Hi,

First off, I don't think the house looks as bad as you are saying it does! It could be the photos - maybe it looks worse in "real life" but not so bad here.

I still can't figure out, though, why you keep saying you have to get white siding, since you seem to hate the white so much.

Painting is really not that difficult, IMO, and I think you have to decide what is worse - the brick the way it is, or the idea of having to paint it yourself. :) Again, I can't tell from the photos, but the paint looks to be in pretty good shape so it shouldn't be too hard to repaint.

If you absolutely positively cannot or do not want to paint the brick, and want to leave it white, perhaps you can go with a very soft siding color - a very pale yellow, or an ivory, and then maybe do white shutters to tie it together.

I think it would be no problem to match the paint of the brick to the siding, whatever the color. Or again, you can do something complementary, but if you are thinking resale soon, you may want to keep it more neutral.

If you do decide to paint along with the new siding, a nice beige can be beautiful. I know it sounds boring, but I went with a beige-color siding (I think the official name was "clay" - which sounds awful, lol!) and I have deep green shutters. Even though I really wanted a soft yellow (couldn't find just the right shade in siding, so I went with the beige) I have to admit sometimes I just look at my house and think how nice the color looks.

And almost any color blooms look good against it - pinks, reds, purples, oranges... And of course we all know how important it is to match our house to our gardens! :)

Dee

Hello again,

I don't have time to post a lot today but wanted to let you know I hadn't forgotten about your post. I have to say that I think you have a great house. Seriously, it has good 'bones' and I don't think it looks unattractive in the slightest. I would trade your front appearance for mine any day..lol.

I can see from the one photo of the soffit that there seems to be some peeling? paint that needs attention of some kind, but even your paint job doesn't look bad from your photos. The darker color shutters against the white paint is the right way to go too.

What really matters though is that YOU like it. I think a realistic assessment is the way to start. Try to find some things about it that you do like and then list what you are unhappy about. The shape of it might not be your favorite, but there is nothing wrong with the shape of it and I find it attractively shaped. The color white, again, doesn't look bad to everyone but you don't like it.

What are your favorite colors on houses? Start by thinking about 'ideally' what you would really love..and then see how close you can come with some changes to your house.

I think you have a lot to work with and should be able to make yourself happy. I have to run...but I will try to come back and make some more suggestions if I can think of more.

pm2

I'm with Dee here. And I say that because I have a two-story white colonial that faces south. The shutters and front door are the darkest blue you can get without going into black. Today's one of those gorgeous fall days, sunny with a clear blue sky, and though planting bulbs in a frenzy, I walked around and the white is not blinding from any angle. But if it's the house itself you hate then the color really has nothing to do with it. And with what's going on now with the housing market - curb appeal might have a totally different meaning in five years. If the bones are good and maintenance has been done, many are not turned off by a little paint.

Siding comes in a variety of colors; you're definitely not limited to white, but those of us on the internet are are not in the best position to prescribe a color combination for you - the reason being we each have our own bias. You indicated greys were dismal and depressing - I've seen grey houses with white trim that are stunning and grey would be high on my list. Just going to HD, Lowes, or anyplace selling paint and looking through the exterior paint cards - most of the cards have already picked out companion colors for you - would give you an idea of the range that's out there.

The ranch section window treatment is a little odd - the short window with long shutters along side the longer window with no shutters - guess it's off set a little by the front door sidelights. That seems to catch my eye more than any color or lack of color.

Are you thinking of siding over brick?

idabean: no, the brick portion of the house could end up being painted but would not be sided over. There's an initial thread about a quarter of the way down the page that explains.

Ask your contractor for samples of the various siding colors. There are some nice soft greens and blues and even some grays that aren't all that bad. Just stay away from yellow and orange is my plea.
Personally I like white, especially with trees around to cast shadows. And white is classic for our landscape. But there's no reason the siding has to be the same color as the brick.

Two things where I agree with duluth - one, that window thing going on by the front door is odd - the short and longer windows, etc. Perhaps if you can do something there, that may help the appearance.

Also, regarding the color gray. It can go either way. My grandparents lived in a gray house that was the most boring, dismal thing one could ever see.

On the other hand, I've seen some gray houses that were stunning. They had crisp white trim and black shutters/doors, and it could be the style (mostly classic colonials) but they were just gorgeous.

I think like everything else, the devil is in the details. Slap on gray paint, and it will be boring and dismal. Paint it gray and pay attention to the details and you could have a classic beauty on your hands.

I have to beg to differ with oldroser, though, on the yellow. Again, you might not want a screaming bold yellow, but a very soft yellow can be stunning.

Not only was I disappointed that I could not find just the right shade of yellow when I sided, but to add insult to injury, my neighbor DID, lol - a few months later when he put on an addition and totally changed the look of his house. He now has a classic farmhhouse-style house in a soft yellow that is just gorgeous.

There are so many options for you mxk! I'm actually a little jealous - this can be a great opportunity to be creative and get a fresh, new look! Have fun with it!

:)
Dee

Over on 'That House Site', there's a painting forum. When we were painting the bedrooms this summer, I hung out there quite a bit. There's a very nice person who has a program that if you post your picture will put it through the program & post like 15 pictures with different paint colours. (People are so nice). It might help you picture your house differently (no pun intended - hee hee)

All the best,
Gail

I agree with diggerdee on yellow, I love a good pastel yellow with white siding.

Good morning :-)

I was going to see about posting something more, but not sure if you are still needing any more input. ??

pm2

Thanks for all the replies. It's nice to know others don't think the house is so bad....I guess it's just a case of *I'm* not happy with it.

I'll keep all the suggestions in mind and see what the siding companies have to offer in terms of color choices. The first company I had out earlier in the week (who I'm not going with - too much high-pressure sales, totally turned me off), didn't have too much in the way of choices.

I'm having the company who sided my other house come out next week, last time around they were very helpful in terms of making suggestions regarding what would look good, color combinations, how they could jazz it up, etc. and hopefully they'll have supplier who have different color choices.

I also think the new front door will make a HUGE difference. I already know what I want for the front door, so it's just a matter of pricing it out.

Any other suggestions welcome - it helps a lot to see things through the eyes of others.

mxk3...I think you will do fine with whatever project you decide will make you happy with the house. Get your favorite colors if you can and try samples might be a good idea.

I can only think of one other suggestion, which is that I really like how they changed the siding material for the part of your house where the front door is. That vertical element in contrast to the horizontal siding on the other part of the house is interesting. What were you planning on doing with that area, that is shown in the last photo?

Would there be any thought to painting/siding that area from the garage to the front door a different color? Not a different color, I mean a different shade of whatever color you choose for the house. Of course, if you are siding all of the house with vertical siding then I guess that wouldn't be an option. I am sure they don't have different shades of colors.

Hope you have fun with it. :-) pm2

I am not a "white" person, I am more of an "ivory' or "tan" person. My house is tan with dark browm trim and green shutters. My next door neighbors just got siding and while DH says it is tan, it is, to my eye, a very gray tan, like driftwood. Looks very nice as a back drop for my mixed border! I don't think you hate your house..it is the glaring white that you hate. A driftwood kind of gray would look nice with your roof and still complement the white brick, but be less glaring. Black shutters would be a possibility, or if you want some color, maybe a soft burgundy?

PrarieMoon - yep, I'll have the porch area either vertically sided or go with the faux stone (if any of the siding companies do that and depending on the cost). I do agree it breaks up the house visually.

Birdsnesthead (great screen name!) - I'm just not a fan of gray, but I do like taupe (which I define as greyed-brown or greyed-beige), so that's a possibility. I am one of those folks who can discern undertones, and I am *very* picky - I have seen so many houses where the occupants mixed warm with cool off-whites or browns, and it just screams "MISMATCH!" to me. So any taupe would have to be cool-toned, because my roof is gray (cool gray). Again, will just have to see what they have to offer in terms of siding colors.

Dang, I'm just thinking white siding will be easiest and jazz it up with shutters (dark blue, forest green, something like that, but NOT black - had black shutters when I moved in and that was worse than what I have now, even DH hated it, and he normally doesn't give a hoot about stuff like that). They can also so do some fancy trim work, such as fanning out the siding under the windows and around the gables and vertically siding for accent - so again I'll enlist the help of the guy coming out next week, I've dealt with this company before and they were full of suggestions.

And in the meantime if DH manages to hit the lotto or I suddenly come into some sort of inheritance (hey, never know....) I'M OUTTA HERE!!

mxk2 - I agree it needs a face lift. When I did mine, I let the pros come in and tell me what they thought. They knew right away on windows, siding, roof etc. I spent about 10k on pella windows, 10k on vinyl siding (it looks really great - I was suprised) and 500 deductible on a matching roof following a hail storm.

I ditched the fake shutters and left the brick facade. Originally I was going to do a stone veneer as well. Nothing worse than someone doing a stone veneer and having it look like #%#$&^%.

Point is, these folks look at houses all day and they know within one or two what will make your house shine. I go with the best fron Angies List here in Columbus and I and not disappointed.

mxk2, I don't know if you have them in your area; a few years ago I received a flyer for a "free home show". It was vendors from all different home improvement companies. It was a very fast way to get a lot of good input and quotes, see samples without having to make an appointment, etc. I brought scale drawings of my kitchen, measurements of my door that needed replacing, etc. We had a lot of smaller projects to work on, and 3 years later I am still working off the info I got there. I get a flyer from them every fall, but have not needed to go back yet. I will PM you if I can find the link; maybe you can see if they show in your area.

I hope this is not too bold, but you asked. I don't think the white is the problem.

The right side of the house is OK. Shutter color does little for the house - go with a brighter color, or earth tone. Maybe also do the trim in the same color to tune down the while (ie eves, vent and roof line).

The left side of the house could use some work. Two windows and a door - all different designs. The one window with shutters is small and would look better larger, but is not bad. The one to the left of the door does not fit with the others. The entry way is not impressive.

I'd spend most of your money on the entry way. Make it much bigger. It is at the center of the house and it should be the focal point. This can be done in a number of ways. Extend the porch. Add a new enclosed front entry. Make a wide, impressive walkway to the driveway. If you add a 'wow' entry way, no one will notice the rest of the house which is not so bad. A nice wood door in the same color as teh shutters.

Then work on the landscape. Remove the tree in front of the door way. The new path will extend out from the front, in a wide sweep to the drive, and allow you to add a nice bed on both sides of it. The one in front can curve towards the front of the property on the driveway side and include the smaller tree out front. Another large bed around the big tree to balance it, and to balance that side of the house which is larger.

The white house would be a good backdrop to evergreens.

You have a great front yard for gardening - if that is your thing. A lot of people on this sight would kill for a lawn like that.

Madtripper - great ideas! Problem is, our goal is to move within 5 years, and the changes you suggest (and I would love to do!) would not be a smart idea considering this - wouldn't recoup the money spent.

I 1000% agree with a new entryway - and that is #1 thing that will be done next spring. I already have the door picked out, it is an oak double-wide door (no more crappy sidelights!) with large circular glass.

After the door goes in, it's time for siding, obviously from the picture you can see that's a must. I got a couple estimates, getting all that lined up.

I think the door and the siding will make a big, big difference and will definitely help the re-sale value of the house.

This is not my dream house - maybe that's really the problem.....I'll probably never be really happy with it.

Thank you all for the suggestions - some great ideas!