Possibly, but it would require extensive work and lots of $$....potentially something like this, but it would mean a massive redo...

Thank you both for your comments! If not craftsman, what updates would you suggest?

Does the house need anything functionally?

If it needs a new roof, I would do a darker grey roof than what's on there now.

This is the sort of house that shutters would be appropriate if they were the correct width.

I don't think the house needs "updating" really, it looks like a good example of the style it is.

I would probably redo the landscaping. Straight sidewalk to the street, get rid of the brick mailbox.

No craftsman, but you could get a few elements like diff porch posts and some gable truss accents. new colors, and for sure, tackle that landscaping. freshening the home only goes so far. The landscaping could really take that house to the next level.

Diff front door.

diff trim color

paint out the bay window a diff color.

replace your columns w/something more squared. these have a craftsman look to them.

you could whitewash the brick (Romabio) if you like.

very simple redo (ignore the shutters) See the porch posts? landscaping?

these would be a heavier brick liming w/Romabio Masonry

If you want to spend a bit more, how about this look? new windows, Gable accent/siding, some stone work around the foundation, painted brick, dark gutters, new door

Keeping the brick and doing a darker accent color.

Here's your house without trying to turn it into something else with a darker roof, a straight symmetrical front walk, cleaned up landscaping and an attempt to paint out those gable vents in a color that coordinates with the brick to complete the triangle of the gable (getting a good color may not be easy

diff front door, light and address

Normally, I'd tell you to paint all the trim black or charcoal, but because you have a light gray roof, that kills that idea. (Unless you're willing to change the roof color, in which case, go for it!)

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If the roof stays, then take a look at medium green-blues.

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I agree with everything Pal has said.

It’s a beautiful home as is. Lovely brick. I hope you can embrace the nice style of it. :)

Landscaping updates would make a big difference. I’m not a fan of the wall blocks as edging and suggest something more refined and neat.

The idea HGTV, Instagram, etc pushes of every home older than 2019 needing to be updated into a big white box with modern elements reminds me of how so many people get plastic surgery to look like each other (and look like celebrities). We’re becoming quite the homogenized society in many ways.

Change the color of the trim and front door, then see if that makes you happy. If not, consider using Romabio to change the brick to off white. Your house has interesting lines.

Your house is quite lovely, but if you’re unhappy, you need to make a change. Start small and simple, and definitely work on the landscaping.

I think that most of the examples of Romabio posted above are….horrible. Every time I see some of these photos of the “After”, I cringe. Seriously? Many of the Before’s are FAR better, in my option. And that is all that it is. MY opinion. But I suggest that you think long and hard about altering your beautiful home by obscuring its brick in this fashion.

Hard (and expensive) to pull off craftsman but painting the trim will help. Also square off the columns.

Well one of the issues is, and not to criticize the OP or anyone who is advocating changes but it's generally very difficult to change one pretty specific architectural style to another specific architectural style. And liking another style doesn't really mean that you can change one to another.

If I could live in anything, I would live in a Federal or Greek Revival house. I have lived in houses of that period but only apartments. What I could afford is a 1965 vaguely brutalist with "moderne" elements (it's just as weird as it sounds). I could spend $200,000 on the front and it still wouldn't look like an early 19th c. house.

The potential problem is that you could spend a lot of money putting some sort of trendy/topical surfaces on it, and it might look great right now, because it's what everybody is doing right now. But it's still the shape of a 2000 vaguely neoclassical house underneath and eventually that will "show" again. There are lots of buildings here from the 19th and early 20th c. that had cosmetics done to them in the 1940s -70s that in the 1990s and 2000s people spent a lot of money tearing back off and restoring because they realize it doesn't really look right. They looked like 18xx with 1960 tacked on. In 1960 it probably looked okay for a while. In 1990 it wasn't playing well at all.

Your house is stunningly beautiful the way it is! The only thing I would do is remove the brick pillar as you come up the walkway. Also a different sidewalk would be nice too

Pal, I wish your last post could be pinned to stay at the top of every board here. Brilliant.

I call them Frankenhouses.

This house could be nicely updated with new trim colors and shutters are an option, refreshing it without trying to change it. There is nothing the matter with the way it looks at all except as a 20-30 year old style it's too old to be in fashion and too new to be appreciated as anything vintage or historical so it's at a vulnerable age. And architecture is not really like a haircut or a pair of shoes which can come and go in a season, but that's how people want to treat it sometimes.

Hopefully, someday, traditional styles won’t be treated like some sort of disease that needs to be eradicated.

(OP, I’m not referring to you at all. Just thinking of other threads and in general.)

I have some sort of bias really, because probably as a combination of my age, and where I grew up--mostly probably where I grew up--remodeling to change what your house looked like on the exterior was unheard of. People would replace things that were worn out, reside replace window, take down a failing 75 year old porch or whatever, but people did not change they way their houses looked for cosmetic purposes. If your house was built in 1920, it still looked like that in 1980. Things never got turned into something else just for the sake of fashion or trends. The insides may have been a different story--although actually most of my parents' friends houses looked the same inside for decades at a time--but especially anything built after the Victorian era looks pretty much like it did as built. Victorians often got simplified on the exterior because of deterioration, but that's a little different.

It’s lovely as is. I’d remove the brick mailbox; it detracts from the house. Walkway is fine to my eye. Tweak the landscaping. If you really want a craftsman, I’d consider moving rather than trying to contort yours into something it’s not meant to be.