I'm betting your house is in San Francisco, and that the shutters are not original to the house. I'd leave the shutters off and add interest with landscaping as @acm suggests. It's a classic S.F. stucco house just like the one I grew up in. Lucky you!

Love misecreatary’s color and garage door. You will not be able to hide the garage door so make it look nice. No shutters. A bright blue to teal or turquoise for the front door.

The house definitely had shutters originally -the ones on there now are terrible replacements and will definitely be removed and replaced with shutters of a more appropriate size. The front of the house also previously had a brick pattern in the stucco on the lower half, and was overall a much more ornate style.

Agree with the comments about the garage door -when we repaint we will go with a single color to reduce its prominence, but we won't be replacing it due to budget and also because the one there is actually in excellent shape.

Also won't be painting the door as it was only installed 3 days ago ;-)

Still leaning toward a green/gray or even gray. Sorry to those in favor of white -we just don't like it and it blends in too much with the neighboring house which looks odd.

And we're looking forward to the landscaping -but painting first.

Don't hold back! Go for color!

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More options with wood/cedar shutters

or

deco, that gray and lavender is gorgeous! love it.

I like celery's darker gray.

still not sold on the shutters, but, wood or black would make them look better. you could do a black garage door. maybe some gargoyle lights since they work w/the look of the home

diff type of door, still back, address plaque

kind of digging this lavender gray color type of door, the bright green landscaping with a dusty gray siding color. bring in the shutters, light gray trim, and instead of black, do a metallic charcoal or gray railing.

however, the shutters would need to be the same color as the garage. I don't really like the wood w/this color door.

Celery, can you play around w/this door ? maybe doing diff shutters, darker grays? or lighter grays? lavender grays and sterling silvers?

sorry, but I think the green is the wrong color for this style home. unless you do a really dark, forest green and bring out the wood in the shutters/garage.

wood doors like this:

Beth were right about black shutters. I show dark/navy

thanks celery. can you work w/that lavender one, above?

here's your blue w/the wood door. Rose, if you take anything from all of these pics, do this garage door, the address plaque (of any type w/wood or metal) and the colorful bright green landscaping.

this color landscaping. love the copper flower bed containers too. This bright green looks beautiful w/any of those darker colors (blue, black, grays, and even this dusty lavender)

some other similar style homes

Wow! So ideas are flowing! I’m super happy that I posted our little house. I have a lot to think about but will have to post an “after” picture when we’re done. We’ve been looking forward to the exterior work for a while so this will be really fun!

rose, can you show a few of the homes on either side of you? does anyone on the street have some color to their home?

your place is so cute! has a ton of potential! take a risk, it will pay off in spades w/this type of home!

@Beth & celerygirl - LOVE the ideas -thank you so much! One question: we’re bit leery of gray due to the roof shingle color. We could change shingles given it is such a small area. Think it would be worth it? They are gray with a blue/green tinge so one issue is picking a color that doesn’t fight with them. And I’m now thinking that a new garage door is a good idea after all ;-)

(oh, just saw your garage door is new? did you know you can paint it to look like wood?

you can also buy some carriage hardware to jazz it up a bit. it's pretty cheap. amazon carries quite a few)

lol. well, if you have nothing to lose, try painting it to get the faux wood look. I've seen some that look dynamite. all depends on how well you do at DIY stuff. worth a shot.

the hardware too.

as for the gray roof, in the pic it looks like a light gray, so don't be afraid of doing grays or charcoals or dark blues. you have the perfect roof color for just about any color

I love this combo w/the bright green landscaping. (but I'd do the shutters in the same lavender or a darker gray. ditto fascia trim. darker gray
the pic above is more of a periwinkle/lavender, (like this one, BM Spring Purple)

I paired it here w/Silver Streak. It's a perfect match w/your roof color.

and if you do a diff color on the fascia (roof trim) you'll be able to separate the two tones.

This gray, above, is more of a greenish gray. should work w/the roof color. Iron Ore would be used on the shutters/garage door, and the alabaster for the trim.

this just shows you diff gray tones that work w/your roof color. see how the grays all have greens or slate undertones?

and some greens that would also work

You have a pleasant looking home but seriously consider making the entire downstairs one and only one color darker than the upstairs -- no black or other contrasting color on the garage door. Very much like yoru choice of Sherman Williams Privilege Green for the entire house -- except of course the brick steps -- would not paint them at tall.

If instead of just removing the existing shutters, black will work well with your green and you could use it for the metal railing and fascia ... but not on the garage door because adding a contrasting color to the garage door makes it appear to be an angry mouth below a pair of (window) eyes ... ...

https://old.reddit.com/r/Pareidolia/ 

You might consider adding a post with light -- perhaps a solar light -- between driveway and sidewalk.

To make it easier to plant flowers of some kind, you might consider adding a really short retaining wall above the left side of the driveway to create a level planting area.

sorry, but I disagree w/suez.

Rose, you like this look?? (i'm yawning looking at it)

here's a very similar style home like OP. it's one solid color. (and almost an identical garage door painted the same color w/the white trim. black railing. same color roof.

This is the type of home where it was meant to be diff colors. this isn't a track home in suburbia. Don't know if the home is located in San Francisco, but it appears to be that type of home. Search 'San Fransisco vintage stucco homes" or SF garage front homes, and you'll see how almost all of them have 2-3 diff colors.

the one that I did find all one color looks like this

However, the terra cotta color roof, steps and flower pots really offset the one color. as does the lighter blue around the entry. Contrast. it's a good thing.

now, if you want to do all black, I could get behind this look! w/the green landscaping or some pots.

To paint the stucco and the garage door all one blah sage green or even all gray, would look depressing. at least to me. there has to be some color and contrast

rose, is this what used to be over the windows?

There were a few questions about the original look of the house before it lost some of the details. This is a very similar house nearby. Notice the arched top shutters and faux stone at the bottom of the stucco. Wish we still had the decorative stucco!

With lavender it looks girly a bit. :-))

You could always get a talented person to paint "stone" as per your pic.

( Celerygirl. Visualization,Rendering,Mockup images ) Lavender eyes and mouth. Pareidolia.

Budget permitting, consider adding faux brick or stone to the downstairs exterior.

https://www.google.com/search?q=add+faux+brick+to+exterior+wall&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAto61tqDqAhU4l3IEHXT_BB4Q_AUoAXoECAwQAw&biw=1366&bih=654

You could add brick or stone to both downstairs and upstairs and/or

You could add brick/stone only to the downstairs and add more of a shelter -- short roof overhang https://www.nashvillesmls.com/listing-realtracs-vow/2049011-1072-woodbury-falls-drive-nashville-tn-37221/

or an arbor over it -- https://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-construct-a-garage-door-arbor-or-pergola whether or not you add back your iron railing. Wood beneath your Juliet balcony could make it appear and be more substantial (if needed for a fire escape). or

You might consider building a usable deck over the garage to replace that Juliet balcony.

@ suezbell -interesting ideas for a pergola, but it doesn't feel like it matches the style of the house or neighborhood. I don't think we'd ever get a permit for a deck off the front, not enough space and would look funny on our small house

@ several commenters -the large windows don't actually function/feel like french doors, but like true windows. You have to step over a windowsill to exit onto the balcony and from inside the house they don't feel like doors at all.

Just occurred to me that some of the suggestions that seem odd to me probably have to do with the lack of a sense of scale in the picture. This is a small house that is right up against the adjacent houses - Beth H. obviously recognized it as San Francisco. From the base of the stairs to the sidewalk is ~10 feet, and the width of the house is ~25 feet.

I like suez’s idea of painting the lower half of the house all one color that is a shade darker that the top half. In soooo many of those pics it looks like a face. Or at least paint the garage door and shutters black or a very dark color.

The two colors shown five days ago by ( Beth H. : ) -- the red upstairs -- roof and red pots and red steps (but with that garage door all one color ) looks good. Rose M, that kind of two tone / two color combination would be well worth considering.

What I don't like -- really don't like -- is that two-tone emphasis on the garage door that says large angry mouth beneath two "eyes" (upstairs windows).

But if we all liked the same things, it would be a boring world.

That pink three story with white around the garage door actually looks good to me and I'm not usually a fan of pink houses. That particular two tone doesn't say angry mouth -- but then, the colors are light (not dark) and there is that third floor so the two upstairs windows don't (as much) "look" at you like eyes..

Without darker shutters, your house would also probably look really good with all white (other than roof, door, steps and railing). The much darker shutters and white window frames do "say" : "eyes" (to me, anyway). Do post after pics. Would very much like to see what you choose.

I like your color of green. It looks to me like you are in the Sunset...(urban forest planting on your sidewalk). Lots of color beginning to happen in this part of SF as these houses are bought and spiffed up. I think your color scheme will counter the grey days. Landscaping with succulents and planters will pop the color as well. Good luck...you are lucky to live here.

I like the color you chose but when I tried it on your house I thought it was too dark for a small house. Especially in SF when many days are foggy. I tried a lighter color from that strip and liked it better. Contented

Someone mentioned a darker bottom half. I admit that my eye is more drawn to the entrance when the bottom is dark. I also thought it made the house look smaller, which I did not like.

I also tried the house in Pacer White.

I understand why you need to get away from white.

I'd keep the shutters.

Does the right side of the garage opening have a corner bracket?

Hi, I'm coming late to this but want to say that making the garage a distinctive color or style really runs the risk of giving the entire front of the house the suggestion of a clown face, like a Coney Island fun house with two surprised eyes and an open-mouth entrance. So I would chose a uniform base for the entire lower half of the house, making the garage the same color.

If you can get the arched shutters like those that were there before, great -- and make the most of them and the arches over the windows with paint. If you can't get those, I would remove the shutters entirely, or *maybe* consider replacing them with wrought iron shutters like the railing -- something light and decorative so they don't look like security shutters.

Whatever you do, definitely put planters along the top of that iron railing so you can grow flowers and vines, for a dramatic display. You can even consider hanging pots from under the balcony to frame each side of the garage door.

Above all, I would do the most to make your front door pop out as light and inviting, and highlight the wrought iron arch going up the stairs.

Without knowing what kind of sun you get there it is hard to make landscape suggestions. I bet it would really repay the investment to bring in a pro to make suggestions about what will grow best and look best for your house.

It would be nice to restore some details. I love the pink house’s details and wonder if you could scour your neighborhood for ideas that could then be incorporated to restore the home a bit?

I too see two eyes and a gaping mouth (glad I’m not the only one) with the contrasting garage. I also had to search for the front door because I instantly saw the garage first.

How about a nice, refreshing color such as aqua? And you can use it in a similar vein to the pink house? Or find a color that isn’t used too often on your block. Would you like to contrast with your neighbors who both seem to have some version of white/beige?

Paint the shutters (new arched ones) a slightly deeper tone than the siding and leave the garage the same as the siding?

Definitely lose the shutters (ours were removed because of wasp nests constantly behind them) and I like the second sugg pictures of a lighter colored home - even a pale yellow if you didn’t want a cream/white

No shutters, light gray/blue. Solid garage door color in spectrum that pulls in the roof. (You garage door would probably work fine with this combo as well, I just used this template because it had no shutters)

Here's a variation with your shutters. I couldn't get the garage door to paint in all one color in this program, but would consider doing so.

My pick would be navy house including the garage door, white reveals and frame around the windows and white arched shutters, strip the windows and varnish them, as well as freshen and lighten the varnish on the front door to match. The brick would then pop and it would look fresh with plenty of bright green planting. Maybe even a rainbow dogwood or bright acacia between the driveway and path to grow as slight shade and colour contrast.

The two shades of lighter gray don't look as bad, but then, the dark gray below with lighter side stripes and light upstairs look, to me, a bit like a face with a beard.

I'm beginning to suspect that having seen the angry mouth garage beneath two eyes I my have that "face" image set in my mind.

Having seen the mock ups, my suggestion would be to consider all one color (except the metal) -- but that's with the "face" a fixed image in my mind, so maybe you should go with the pros on this and ignore that.

Hope what you choose ends up being exactly what you'd hoped. Do post after pics.

emmarene9 Just curious: Did you try the house in one color -- light and or dark -- without any shutters?

Have you thought about a carriage house garage door? I would go without shutters, and as far as color, I would decide as to what area you live in

OMG your house has a face! Please just paint a smile on the garage door

The two tone garage door is not good. And I would pain, whatever you use, to the narrow inset sides of the door to enlarge it slightly. So many good recommendations.

Am I right in thinking the mouth' everybody is mentioning is not a contrasting color on your garage door but windows? They could easily be board up and painted over, no more funny face!

I love your house pretty much as it is, apart from the two tones garage.

I think some landscaping will do marvel for it.

I would pick some plants with reddish foliage, flowers, to tie up with the brick stairs.

@suezbell, I did not try without the shutters because the homeowner wants to keep the shutters.

I think this house might need some cursive writing.

Jen Osborne -you are correct that there are windows on the garage, but I don’t think we’d want to block them up. I’d be more likely to replace the entire door, which is also unlikely as it is in excellent condition.

I think all the comments about a face are pretty funny. I don’t really see it, but painting the entire house one color would make one appear, in my opinion. We are definitely looking for a three (or more) color paint scheme, with shutters. This is also pretty typical for the neighborhood, though I know it is not to everyone’s taste.

I found another SW green with just a hint of blue. Really like it with the Charcoal Blue and Gossamer Veil.

houssaon, that looks so nice I wish you had landscaped it.

MS Paint doesn't make it easy to cut and paste curved shapes. But here is the "landscaping"!

Update -thanks to all that commented. Here’s the after shot:

Gorgeous!!!! Love the colors! Thank you for the update.