Thank you so much, Sigrid! Those are great ideas.

In these before and after photos, I wouldn't have painted the brick, but definitely would do the after colors for your paintable surfaces.

Stick to a Craftsman color palette.

Thank you so much, Elcie! Those colours look great! My wife and I really appreciate the creative inspiration that you and Sigrid have so kindly offered.

Hi again, Sigrid, Elcie and others! If you don't mind, I just wanted to also ask your thoughts about using aluminum cladding around the windows, porch posts, etc. Would it be more in keeping with the age of the house just to repair the wood and paint it? Also, do you think we should go with coloured shingles on the side and siding on the dormer, or just siding on both surfaces. Thanks for your recommendation to go with wood siding. We definitely prefer the look over vinyl, too. But is wood durable enough these days? Vinyl is always advertised as being cheaper and more durable than wood. Many thanks!

No vinyl. Wood deteriorates behind it. Fix wood and repaint with good quality exterior paint. Look into cementuous siding commonly referred to as Hardy Siding. Lasts a really long time, resists rot and insects. I would use a blue or a sage green in two different tones. Use one color for upper detail in peak in front. It isn’t in keeping with the house. So one color for stucco and trim boards will diminish the look. If you like it, keep it two tone but when repairing porch posts make them straighter. It a nice house and I am glad you are looking to repair things.

Here are some inspirational photos.

More beautiful Tudors with brick. Please don’t use vinyl.

More pretty ones.

I have cedar shingles on my house that was built in 1948. Still the original shingles. You may occasionally have to replace a few if you have places where the roofline causes the shingles to sit in snow and ice. But they are definitely durable. I live in Nova Scotia.

Painted shingles BTW

Thanks so much, Flo, RedRyder and Liasch! I really appreciate your excellent suggestions.

We're definitely leaning more towards wood siding or shingles. I just wish it wasn't so much more expensive. And I am concerned that the wood siding requires more maintenance. We're not really high maintenance people. :-) But it does look so much better. And there also seems to be some sentiment here against aluminum cladding -- although isn't that the best way to change window frame colour? Again, many thanks!

Your house design/style requires wood shingles. It's a great little Tudor. If there are low maintenance ones, that might be a happy middle....

Would composite shingles work? Anyone on this thread know much about them?