side?

If "change" is what you seek, have you considered adding a short shed roof over the garage doors beginning from just beneath the upstairs windows? or even an arbor/faux deck?

Do the porch gable and the garage doors in cedar, grover. Or skip the doors and make a wide belly band of cedar below the two upstairs windows.

Skip the cedar. It looks like an afterthought because it is!

This rendering of Grover’s gets my vote ( although I still think those funny shrubs with the tall naked “legs” are a little funky.):

Looking forward to seeing the finished project, regardless of what you choose.

I have to agree with flopsy. The cedar just doesn't work on this house. Disagree on the funky shrubs. I think they are awesome, sculptural, and downright delicious.

I agree about the fantastic sculptural shrubs!

I'm not ready to give up on the cedar yet. How did it look on the garage doors? Maybe try a bit of it up in the larger gable, matching the porch one. Or install a cedar pergola above the garage doors.

This is a fascinating experience. First, you’re nice people to take the time to consider my dilemma and actually give me thoughtful advice. Second, this is exactly what I was hoping for. You’ve pushed me out of the box I was in. When I look at my house it seems a bit confused because it’s not entirely mid-century modern but it’s not exactly anything else either. Lori A. Sawaya nailed it.

It’s interesting that so many of you see it as more mid-century modern and recommended going in that direction. Gonna think about that some more. Although, I’m not sure I see the cedar working either but it is pretty.

Ok, you got me. Keep the shrubs.

I think that made the difference, grover. Do you think trimming the window in cedar would make them too prominent? Maybe cedar flower boxes... I do like the garage door that way with the lighter gray brick.

Flower boxes, deco? On this house? No. I do think cedar garage doors would make a big difference. Of course, we've just spent thousands more of Anna's money, but what the hey; easy come, easy go.

Seriously though, Anna could start by painting the brick to get this:

Then if she wanted to add cedar down the road, she could.

Sure, grover. MCM flower boxes; big and over the top in this case! lol

There is no such thing as an MCM flower box, deco. Those are properly called MCM planter boxes. lol

...

The "smiling house" look is mainly due to the garage door which looks like a mouth. In the first few pictures, where the tall hedge is hiding the left half of the garage door, you don't get the smiling effect. I'd think twice before I removed that tall shrub.

My garage door isn’t this big. That was photoshopped in. My garage door is tiny, exactly as in the original pic. The giant shrub is hiding more brick and a window.

We need a current house photo.

Aha, so the garage area would look more like this if you trim that bush:

Hey, no more smirk!

Awww I am with the overwhelming majority who thinks your House is absolutely just right. “Out of date” in your neighborhood may be a good thing if “up-to-date” means gray and white everything there as it does here. There is a whooole world of difference between good taste and what most people think is “fresh.” My theory on house color trends is that these days they have been ruined by the fact that there are like 5 colors available in popular sidings like hardie. So all new houses are hardie gray and PVC white. So people with older houses think that is fresh and hip when it is really dreary and all there is.

I would really try to stop loving on modern farmhouses because that just isn’t what you have. I would also love to see a really bold and fun door color to show the world you mean business and this is NOT the Brady bunch house. Lime green or orange maybe. IMO your windows are great but I wouldn’t want to see them stand out much from the siding color as in the farmhouses.

While I love your brick and the contrast it intentionally provides, contrast that I think is kind of important in a split level (which IMO just never look good treated as craftsman or colonial or anything else), you don’t, so instead of a monochrome layer of paint take the good advice above and stain it to match the siding but still show texture and color variation. cedar garage doors can’t (ever) hurt but I don’t like the cedar elsewhere. Looking forward to seeing results!

Lots of potential, I love the treed backdrop especially. This house has to be my favourite before and after in Houzz photos. I think they nailed the scale of the now larger windows and the beefy white trim against dark windows, the cedar garage door and just the overall feeling, it isn’t extremely MCM, it’s nicely cleaned up. And they did paint the brick. The colors are BM Westcott Navy and Hearthstone.

You could paint it to actually look like the Brady Bunch house (which was never dark brown) https://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/The-Brady-Bunch-House-11222-Dilling-Street-North-Hollywood.jpg

Looking at this again-if Grover is tight and it is a 1 car garage, I wouldnt draw attention to it with a pricey cedar replacement, rather keep it a dark color that blends in. I really love Grover’s rendering with the dark stained brick-even though I don’t think it is necessary it solves your concern and looks great.