Can you post a picture of the house? I bet you'll get lots of responses if you do.

Anne, thanks for the reply. I'll try to post the picture again.

A second view.

Here's a third. Budget constraints probably mean we're stuck with the sandstone, though we are considering adding a light color grout to reduce the contrast and replacing the door.

Keep the grout color and the sandstone. Paint house & garage doors a light gray (or maybe a light medium, hard to say from where I'm sitting ;-) and the trim a dark gray and the door red. Wall could be beautiful. Trim stuff trailing down and stuff in front have the wall bare so it shows. Read up on landscaping plants that were used with MCM and fill in areas with low ground covers etc. Keep the plants that are there, just fill in. By front door have smooth river stone as mulch, the one planter only needs the stone leave without plantings. The other side needs weed barrier cloth and the smooth stone. Clean up the drive way curb area, too..no weeds etc. if everything is kept "perfect" you'll hardly notice the driveway. We used to have an asphalt drive and we had it re-surfaced periodically, maybe you could look into that.

Oh baby, that was some great advice! I would lighten the grout on the sandstone to give it an update. Agree with the light to medium gray exterior shade--a dark gray would make the house receed too much. It's a pretty house in a fabulous style, so show it off! A gray with an olive undertone (just a bit) would be lovely. Remember that the color on the paint chip will look darker than on exterior walls, so it will look lighter than you think once it's on there. For the door, I'm thinking a blue that makes your heart sing. It could have a turquoise vibe or cobalt or a greeny blue--just make it strong and go a little lighter than you want because the door is in shadow so it needs to show up. Oh! I can't wait to see what you do! Please post pix when you're done.

J22b and Anne, thanks so much for your comments!!!

We've been going in circles on this and we can't afford to "paint a mistake." So, the consensus is a warm gray with a darker gray trim? Black for the balcony railing? Perhaps we'll paint first, then evaluate whether the sandstone grout needs some attention.

Do you have any thoughts on color for the area under the eaves? They're very deep and near the front door, board and batten is used on the overhang. Should they be creamy to reflect light into the house, or match the body to melt away?

We have to replace the garage door and the existing front door is a problem because somewhere over the last half century, that sandstone veneer was added so that it actually overlaps the sidelights. One glass panel is broken and the only way to get to it is to dismantle the entire door and frame, or remove the sandstone. We were considering trying to go with a smaller door-- single light, obscure glass (lose the sidelights), perhaps dark wood stain and then getting a faux wood garage door (with long, horizontal lines in similar color-- Raynor's Accufinish Flush Beadline in cherry?) to tie them together. My thought is to try to simplify the number of elements we've got going. I just can't figure out -- for the garage door-- if we try to echo the long, horizontal lines of the house, or nod to the strong vertical of the board and batten. Thanks for all your help.

Here's a mid-mod sandstone feature that looks like the grout has been lightened. Very nice http://finelivingblog.seattledreamhomes.com/2010/01/mid-century-modern-in-seattle.html

I've changed my mind (is that permitted?). I now think a medium gray house with white trim is the way to go (see more below). Many people replace windows & frames when they renovate an older home. I think the window frame color choices are white or black. Even if you're not replacing the windows now, take into consideration what window frame color you'd choose at a later time. I'd choose white window frames. Maybe medium gray for the balcony railing, too. Disclaimer: I'm not that familiar with mid-mod (love 'em though).Can you drive around your neighborhood and get ideas from other mid-mod renovations? If the under eaves is painted white it will be good for brightening the interior of your house, especially since you'll have less light if you remove the side panels.
Some mid-mod renovators are total purists. But, even if you removed the entire door frame to replace the glass, the glass could break again at any time and you'd have to remove it all again. I would just bite the bullet now and take out the side windows. They add light to the interior space and are period-charming, though, but I would be in continual fear of a side glass on either side cracking again. There are companies that specialize in "authentic reproduction" mid-mod doors so you should have no trouble choosing a door that pleases you. I 'd prefer a painted front door in a pop accent to a stained door. I would have the garage doors matching the medium gray house. I do not like gdoors to stick out as a design element. I think a door should remain a functional element and not decorative element.
This mid-mod has a medium gray house body and white trim, I think this combination is excellent. You could email this woman and ask what paint color she used if you're interested. Note: she has white window frames. http://www.cr

j222b, thanks again for being so generous with your time! The picture of the chimney sandstone with lighter grout is very helpful! (The last link with white trim did not come through, could you try again?)

Our neighborhood is mostly adobe, Spanish revival and bungalows. Not too much to see for mid-modern. We're not purists. I like Prairie style homes with a Japanese influence. I thought dark on dark might look stylish with the long lines (model attached). I was steering away from white trim in part because we have so much sandstone creating an accent already.

We plan to de-accent the fascia board at the bottom of the balcony rail by painting it to match the body (as is, it just cuts the place in half). The garage area suffers because while the interior is oversized, the door is standard, and metaphorically, it looks like an underbite---too small for the house above it! Do you think flush panel style painted to match the body will be enough to balance this?

Thanks for your earlier comments about the landscape; we need to do some serious regrading to correct the driveway, but that's not in our budget for now. On windows, we're thinking aluminum or some color-cladded aluminum... somewhere down the road.

Here's link, thanks for telling me it was truncated http://www.crestviewdoors.com/gallery/case-studies/cori-kyles-unbelievable-midcentury-renovation.html

I love mission-prairie style, too. I love the 2 tone brown house! Your roof, although it doesn't show is light gray, though. Well, this is not getting my work done! You have a lot of decisions to make, but you have many good, thoughtful ideas, and I'm sure you'll come up with just the right design for you and your house.

Love all these ideas! We have are building a house on a setting much like yours, and I have chosen Sherwin Williams "samovar silver" as my field color.

Thanks for the suggestion. J222b and Anne, if you're still reading, I am attaching a picture of from Remodelista. Think I could get away with something like this? Taupe-gray-brown with black trim and a golden wood (sort of like the sandstone) garage door?

Hi - here goes with my 2 cents worth ---- house color- match to the grout of the sandstone or a shade or two darker - then the sandstone will look like it belongs -then- the trim and under eaves - make it a nice crisp white. Now your accent color can be a charcoal black color. Make the garage door the same color as the body of the house and don't outline it with the trim color. Now the front door - I would put in a larger door with textured glass insurt and fill in around to match door and this should be black in a high satin finish. Or if budget allows a rich Mahogany door and then when you replace the windows they can be Mahogany trimed. The railing can be painted black or if you replace it go with the tempered glass panels with the chrome frames or mahogany wood frames.Chrome hardware on the front door. Add some nice white round globe lighting and work on the landscaping when money allows. I would keep that simple . The facia trim can be white but I think it will look better in the charcoal black. To calm your fears of making a color mistake you can make copies of a picture of your house and start coloring in ideas. Some paint stores have computer design help and you can see your choices . Also a masonary person can trim the sandstone edges. I hope some of this helps you - Good Luck !

I have a suggestion to darken the raised bed's color also, so it's grounded.
I like the suggestion for lightening the grout but to a mid-tone, as in the photo J222b provided it's not too light. Picking that tone from the sandstone and even using it for the house field color with a little darker trim (a la your example brown house) would get closer to that zen feeling. Maybe a little cooler color than warm would help that, too. The photos of the entry way showed a lot of pattern going on and the sample of mid tone grout from J222b would help tone all that contrast down - because it's a bit busy with that and the two patterns of the overhang and the windows (and the stone) and the ft door screen, panels, - a lot going on! A minimal zen look would preclude a big punch of color on the door, just another tone of your color scheme, I'm thinkin'. You can toss this all out id you like, but it was fun for me!

I don't see the remodelista link?

Wow! Thanks everyone for all the thoughtful comments. Let me try again to attach the Remodelista image. It's a before and after of a remodel by Klopf Architecture.

Ok, that did not work.

I wouldn't vote for it. The under part of the overhang eaves is the same wood as the gar-door in this photo. If only the gar--door has the wood feature (as would be yours), then the gar-door becomes the sole focal point. I think even the way this photo house is, the gardoor is too prominent. I would have preferred the gardoor in the in taupe-gray-brown and the under eaves in the taup-gry-brn or black (I'd have to think about which)...anyway I like the focal pint to be the front door. How about if you got the wood gardoors you want and they stained the upper trim the same as the gardoors and the trim below the balcony was stained like the gardoors, too and the door was painted orange and maybe the sandstone was taken out and a stained wood feature was added there. I might vote for that ....BTW we had a brown stained house once, used Cabot's stain. The painters hated us (creosote smell or something) but that was a beautiful and long lasting stain.

I love that before and after, but be to notice that the pics are taken in different lighting. The new taupe/gray/brown should have a bit of gold in it for warmth, just takes a smidge. Black trim is great. I agree that doing anything that makes a garage a focal point should be avoided. I think the grout should be light enough to disappear, so the stone becomes the feature, but in a quieter way. The grout doesn't need to frame the stone, just hold it together. Cannot wait to see the after pics!

Anne, J22b, Pebn, Lefty47 & Rosehear: thank you all for your comments. I am very grateful and have lots to think about. I'm certain a fresh coat of paint is going to be a huge improvement no matter what we choose--- short of pepto bismol pink---and if we can figure out a budget-friendly way to reduce the number of patterns near the front door, I'll feel like a lottery winner! (I daydream about knowing how to use jackhammers.) I still have a crush on that Klopf house-- though this morning I realize that it is very dramatic and we are not. I'd like our house to be serene and melt into the landscape, and not look so much like a "tan blob" which is how I would describe it now. "Reveal" tentatively scheduled for spring. Thanks again. If you wake in the night with more insights, I want to know!

Hi - First of all I have to say - I love your house - I'm a big MCM fan ( thats my time ) If you google MCM houses there are lots of ideas to go by and look at Seattlemodern.com - they show houses for sale but you see lots of MCM examples.Youtube can help also for MCM homes. There is also some good landscaping ideas. If the sandstone bugs you that much then maybe removing it is the place to start the remodel. Then look at the nice stacked ledge stone vaneers they have now . That would look awsome. Start a binder of ideas and colors - photos etc. - that will help keep your plans on track and budget too. I would love to see what you do .

Lefty47, thanks for the link. That gutted Airstream is so tempting! I'd furnish it with dog beds, wifi, and a coffeemaker.