I'm not keen on painting brick. Charcoal shutters and trim. Leave garage doors as is. I am for a pergola of similar hue to the shutters over the garage doors. Cut in and extend the roof pitch and material over the front door. Add an 8" wood post and a beam underneath the new roo structure. Great house that doesn't need to be overdone, IMHO. Happy Houzzing.

Black lacquer. Update the shutters to something solid. Adding a trellis over your garage door really helps to break up that large area.

HI -- Great potential here ! Search on Houzz "Modern split level house exteriors " or search these houses --" Arlington Residence " and the "Friedman " Lots of great ideas for you !

Gray and white:

Definitely darker gray. See this site. http://wherewenestle.blogspot.com/2011/12/where-oh-where-has-jennifer-been.html

Hi, I think going with a dark grey would look great on your house. Contrast it with white trimming, garage doors, and updated shutters!

Thank you so much for your help, everyone! A special thank you to edennelson for doctoring up this image. I wouldn't have believed it would look good, but seeing it has completely changed my mind. Thank you!

Neither - medium slate gray - more blue than gray like http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/montpelier
dark charcoal shutters - bm lead gray
interesting tonal front door - newburg green - a blue green that looks just a bit darker than montpelier

For eaves, fascia, trim at entry and garage doors, a paler version of the blue-gray - bm pikes peak gray
Leave window sashes white / if they have trim above garage

Since you may be contemplating new shutters, what about single wider one piece shutters that would be on the "inside" - could be modern, could be historic w shutter frogs since you are headed that way by losing the canopy. The upper elevation would be more balanced and the corners won't visually drop away anymore . .

What would you propose, sstarr? (I'm laughing, btw. So true about the face.)

I'll look at it. You could just go with it and apply mascara, or....

HI -- Funny and so true , there are actually two faces - the big one on the garage section and a rather stunned looking face on the front door , that kind of reminds me of my brother in law , te- he !

Lol...missed the one on the door!

I agree with eden's design. Only thing I would change is to wrap the trellis around to the front door. The trellis is pretty and functional at the same time.the front of the home has a huge open space that seems out of place. Filling in with the trellis is brilliant. The darker shutters and front door would "keep it all together".

Not quite yours but as inspiration [houzz=]
Here's a better balance wrap
[houzz=]

Go with eddennelson, color over white only lasts a few years anyway. And white outside is very forgiving.

am I the only one here who loves the idea of a sky-blue door? I'd paint mine if it wasn't faux wood with glass.

It's not currently white. It's actually like a very, very light lime color. It's not horrible but the previous homeowner did some "touch up" painting by the garage doors in three wrong colors so now it all needs to be painted. We thought gray but it seems like folks really like white. So hard to decide!!

Where do you live? I mentioned this elsewhere on houzz. Note that all the photos of grey houses appear to have been taken during warm weather months. But if you are in the midwest or northeast, think about how they would look with a foot of dirty snow on the ground.

If you live somewhere with long snowy winters, IMHO a grey house would be depressing (I grew up in the Chicago area, so I don't have to work too hard to picture this.) If you do go grey, a dark grey would probably work better than light grey.

I do like the slate blue grey, or better yet a grey/blue. The point is, if the weather will be grey for months at a time, you need some color.

And you need bigger exterior lights by the garage. The current ones are too small for the scale of the house.

Excellent point, Rio Brewster! I hadn't even thought of that but I live in Maryland. Dirty snow will be a problem for sure. What do you all think about this color combo of dark gray, white and black lacquer?

Very elegant. Personally I'd like it better with a red (or sky blue) door.

I grew up in a charcoal house in Saskatchewan, Canada and it was lovely. It stood out against the snow. That house is currently painted light yellow and has lost its personality. I agree that the lights should be beefed up, dark grey with lighter grey (not blue) trim, red or sky blue door (or shiny black). The garage doors should be shiny black as well if you do this colour scheme. Trim could be black or white. I am seeing quite a lot of black trim these days and it almost always looks smart. For a change and a warmup, how about a cedar pergola at the door where you are taking out the "see-through porch"? Have fun!

I would also remove the shutters and make the house numbers larger.