So I am totally confused is this a new build that you are spending $$$$$$$ for brick so youcan paint it ?????? What brick ? I see little trim so same as the hardie board color

I prefer the top mock up, where the trim seems chunkier

Painting brick many times turns a low maintenance material into a high maintenance material.

The two photos remind me of the game where you have to look at two pictures and identify the ten items that are different. Except here, they look almost 99% the same. I guess it's the skinny trim being either black or white and the addition of the dentil-looking trim. Either way, neither makes a big difference in the look of the home. Which is very nice looking.

Painted Brick - I guess it is a Nashville/Brentwood - Middle thing to do on new construction. A lot of new built brick homes are painted. Google it - a trend in Atlanta, Nashville, North Carolina...

You CANNOT USE ACRYLIC EXTERIOR PAINT ON BRICK unless you want the brick to crumble. Limewash or Masonry Paint which allows the brick to breathe is the only product that can be used successfully.

Diana, yes, yes - you're right! I actually do like the bronze, but "spot the difference" to me is mainly the dormer at the top. To me it makes it feel smaller.

What is the durability of black paint in a warm climate? How long before it looks gray and dingy?

My neighbor has a roof gable that faces south and was painted dark brown. It quickly faded. After repainting it every year for 3 years, they finally replaced the siding in that area and painted it the same beige as the house.

@BeverlyFLADeziner - yes, of course, masonry paint on the brick.

"a trend in Atlanta, Nashville, North Carolina..."

It is something that I would not reccommend anywhere.

IMO, the white makes the gables and dormer stand out better against the dark roof and also makes them feel more in proportion to house.

@Mark Bischak, Architect yes, you're probably right about this... but at this point, It's too late for me to reconsider. We'll just make sure it has good masonry paint and hope it fares well. I'm reading that a mineral paint lasts 20-30 years... I'll most likely

be dead by then.

Fwiw i live in a historic neighborhood and there are tons of painted brick houses, if the right paint is used they don’t seem to be painted any more often than the other homes

“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, 'See! This our fathers did for us.”

― John Ruskin

Would that more builders and homeowners would heed Ruskin's advice.

What brick? I don't see any brick in the OP's first post pics -- am I blind or something?

@porkchop_z5b_MI It's almost all brick, the photo is an AI rendering, a "Mock Up" Under the porch is hardie, the rest is brick

^^ That brick looks terrific. Why would you muck it up with PAINT?!? Not only would it look "cheaper" IMO, you're setting yourself up for maintenance issues down the line (I had a painted brick house, I speak from experience)

JUST SAY NO!!

These are NOT nice-looking bricks at all. These are actually paint-grade extruded bricks. They were chosen specifically to be painted/coated to achieve a specific monolithic look

They look nice on my monitor {shrug}.

@porkchop_z5b_MI when I pulled up to the house.. I honestly thought for a moment - I'll keep the brick.. but once I saw them, I could tell they weren't "normal" house bricks