If you do some searching on this forum, and maybe the home dec forum, you'll find some discussion of colours to go with brick. The right thing depends on the shades in the brick and mortar, and also one the environment - sun or shade, amount of roof overhang, and garden.

Which is what I would encourage you do so some serious work on. I would SO ditch those foundation shrubs, and the tree too, from what I can see of it. Some maples are weed trees - they grow like them, and self-seed like them. If you hunt and peck around on the trees forum and the landscape design forum you might find some discussions that are useful (selection of smaller trees for instance, or sidewalk design) or be inspired to ask a question to get specific advice.

But bottom line is, your landscape plants have seriously outgrown their life expectancy as a functional landscape installation, and in my opinion it's time to take it all out. Unless that's a small tree visible in the 2nd photo - that could maybe stay.

This house is cute (behind the moustache, or rather, bushy beard) and probably could look fine with any variety of landscape layouts, so what really matters is your gardening personality. If you are a lawn-only person, it might be a bit stark, but unless you really like to garden, prune, and weed, additional beds may be additional work for no significant additional pleasure for you. If you are a garden maniac on the other hand, you could garden up the whole front yard with a winding path, perennials, and some statuary and make an absolute showpiece out of it. But that takes some time and labour to lay out, install, and maintain. Something in between might be the perfect balance, and look charming to boot.

If you want to ask a question on the LD forum, take some pictures that give a wider view of the whole property.

Karin L

Hi Eric and welcome to GardenWeb. I agree with karenl about posting this on the Home Decorating forum. You will get lots of ideas.

That is a charming house! You don't indicate where you are located, but I'm assuming somewhere in the Northeast or Midwest. Which direction does the house face? I'm guessing it faces west, which is why the porch enclosure was added to protect against the wind. I would think twice about removing it.

You could paint the porch siding, fascia board and gutters a different color - the right shade of gray would look nice with the roof. then you could use a darker gray on the window frames. The brick is fine and I would leave it as is.

In the late winter, you could take a pair of loppers and do a hard pruning of all those plants, taking them down to about 6 inches.

I would keep the tree but call in an arborist - Bartlett Tree Service is very good - and have them look at it and trim it. If that tree is on the west or south side of your house, it's going to save you money in cooling costs in the summer.

I don't know what can be done about the roots lifting the sidewalk - maybe re-route the sidewalk?

What color is the mortar between the bricks? Is it gray or yellow?

Sorry, but that tree is unprunable, and I also haven't had good experience with Bartlett locally :-)

The tree may well be in the right place to cool the house in summer. But it is too big - it dwarfs the house. Should have been removed a decade ago. It was also badly chosen - a variety with surface roots - and has grown with its main trunk leaning toward the house. If that is also the windward side, it will fall ON the house. Take it down, buy another tree, and put your sidewalk where you want it to go.

Karin L

Even though you may not like it, the cream that is on the house looks much better with the brick than the stark white you are painting. White is too bright against dark red brick. You could go to an even darker tan than the cream, but the cream or another variation of it is probably the best choice if you want a light colored trim. However, you could choose a dark trim color like a green or black and have something like that work.

And get rid of that maple tree. Silver maples are weak trash trees and on many invasive species lists. If you proceed with covering up it's roots with dirt, you'll end up smothering it and killing it anyway. Maples need to have their roots exposed to air, which is another reason they are a total PIA tree besides buckling foundations and those gazillion helicopter seeds that clog up everything and sprout in your gutters.

you're right, those bushes do look like a gigantic heap. get rid of them.

in the 60s and 70s, people were yew crazy, planting those things everywhere. 50 years later, they are way oversized and bigger than they were ever meant to be. get rid of them ASAP.

i just pulled some huge ones from my front yard. it is a bit of work, but well within the capabilities of you, a couple of friends, and a pick maddox. i would never attempt removal without a maddox and would plan on about one shrub per man. if it's just you, plan on doing them one at a time. you'll quickly tire, hacking through the roots. two buddies and i pulled up three large yews, larger than those in your picture, in about an hour.

does the brick on your house go to the ground in the front just like around back? if so, you have no foundation to hide, and no need for foundation plantings. of course, you still need plantings, but you can just move them out from the house.

Eric, a professional arborist viewing the tree on site should be your source for information on what to do with it. They can give you an opinion just by examining it, and they can do further testing to determine its health.

I have a huge silver maple in my yard that the arborist estimated to be as old as the house (90 years old). It sits 10 feet from my house. I had it pruned to cut out dead branches and to lighten the load of the larger branches. Yeh, there is some cleanup involved in owning it - but that's small repayment for its shade in the summer.

Don't do anything hasty. The common advice given is to live with a house for a full year before making major changes. A coat of paint on that porch enclosure may make it less offensive to you. I agree with hollysprings - white is not the way to go.

I don't know what you have against the vestibule. I think it's attractive and practical. I would try matchstick blinds in the windows. I agree with others who suggest cream color paint. It blends with your mortar. White is too stark. I like the suggestion of gray also, which would go well with your roof color and could distinguish your house from others on the block. Gray might look nice with yellow and blue plant/flower colors. The bushes have zero going for them. Your house will 10 times fresher without them. Good luck!

FW

Thanks for the replies that definitely helps. This is my first house and I've been here 2 years. I've been working on interior stuff so now I'm starting to pay attention to the outside. I also forgot to mention, I'm in Maryland so- the Mid-Atlantic.

A few more details- the mortar is yellow. Here is a picture: I'm quite sure that's why the previous owners painted everything yellow but I'm really not a fan. To me, it just reminds me of dirty socks. Not only that, the paint is faded and weathered, from a distance it's ok but up close it's not very pretty although it's not chipping.

Here is a good shot illustrating the color of the mortar, in contrast with the white brickmould of the back door. The back door is still in primer, so I'll paint it when it warms up some, as well as do its bickmould the same color as whatever I chose to do the window frames.

A few more things- I am certainly considering getting rid of that main tree- I never noticed the trunk leaning towards the house until someone said something lol. There are 2 other ones on the property as well but they actually grew real trunks! I know what the silver maple looks like as my parents house has some of those but these look different- not to mention all of them survived the hurricane Irene over the summer. They do tower over the house though!

Yes, I'll lose the bushes, I never really gave it much thought, so when it's nice out I'll bust out the sawzall and pick.

Here's a few more shots (it's a rainy day here)

Sidewalk heaved by roots.

Wide shots front yard:

Back yard (pardon the junk I just replaced the back door).
I also plan on building a deck eventually as those little stairs SUCK!

{{gwi:22758}}

Nice yard, Eric!

You know, I don't think that vestibule is original--or if it is, it's poorly scaled. I think the front looked like the back at one time. I would continue the longer roof line to the end above the door, but make the porch floor bigger, surrounded on a couple sides by a brick planter a couple feet high, giving room for a small table and chairs to enjoy the shade from the trees. A midcentury style door could look very nice there!

The shrubs must go, but have the trees checked before deciding on removing them. As for the sidewalk, it is easy enough to divert it with a slight curve without making the walk excessively long--perhaps widen it a bit and border it with flowers?

For the trim, I'd consider a darkish green, or a much darker ochre yellow since the mortar can't easily be changed, both would work with your roof and give a sort of 'bungalow' feel to it. I'd consider a very dark green or black for the window trim.

If you do a google image search on english cottage brick, you will see lots of examples of red brick houses with soft-toned mortar, and crisp white trim. The mortar might look dirty or dingy to you, but if it were brighter, oy, the contrast might be too much.

I think your house would benefit from some attractive, classic outdoor light fixtures. Something with some curve and gleam, on either side of the vestibule. If you remove the vestibule, they could be relocated to either side of the front door. I suppose I should say, both sides. They would give the house a welcoming glow.

For color, I recommend picking something different for the front door; black, dark green, but not white. Image searches for front door color will yield lots of ideas and examples.

I don't think your back steps are ugly. Until you get around to removing them, try putting a large potted tall juniper or arborvitae on either side, for vertical definition. Junipers are very low maintenance. I believe there are some mini spruces that might work well too, but I prefer a darker green with your brick. Juniper.

The vestibule might be salvageable. It's such a functional thing to have. Gosh we have boxes left on our enclosed porch so often; if they were more visible, I'd worry about them being snatched away. Try to imagine taking off all the siding and residing it in a more architectural way, with pilasters on either side of the windows, and more defition on the gable. Maybe a stucco finish; some of the brick houses have stucco sections, and that's a nice complement to the bricks.

Here is a link that might be useful:

So many colours could work well with your brick. What I think you should do is take a photo or two with you to a local paint store, and really spend some time communing with the paint chips. There are SO many colours. And you can do two trim colours if you like... white to make it dressy, and something like... purple, or light blue or anything your heart desires, to give it personality. Often the people in paint stores are good colour people and will make suggestions that you might not even think of, but that work perfectly.

Mind you, I think perhaps grey is not the ideal roof colour for brick, which makes it harder.

Laying the sidewalk around the tree roots is a losing battle. The roots are not interested in negotiating boundaries or in sharing space. They will simply continue to grow, and you will have to move the sidewalk again. Glad to hear that the trees survived Hurricane Irene though! Of course, maybe you want to run the sidewalk differently anyway, but I think it looks quite logical where it is.

You've got HOW many big trees on the lot - three? It is definitely time to make a tree succession plan. Otherwise you go from forest to moonscape in one fell swoop, not to mention the $5000 or so that the whole thing will cost, and all the wood to deal with at one time. Usually it is better to stagger the removal, replanting, and expense.

I don't think you've said which way the house faces, so the key question in tree placement should be where you want shade. If you need it on the future deck, then plant trees in back as you take them down in the front.

Karin L

Columbus guy: This is great I'm getting lots of pointers here. I'll definately consider the green, as it's my favorite color and has a yellow undertone.

Slate berry- yes lighting is also on the list. I'd like to have some carriage lights flanking the main door. It's got one light there now (u can't see it from the pics) but it isn't too attractive lol. As for boxes, that's a consideration but I also live on the end of a dead end street with only 2 other houses (next door and across the street). I'd put some railings up so it won't be "totally" open.

The back steps- well, they are made from a different brick then the rest of the house that don't match (I'm told it's sewer brick, as it does not hold water). They're way too small- there used to be a screen door there but I removed it, as you'd have to back down the steps in order to open the door. They will be removed when I put up a deck there.

Karin L- I'm starting to zero in on what colors I think I'll like- either a creamy white (which may be too similar to my neighbors), dark yellow or a green.

The house faces South West. So the trees do provide shade in the summer. Yes there are 3 large maples on this yard. The other 2 don't bother me so much as they're off to the side and not heaving the sidewalk. I think this tree is not going to grow any more though. I will get some quotes to see how much it'll cost to take down the tree. Too bad there weren't any power lines above it or I could probably have the utility company do it lol.

If I were to do a curving sidewalk- I'd do something like this, after I'd clear out the bushes, make the steps and the area beneath wider. I think that would be far away enough that heaving shouldn't be a problem in the forseeable future.

{{gwi:54132}}

I love the idea of the curved path to the door. It adds some fun. I wouldn't take the tree out without discussing with an arborist; it may be more trouble than you think. I think if you buy a couple of paint samples in colors you are considering, then paint the front of the entrance, you will quickly see which ones are keepers. Besides, painting patches of color all over the front keeps your neighbors entertained.
Diane

am i insane or were my comments on the vestibule removed? maybe i never said anything. good luck, seems like you're on the right path.

Eric posted on at least 4 forums, so maybe you commented on the vestibule in the Home Dec forum, the LD forum, or the trees forum. By the way I don't think there was anything wrong with that - he certainly has issues related to all the forums!

Karin L

There were few responses to his posts and none on one for over a week. Perhaps due to the holidays. Glad you guys came together to help. He has a great house and many options.