Thanks for your quick reply. It looks very nice. I am remodeling a ranch house with red bricks surrounding the lower part of the house and was wondering if to color them in the same color as the wood above or leave them in their natural colors.

Thank you. Generally, I would suggest creating some color contrast between different materials, as they'll usually appear different because of the different textures they have - and you don't want them to look like you tried to get them the same and missed. In our case, anything that wasn't brick or natural wood got painted like trim. However, each home has its unique set of conditions and materials to consider - it's really hard to say what would be best for you. I wish you luck and I hope your home turns out beautifully.

Thanks again.
Appreciate your honest and knowledgable reply :)

What paint and how is it applied. Do you use primer or loxon like from sherwin williams.

Hi. In this case, the brick had been painted in a previous renovation that didn't need extensive pre-painting prep work - we really just put another coat of paint on it. However, when painting brick that has not been painted before, I would definitely use a good primer first. Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore both have good products for this application (as would most quality paint companies). I would consult with one of the store associates at a Sherwin Williams shop (or Benjamin Moore or whatever your preferred paint is) near you to see what performs best in your area.

what type of wood is used on the exterior decks? We used mahogany and had to re-do it 10 years later

Thanks for updates...we are going with the Boral Textured Painters Brick King. They are made to be painted or coated with their ReCote material. the brick have nice divots and crevices cast in the brick. When painted it give a real nice affect rather than just plain flat square brick look which can be sort of "institutional" looking if not careful. Will be using the SW LOXON primer first...then good SW exterior satin finish white paint.

We also investigated a fantastic material from Roma....its a paint that has ground up stone in it and is used to paint the White House and Castles in Europe...its called a "100 year" paint. It becomes part of the stone or Masonry you paint it on. Not using it as they are not close by...but good choice for someone more adventurous.

@Battene - The exterior decks and window-frame woodwork is Cumaru - a tropical hardwood similar to Ipe but more honey-colored. It's very hard, dense and naturally bug-resistant and should last a long time with only occasional maintenance. I'm sorry to hear that your deck had to be redone. Mahogany, while beautiful when new, is really a very soft, porous wood - at least the species that are attainable in large quantities.

@Bricko66 - thanks for the update. Sounds like you picked a great solution. The ground-stone paint you describe sounds a lot like a lime wash - this has been used for centuries to create a beautiful finish on masonry.

Yes, they carry the lime wash....but the other stuff is something called Silossanic coatings. Here is their product listing page with info. http://romabio.com/products/

Thanks!

Fantastic design.

Thank you. We're really happy with how it turned out.