have you tried "wiping off" ALL of it? use a lighter hand in some areas, barely touched in others.

I like Melissa's idea too. Then it you're not liking it, just keep going and remove it all and start over after more planning.

I think we are just going to end up painting over this, it’s not going like I thought or wanted so rather it look totally ridiculous, just going to cover it up with some white paint.

Ashley, are you using Romabio?

what I see is forced distressing that is looking 'man made'. nothing in nature happens like that.

It's like you purposely distressed the bricks at certain spacing. That never occurs like that naturally.

you see the diff w/this one and yours?

distressing rarely happens in the middle of something. It's usually all across the middle, otherwise it's on the edges.

If you have this style, then you want it like this. see how it's random spacing, but not too far apart?

if a home is going to naturally age and patina, the whole thing will age. not just random patches.

what does your home look like? this lime wash distressing looks great on french country homes, old colonials, or otherwise vintage style homes. if you have a brick ranch, the distressing may not look right. maybe just go for solid coverage?

if you want an overall distressing on all of the bricks, you'll have to do something like this.

they didn't distress this. they just painted it on and appeared to go lighter in certain spots. can you dilute it a bit?

how about doing a full coverage ? I like the looks of this one.

@beth this is a photo of our home, NOT recent at all just a heads up. Shrubbery has changed!

What color do you think would look grand on it? What color shutters and door?

Except for the shutter colors, I really love the brick the way it looks in the pictures. Its a very pretty house.

We did DIY Romabio limewash and went with a solid application. Personal preference but you noted that you liked that photo of the masonary paint so worth noting you can custom tint the limewash and achieve a similar look. Some distress will occur naturally over time anyways.

I’ll share some pics below of our application. Many may say limewash is not appropriate for a 60’s ranch but it was inexpensive, easy to DIY and pretty much anything looks better than our original brick IMO.

I honestly don’t like the brick. We changed the shutter colors to black , door is red, roofing shingles are charcoal. It was fine as a easy fix but now I am no longer liking it at all after 4 years. Feels outdated, we stay in a small city almost rural and all the house are similar to ours and all of them have their original brick color. So I would love to stick out from the crowd...😁.

@jessup how many coats did you do? That’s what we are using. We used almost used 5 gallons diluted on just maybe less than a quarter of the house and it’s not as good looking like yours. Look just like paint! It would probably take 2 more 4 gallon bucket to do the house. Which ends up not being so cheap as I thought it would. I mortar crevices are really pushed back into the brick.

Ashley, are you using romabio? the dilution rate is .5 to 1 part water per paint. basically 50/50 or a little less water.

If you want the solid coverage, use the Romabio Masonry flat.

this shows you the diff in coverage. the drawback to the Masonry is that it can't be rinsed off. But it sounds like you want to stand out from the crowd, so go for it!

also, the Masonry comes in many colors

this one was done w/the masonry flat

color is Moderne White

and the Classico.

I'd think about doing your dormers in some cedar shake after you paint.

I don’t recall what dilution ratio we used but probably similar to what Beth noted.

We did 2 coats and that was really only because we originally went with the Riposo Beige thinking that would look better with the brown roof. I liked it until we did the siding and trim. The ”linen” color trim made the brick color look dirty so we went over it with Avorio white mixed with just a tad bit of the beige.

I agree it could get pricey to do an entire house, ours is only a front facade so it wasn’t too bad.

Unfortunately there is a extreme shortage on the masonry flat. Every local place I called said they are having supply issues from Italy where it’s shipped from

Ashley, hang in there, have you gone back over the dark bricks again? Maybe even another couple of coats since they are so dark? Might as well try before painting with the masonry flat. Maybe it’s a good sign you can’t buy that paint yet!

Just going to actually stick with the lime wash and cover the entire bricks 🧱.... wondering what color to paint the vinyl?

with white brick and a black roof it seems your options are wide open for siding color. just be careful not to go too dark since the vinyl could warp. Stick with a color that is marked as ”vinyl safe”. Dont trust the guy at the paint store that says dark blue will be fine... it wont.. and ill send you a picture of my neighbors wavy vinyl siding if you want proof 😖

Yes I have read that painting vinyl dark will warp it. What about paint ? Do I need to do paint specifically for vinyl? I called SW and they said all of our paints mostly work for vinyl siding 🙄... not sure about that

I would do a light gray.

There are vinyl safe colors by Sherwin Williams
https://www.sherwin-williams.com/painting-contractors/color/find-and-explore-colors/color-collections/vinylsafe-colors-for-vinyl-siding?gclid=Cj0KCQjw--GFBhDeARIsACH_kdbyEqzySgDHfOZobQABqPTjfS883SWT3T7-KhsVI-jle-Q6r-MVg1saAlxmEALw_wcB

Ask them to get you closest to one of these in vinyl safe colors. Oyster Bay followed by Mineral deposit are my favorite.

The lime wash looks great!

This is the front of the house... do you think grey on the vinyl will look good or should I just stick to white?

I would paint it as well.

I would remove the shutters. They are too small for the windows.

Wood shutters the right size would look nice with the limewash.

A new door color too.

Visual for you except the upper window vinyl color

How do I determine the correct shutter size? And yessss I was definitely going to go with wooden shutters.

I believe I am going to paint the vinyl white - ivory lace SW..... possibly painting the trim in a black possibly - urban bronze from SW ... touching up the black window frames as well with black.

Thoughts?

Not sure yet about the door color just yet.

Whatever you choose I would highly recommend that you paint it on a LARGE board and set it up next to the brick to be sure you like the way it looks before you commit. I went through like 20 paint samples on my siding. Loved the colors in the store, HATED them in the natural light next to my limewash color.

The shutters should each be half the size of the window like they were when shutters were used to protect the windows so when closed they cover the window.

Ivory lace is nice but not elder white, spare white or ice cube. I put several white options below for you as well.

Black trim and windows would be nice. Similar to below visual for you

In that last picture they did grey on the trim. You could use the Lazy Grey for that.

Progress at the front of the house so far 😍😍 I am in love!

Now I need to decide if

1. I am painting gutters black?
2. What color to paint the door?
3. should I take the white trim thingy down around the door? Looks old fashion to me.
   
   

I would remove the pediment over the door. It just doesnt look right on your house.

yes, remove the white 'thingy'.

paint the gutters to match the brick color

if you are doing black fascia trim, then paint the gutters black to blend.

what color did you decide on the vinyl?

I think the cedar shutters or any other wood might look nice.

wait to decide on door color after everything else is done

I agree with Beth H about bringing wood elements in that will relate to the color of the brick steps and window sills (am assuming you won’t be lime washing them.). Looking good!

Greek villa for the siding and Lazy grey for gutters and if a wood door can't happen now then Folksy Gold for the door.

And definitely the wood shutters

Leave the steps as bare brick without the limewash.

Yes dormers are getting painted.... alabaster (closest matching color to the whitewash I could find). .... we also are painting the window trimming black .... I did half of one already and it looks amazing, I went with sw black magic ... not black black almost a dark grey

Here is the color

Some spots we do have to go back over and some are still drying soo don’t judge just yet. :-) but here is a photo ... painted door trim and right side windows to see how the SW black magic looks

Looking great!

love the black.

Here's a cape exterior that you could model yours after. they did copper gutters and down spouts. I like the landscaping w/this house. notice the dormers too

man, I'm having a field day sticking in door colors, address plaques and lights!

I actually really like this pink door w/the pots, the lights and black numbers.

Dutch door in a soft black, farmhouse lights

a copper and black would also look nice w/this combo

This deep aubergine craftsman style is nice w/the rectangle black/white lighting

little more modern w/the wood door and accents.

black craftsman style door. gave you a wood address and regular black numbers/mailbox.

Soft blue dutch door.

what you do w/the porch will also make a diff in looks.

for instance, look at the railing on these

You could do the iron railing above, or a wood one with more modern wrought iron rails:

or a painted wood like below. notice how they did the front door, lights and pots. they also have the wood shutters. (And theres are wayyy too small for the windows. Flower beds are nice

painted brick w/black window trim, no shutters, black farmhouse lights, wood door, more modern numbers

Love how it’s coming along. Love dark windows. Love that repeated on gutters. Repeat black on lighting. Copper is nice but I think black is better for your home. Great job! Exciting!!😊😂

Also any extra input would be amazing. Thinking of a way to add a front porch awning.

Great improvement on the brick! Instead of an awning, which would be expensive and may interfere with your roofline, I'd widen your porch steps so they are the same width as your porch, and add a simple black iron railing. Then move to landscaping, removing all the grass between the walkway and the house to replace it with low growing shrubs.

The house looks great. So much nicer than what you first were trying to do. Congratulations on a job well done.

Lovely update.

Wow. That looks great. I would think about slightly larger side lights. The ones you have seem too small. I also agree an awning might not look great.

that looks really good. love the colors. I know when it's not so hot you can tackle some of the flower beds and shrubbery, and it will look even better!

Beautiful! Love the front door color.

thanks everyone, it means a lot 🥲. So much hard work out into this house. Even though not complete it’s getting there.

So no awning? The front of the house gets majority of the sun and I thought having a awning might help with some shade.

Yesssss we are doing the flower bed next! It’s driving me crazyyyyyyyyyyyy. We are going to do rubber mulch! And add lots of plants , which I am terrible at so definitely will need some inspiration.

I made up this for you as you continue on your front facade.

Items for entry.