Painting it white will make the house look a lot more cohesive.

IMO best way to devalue the house is to paint the brick whicj BTW is not the issue the white siding is the issue . This is a nice color to work with brick for siding and please remove the shutters on that wide window they do not belong there . I love this look of all the trim the same as the siding too

As Diana Bier said white gives your house the most cohesive look. It makes your house look quite charming and inviting.

Is it just brick on that front facade, or does it wrap around the sides?

In any case I would not paint the brick grey.

It is a wrap around brick on the first floor

Shoot there wasn't a vote for NO PAINT.

I like your brick. Could you paint the shutters first and update the pillars to a larger size?

young house love

Traditional Front Porch · More Info

But keep your brick not painted like below

Ranch Home Portico - Contemporary · More Info

And then i see this and think... WOW paint could make it look even better.

Florida brick ranch · More Info

If it were just on the front, I would definitely paint it white.

If it wraps around three or four sides, I am not so sure.

This style of mixed brick is not very popular right now, but it does suit the style-era of the house, a split-level "colonial".

If I were going to spend money, I would probably do something to make the porch columns bigger and have a "beam" that ties in with the one on the carport to make that all look more cohesive. The transition between the porch and carport is awkward.

There isn't a vote for the BEST idea =NO PAINT ON BRICK, as stated by a few already. Interesting fix from Patricia, paint the siding!!! That won't devalue, will be cheaper and not ruin the dynamic value brick brings. Whoever started this fad has been 'followed' by TOO MANY!

AGree that wrap around brick is more of a quaility item and worthy of respect. The argument given in favor of white - that it will unify the two halves and make house more cohesive - can also be achieved by painting the top floor a warm mid-gray tonally similar to brick. Im guessing originally it was some form of brown or wood tone?

The brick first floor, and white clapboard second floor, just like this, was very common in the post war era, into the 1970s. There are thousands of houses in the suburbs here with that combination in ranches with clapboard gable ends, splits, true two stories. Not saying it needs to Stay that way, just that it is appropriate because it was a common original combination.

What if you painted the siding a darker color and then did white shutters?

I can see the appeal of painting the brick though. It is a busy design. Can you stain the lighter bricks to tone down the busy pattern?

Good luck! Make sure to post after photos - this will be really helpful to others!

Don't paint the brick, which adds color and texture to your house, especially since it wraps around. Recently a commentor suggested to someone who had a lot of white bricks scattered within red brick to stain some of the white bricks for a more even look.

Showing gray, but taupe, very pale sage would also work with your brick.

Color is a silver/pale sage. Here the pops of red maple shrubs echoes the red brick. S

James Hardie siding in Beverly Hills · More Info

Pale sage:

Greenwood · More Info

Some beefier wood pillars would upgrade the façade.

Leave the brick!

In each I added a box beam on the porch to mimic that of the carport and made wider columns and removed the shutters on the picture window only

I feel like it loses some presence somehow when all white, maybe because the house is not a well defined shape. The brick seems to help define the overlapping parts.

Paint the siding, and leave the brick. The brick is one of the nicest features on your house. I wouldnt want to ruin it and devalue the house in the progress.

Leave the brick alone as the contrast to the white brick is great. As noted, you can update other items such as the siding or shutters.

Courtesy of Laurel Bern Assoc.

That is correct Diana, some of the bricks look like were painted black, which creates a lot of contrastn the brick color and i think it ages the look of the house

I wouldn't say it ages the house, I think it cheapens the look of the house.

Totally agree with you. i got the house 2 years ago and since then I had the house exterior on my list of things to update. so I finally came around to do it.

Its funny how we can all see it so differently. I see it as "retro" which has a totally different and more positive meaning than "aged" or 'dated." Will this, or can it be a DIY - if so what I might do is, as someone above suggested, is think about toning down the light yellow with a masonry stain and paint the siding to match the new stain color I think the benefit to that would retain the low maintainance natural brick look, still read as variegated (ie visually interesting) just not as extreme. It would be very easy to do, less expense for materials but labor intensive. Or perhaps semi opaque stain to all brick If you paint be sure its a breathable mineral paint (aka potassium silicate) or of the type intended for masonry. No acrylic or regular house paint which is prone to retain moisture, mold issues, peeling and damage to brick.

I am not a fan of painting brick but if you are set on that, maybe a German brick schmear instead?

No! To painting the brick.
Yes! To beefing up the columns. Yes! To getting your home professionally landscaped.

Not sure exactly what "retro" means, but that brick and style of home reminds me of the 1950s/1960s Levittown tract housing built after WWII. I grew up in one of those homes and I never thought it was a particularly interesting "style." It certainly wasn't MCM even though it was built in the mid 20th Century. It was affordable housing for GIs and their familes in the suburbs. Painting that brick isn't going to "devalue" it, on the contrary it will make it look better.

ret·ro ˈre-(ˌ)trō

: relating to, reviving, or being the styles and especially the fashions of the past : fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned

Retro is intentional and appreciative. "Dated" is not. As time goes on and stuff becomes more and more rare/painted over, then there can be value and/or esthetic appreciation in the simple fact that it is of the past. Doesnt apply only to grand houses, can apply to even a lowly Levittown tract house. No its not a true MCM but still of the era and IMHO combining a bit kitschy retro + current contemporary furnishings and design elements can be a fun and visually satisfying approach to decorating and design. Actually a lot of current style is throwback to 50s-60s-70s.

That said, its not the hill Im gonna die on LOL. I get that we like what we like and obviously some old things are more well made and age better than others. I just like to present other ways of looking at things in the interest of OPs making a more informed decision. I remember being on an old house forum where people were heartsick learning they really didnt have to remove/replace original double hung windows or pink bathrooms in pristine condition. If a house that's new to you its good to live with it a while - often things that seemed major turn out not to be, and vice versa.

Keep in mind that brick is no/low maintenance. Once you paint it, you will need to keep repainting it and freshening it, just like any other painted exterior cladding. Once painted, it can never be restored completely to original.

Some folks like painted brick. Some consider it a variety of bad things. It's a personal prefrence. It can impact the future sale of your house. If you do paint, take care with what you do. It can look good-but it can also look like you got a sale on 20 gallons of paint to cover up issues with the brick. Or leave you with the super-fake or styrofoam wall look.

WHITE AND GET RID OF SHUTTERS.

I personally lean towards a German Schmear/white wash. If you hate it, you can always go super thick with the schmear or paint over it. You can go to varying levels of coverage, and to me it adds a little more dimension than your paint photos.

I'm attaching a few pics, but if you do a Google search you can see how different it can look depending on how thick it is applied. The first two pics are a before and after that I pulled off of some random Facebook post, the others are just from a Google search.

A German Schmear can last longer since it uses mortar for the effect instead of using paint or whitewash. If you want to do that, make sure your masonry pro is used to doing a German Schmear and good at it. A bad schmear is even more permanent and harder to "fix" than painting or whitewashing.

I think the German schmear looks great.

Regarding the tract housing of the 1950s/60s, at least they had solid hardwood floors and were constructed to last. However, the trim details were sorely lacking--clamshell moldings and hollow core doors. My parents purchased theirs new in 1960 and sold it in 2022. They replaced all the windows, the siding, roof, and added air conditioning. But you can't expect those items to last 60 years! The floors had been covered in wall to wall carpeting, and when the new owners pulled it up, the floors were like new. It was a "colonial" in an excellent school district, so it sold in two days. But it never would have been my choice.

I like the schmear idea, at least from the pictures shared. few houses in the neighboorhood did that and not sure if it wasnt done properly, but they seem as if the exterior was not well taken care off and needs paint.

Agree that painted brick is personal -

FWIW when painting brick will ”devalue the house” is inevitably said on this board and I think of a house up the street — 1920’s dark brick (burgandy and black, mauve mortar) - rented for years bc it would never sell - always seemed dark and dreary.

New owners moved in, painted the brick & the house is entirely different, light/bright and is always the darling of the neighborhood tour — so I don’t think it was devalued in any way. Will someone who doesnt like painted brick buy it? no, but seems like plenty of other people will

Like Beesneeds stated, if you go the German Schmear route, you definitely want someone experienced (unlike your neighbors?). Have photos of what you want the end result to look like, as there can be so much variation to it. Have fun and show us the final outcome, whatever you decide!

Don't paint the brick. Brick is probably the lowest maintenance exterior material there is. Painting it negates that extremely positive attribute.

Have any of you who are suggesting painting ever actually LIVED in a house that has painted brick? I have, so I speak from experience. It can peel and chip and needs to be re-done occasionally. Sure it can look good if done well...for a while anyway...then it won't. Function over looks, people -- function over looks.

The "devaluing" happens if wrong products are used which causes mold issues in the house or bricks to spall - i.e. actual damage caused by moisture trapped behind paint film- or if the application was an amateur job (this forum has had examples of schmearing gone terribly wrong) or if the painting was just historically inappropriate or out of context (eg a house in a historic district or somewhere with a lot of other old red brick bldgs. I live across street from a bldg which started to spall/disintegrate within 5 years of painting and 10 yrs later was a serious mess on one side - their fix was to trowel on concrete over it all. Lets see how long that lasts LOL.

Yes, if you are going to paint consider Romabio or other mineral based coatings

As someone in the process of removing the paint from the brick, I would like to advise you to use the right products, as @Delete This said. I bought a house with the brick painted in white latex, which gave it a "super-fake or styrofoam wall look," as @beesneeds called it LOL.

Long story short, after 3 years, there is bubbling and peeling in some areas, but in others, it is firmly pressed and difficult to remove... and I'm still working on it 😢.

Agree with Diana Biers …. normally I like brick on houses but I don’t like yours ( way too busy). I think painting or whatever you do to lessen it’s garish ( IMO ) appearance will improve it’s appeal & won’t ”devalue” it. If I were buying your house that's probably the first thing I would address. That & nice landscaping.