I like the soft black. I’m just not sure if the trim should blend in a little more. Not be quite as dark.

It’s personal but I don’t love how prominent all those corbels are - I’d go creamy with the trim

fwiw our house had white windows and dark trim and the windows looked really anemic, when we painted the trim & windows out in a creamy white (sw shoji white) they looked so much chunkier and substantial

boxing out the metal columns will also be an easy task with a high visual ROI

Do you have a picture of your house you would want to share?

lisedv, I like your suggestions. Did you do rendering of changes on the garage side (1st picture) which seems in need of intense correction?

Yes. The garage will be removed. That is our main entrance. It definitely needs to be updated

LOve the new look with those columns @lisedv did in the rendering. The soft black I think is the only way to go I do not like the idea of 2 colors for trim like the corbels lighter. That front and back porche need major work

What about doing all the trim in a Benjamin Moore Kendall charcoal?

@Char Martin, BM's Kendall Charcoal would certainly work on your house. If I have time, I'll look at the entrance next to the garage. You say you're removing the garage completely? by main entrance I'm presuming you mean it's the one you and your family use the most but the the other entrance is still the main entrance for your guests.

The corbels are a lovely feature on your home. I think if they were painted out to a softer colour they would look even better.

It's a lovely house. I'm not sure the darker color works well with that brick. I might go with a warmer brown or a warm sage. SW Sage Greenlight or Renwick Golden Oak. You need to paint your doors. That stark white doesn't go with the brick or the trim. I think if you did your trim in a warm sage, a darker color of the same would look good for the doors.

Lisedv. The garage will be completely removed. We are putting a larger garden shed somewhere instead. The entrance that we will used will be used by guests as well. It is the one closest to the driveway.

Here are my suggestions for your side entrance. The garage has been removed. I'm showing only 1 post that's been widened, new step to the porch, a new "front" door, a painted Adirondack chair, and an L-shape screen to hide your garbage bins. The side door is painted to blend in to the bricks.

I love your ideas. I feel like the trim is darker than I want though

Here's the house with BM's Kendall Charcoal. It's a little softer. However, what ever colour you choose, I strongly suggest you test the colour before painting anything. Do not rely on a computer colour image that projects an idea but not necessarily a true colour.

So true. Would you suggest to make all the trim and accents one colour?

You bought an Italianate house. Congratulations! See suggestions for paint color shared:

https://www.pinterest.com/carrieu3015/italianate-color-ideas/

Obviously, over the years, have been added or replaced. I would not try to restore the house with them. It will be money poorly spent. Make them gone.

This houzz photo shows a dark green for trim.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/yellow-brick-italianate-victorian-exterior-new-york-phvw-vp~36784299

That’s interesting!

If I choose to use Kendall Charcoal as my trim colour what should I use for the wall on my front porch and my doors?

On my mockup , I'm showing the same colour as the trim for the doors. A dark green could also be nice for the doors if you want it a different colour. It's very hard to tell a precise colour for the siding from such a small picture, I'm showing a greige. As I said before get large samples of the colours to look at with your house (either Samplize or you can get a sample size paint jar and paint a large foam core - board and small rollers available at dollar stores).

Just since nobody else is saying it, I also feel like a lighter shade would be nicer than the charcoal, although otherwise lisedv's mockups are great. Especially adding more of that color with the new columns, I'd want a bit browner and a couple shades lighter.

What colour would you suggest?

There seems to be some gray in the bricks, am I wrong? perhaps a close-up picture would help.

I would say this is quite accurate. We have a siding trimmer who needs to know tomorrow what colour trim I want him to put around the doors. So I am feeling the crunch. I’m feeling like maybe I should go a mid tone gray with a hint of green. What do you think? Just look at the colour of trim and doors

I have the gentek trim deck of samples. I wonder if maybe the Hudson slate would look good

I didn't have time to do the detail of the doors but all trim is done in Hudson Slate.

My personal take on this is this colour doesn't have the punch/contrast the darker colour has.

The true colour is much more of a warm gray. The mock up looks like a cool gray thanks for all your help!

The brickwork to the right of the door in the first picture looks mismatched. It looks as if a window was removed and mismatched bricks were used to fill in the space. It would be nice to somehow fix that wall so that the mismatch does not show. Add back the window? Put some sort of siding over the brick on the entire wall? The renderings by lisedev above are very nice but in her rendering the bricks are all uniform so your house will not end up looking like that unless the brickwork is fixed. It's not clear to me what the front of the house looks like -- the one in the first photo or the one in the second photo. Are you wanting to update both entrances?

@Char Martin

As mentioned, colours look different from one compute screen to another. That's why it's so important to test the colours prior to starting any paint job.

Given your brick color you might find inspiration in looking at English images of Cotswold stone and the trim color used there…. https://au.pinterest.com/pin/501940320977587108/

Given your brick color you might find inspiration in looking at English images of Cotswold stone and the trim color used there….

Here's the house in BM's Revere Pewter

How would it look to do a gentek sable colour. It is a little darker than Hudson slate and is a gray but it has a warmer tone to it. It has a green undertone.

Just looked up Gentek colours but didn't find one called Sable.

The lrv for sable is 11.49. Hudson slate was 17.94. So sable is quite a bit darker. It is warmer than Hudson slate as well and leans toward a green. This picture is definitely lighter than the sample.

As you must now realize, just your photo appears lighter than the sample you are holding. So imagine this colour on everyone's computer or phone, it will look a different shade on each and every one of them. That's why I'm saying it's so important to test a colour prior to starting a painting project.

The trimmer was here and put some sable gentek trim on the doors. I think the colour will look good!

Looks nice!

Thank you! I think so too! Would you have time to show the front of the house as well?

Not now, maybe later.