Your house is beautiful, and I love your plan. The key is the right color of red, you need a soft barn red to complement your brick, and a taupe-y gray or better yet, khaki trim. I think the roof color might be perfect with your proposed color scheme......black and red may be a bit harsh for your brick. Agree completely with no shutters.

Boop, I googled some pics and found the one below. Your house in red, with white trim and a black roof would look good ... but I don't think it will work if you are keeping the brick as it is. Or are you planning on painting the brick red too?

Here is a link that might be useful: Red house

I don't know if this is too red for your brick (if you're not painting it), but it looks like such a great color combo

I think it would be a neat idea however you have to be really careful with the colour of red that you choose. It doesn't look like there is any pink in your taupe brick but that can be the problem with taupe. It can have an underlying colour that only comes to the forefront when a strong colour is put next to it. Right now your current paint colour will be pulling those undertones out of the brick.

The other thing to watch out for is the issue of visual weight. A darker colour on top can *sometimes* throw off the visual weight of a structure. Right` now the top of your house is a lighter colour and so the balance is correct. It doesn't always happen but can. The right red - perhaps a more brownish red could work.

kswl, thank you! I am glad you agree with no shutters, and I totally agree the right red is really key. I love the idea of khaki trim.

thanks three apples. :)

chispa and blfenton. I would love to get rid of the brick, DH seems opposed to it. :( The brick is really red, but doesnt read that way in the pics. not sure if it is the mortar, or the current siding or it is just an odd color. I am concerned about the weight thing too.

this is a closeup that I had handy...

olychick - that is a GREAT picture. I love that trim color.

I think trying to do a red with brick will be very difficult. You have to pick the right red, which will be hard to do. I think a dark brown/red could be beautiful (see pic). Your house is a Colonial. I would definitely not lose the shutters. The facade of your house would be blah w/o them, I think. I would do black shutters.

I'm trying to get the pic on here but the preview is freezing up. Don't know why.

Well, for some reason, I am unable to upload that particular photo. It was a brick house with white windows, black roof, with shutters in this color against the brick - really beautiful. Color was similar to this, Benjamin Moore Bewitched.

Maybe a link will work. Third house down.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deep red/brown on brick.

Oh, yes! I'm so sorry I chickened out when I painted my house. I will paint with red next time. Google Falu red. It's the color used on half the houses in Norway. I go there every year to visit my son and the red houses with white trim all look so gorgeous. Attached is a house painted falu red and the door is yellow. Talk about a fung shui ideal, this is it!

Boop, call me crazy, but with your brick, that fab dark red and a khaki color for trim, why not try a mock up of the house with beautiful brown shutters, just to see what it looks like. Or a medium varnished wood for shutters... That would be cool and organic looking.

But, lots of colonial houses are shutterless-- and since you're obviously not trying to replicate an historic detail I would leave them off if it looks better to you that way. I just finished a book (not much text, sort of a picture book for grownups) called What Not to Build. It said that walls, windows and roof are three huge elements of the exterior of any house, and that very few houses need more than five elements and most look better with four. With 2 types of wall, 2 types of windows, a balcony feature and a roof, you've already got 6 elements, so leaving off the shutters would be appropriate by that measure :-)

I played with PPG's coloring kit and here's what I came up with...

Thunderbolt

Stone gray

Red gumball

Orange vermillion

Jericho Jade

Hemlock

Four corners of law

kswl, I loved what not to build and have recommended it to people in the past....I certainly learned a lot reading it and loved the illustrations.

Great job, AnnieDeighnaugh. I like the gumball red, it does make the brick look more brownish so that has to be considered with any other trim colors.

Can you show some other reds?

The roof color will look different next to red too, be careful about that.

The Hemlock looks good too, and slate blues will always work with reddish brick. .

I think it is a good idea, especially because with the right shade of red you will make the house look less two-tone, which I think is a good thing. Two tone is a ;little bit dated i dare say, and I personally think even when it was in style it never really enhanced a house's lines.

I would also try it sans shutters. You can always put them back!

Go for it!

Red and brick is tough. You don't want your house to look like a fire station!

I'm pro-shutter on this house, but as mtnrdredux says, try it without. You may love it. If not, you can always add them back.

Funny, Tibbrix. But I know some gorgeous fire stations!

In all seriousness, with the lovely front entry and its white trim, I think there will be plenty of contrast.

I really like that house you posted Tibbrix. I am drawn to the darker color reds.

That is really helpful info kswl. I realized yesterday that the house next door did leave off the shutters and added more window trim. I meant to snap a picture this morning and I forgot. :(

What is PPG Annie? That is sooo helpful. I really appreciate it. Thank you! I am drawn to the dark grey/brown ish colors too, but that is exactly what the neighbor did (but with Stone not brick) do I dont want to do the same thing.

I do like the redgumball too raee, but I think maybe something a bit darker or more brown?

Funny mtnrdredux I can never put my finger on what I dont like about the house now, but maybe that is, that it looks dated. It doesnt look horrible to me, but not something I want to replicate.

I will get a picture tomorrow of the house across the street so you can see what a similar house looks like without shutters and what the neighbor did. I really love it, and wich they were farther away. :) I would maybe copy it. of course I don tthink the exact colors would work with the brick vs the stone that they added.

I forgot to mention. sphatfield1 - thank you so much for the encouragement! I am really drawn to this, but sometimes opt for the "safer" route too!

SOme more pics I have too.....

and one of the links for fengshui if anyone is interested....

Here is a link that might be useful: exterior home colors

I would like a color between gumball red and vermilion orange. So vermilion is orange? Who knew. Since I am 3/9 on the color blind scale, I think that would be good but I have a deficit. LOL.

Hey, boop! Isn't this a new home for you? It's very nice! Hope you & your family are happy there.

I was thinking the brick, the palladian window, and the portico lend a formality to the house, so shutters are more fitting than going shutterless. And as is so often advocated here in the forum, wider shutters look more appropriate, and used only on windows that could look realistically shuttered. In other words, don't use shutters on the palladian window, but use them on the double hungs. I don't think the railing on the portico does much for your house -- distracting detail.

So here is a rough mock up with wider shutters on the double hungs, a shutterless palladian window with wider trim, railing removed, and red siding, charcoal roof. The paint color is Old Village Paints' Salem Brick. What do you think? Larger black sconces by the door would look great too.

awm03's mockup is great! There's the deep red with the black shutters! That is beautiful.

Awm03, can you do the mockup again but paint the portico all black and make the front door white, and another mockup with the opposite, white portico with a black front door? Also black medallion?

And it doesn't look at all like a fire station!

This post was edited by Tibbrix on Tue, Feb 25, 14 at 14:38

That looks beautiful awm03! I like the railings gone, too.

WOW. awm03. That looks amazing. :) Thank you so much. I really get a feel for it and I love it. I think you are so right about those railings. We are actually thinking of putting brick up that middle part where the palladium window is so it makes even more sense that the railing be gone.

I am still not sure about the shutters but I do hear you that it is the norm and goes with the style of the house. I think you are right and if we do have them, black will be the way to go. I thought I wouldnt like the white trim but I do. I still might light the khaki, but not sure that DH will. Hmmm maybe if it is the khaki trim the dark brown that kswl was mentioning would look good too for shutters.

I hope you all follow along tomorrow so you can see what the house next door looks like without the shutters (and that I can make myself remember to snap a pic in the morning. :) )

OK I know this isn't part of the original question, but what would you all do for the concrete walkway and steps? Would stone look odd? I think brick would be brick overload. I think it looks really blah with just concrete.... Do you agree?

Here's one with a black door, black sconces, and no car (ta daaa!).

I should be grocery shopping! We have no food, but playing with boop's pretty house is such fun. I'll try to do a picture with no shutters when I come back from the store.

The car must be in the body shop, having the dent repaired that awm03 put in it with that one shutter in the first pic!

Boop, before you even mentioned it, I was going to suggest doing a brick walkway. It would not be brick overload at all. It would be like Beacon Hill in Boston, or the brownstone I grew up in, all brick with a brick walkway. But you wouldn't want to do the landing in brick. That would be brick overload.

Notice in the pick the brick sidewalk up against the brick houses but broken up by the granite steps. Beautiful. all of the sidewalks in Beacon Hill are brick, as are all of the houses. There's a reason it's the most beautiful neighborhood in Boston!

I love seeing these visuals. Such talented people on this forum!

And generous with their time and talent!

The black door is great. I think I'd expand the black through the first level of trim around the door and leave the narrower outer trim white.

Measure your window with and make sure your shutters are half the width so that when they are closed they cover the window (as if you are really covering them). If they are too wide, they also look "strange."

Thank you everyone for chiming in, and amw03 for your time as olychick mentioned. It is just so helpful to get a visual. Did you make the roof darker in your pic? I think you did but just want to confirm. :)

Not the best pics since it was getting dark and there is still a lot of snow, but here is a house next door...

and the redone one across the street with no shutters, and they added the stone on the bottom and going up the top They did the shake like siding, but I think that would be a lot going on for my house......

They both happened to have the porch across the front, there are basically three styles In this neighborhood, mine, the front porch along the whole front, and then some have nothing on the front there. I wonder if that would be better? I didn't get a picture of one but I can take it tomorrow. I kind of like having the covering over the front door for practical reasons though.

This post was edited by boopadaboo on Tue, Feb 25, 14 at 18:00

Re: no shutters. Their windows are much bigger than yours, so the trim around the windows in conjunction with how large their windows are allow them to have no shutters and not have the facade of the house look like something is missing, windows are too small, etc. They also have the roof of the porch going across the entire length of the house, which also makes a difference.

I think your house will look very different w/o shutters, more bare. Try it, though. Can't hurt, and as noted, you can always add shutters. I do think that, since your windows are small, you'll need the shutters.

The portico on your house is so nice. I think it was clever to take the railing out and that it looks better w/o it. I think the portico gives your house "gravitas".

Porches are nice looking from the outside, but they prevent light from getting into those rooms in the front of the house, which is a real negative. Although, the new Colonials all have the main living areas in the back now.

This post was edited by Tibbrix on Tue, Feb 25, 14 at 18:22

What do you think, boop? Is this trim color khaki or is it too green? I tried beefing up the trim around the brick-level windows, but then I thought maybe you can't do that because of the way the brick surrounds the window, so I stopped. Are your windows paintable? Also, I put a trim band along the top under the eaves -- looks like there is one there in real life?

In the end, this is your house, but I don't think red siding is a good plan. It looks top heavy in the pictures. You also would really have to get the right red. And then, red doesn't always fade graciously which could result in a really odd combo. The pictures you are posting for your inspiration are of all the same material, which is a whole other ball game. Have you seen people who have redone their roofs on a brick house and they choose badly - like a red that didn't quite make or an orangey brown. It always makes me cringe.... sorry, just my humble thoughts....

Love those mock ups, awm! Can you make the columns and portico khaki also?

It's amazing that you can work magic with color and photos!

Of the 2 that awm did, I prefer the one with the shutters...more classic colonial and it gives the building more presence. Without the shutters, it looks too modern for the portico.

I keep looking at the windows in the neighbors house. I don't think the are bigger. I think the trim is bigger. You can't tell by looking at the garage sicne out garage is deeper it will throw off trying to compare. Maybe I am nuts. :) Thank you so much awm03. I can't thank you enough. :)

I have to say, I like the shutters better. I did not want to, but especially with the two different sidings I think it pulls it together somehow. I also think I like the white trim better. I agree wiht annie too, that without the shutters the front portico thing just doesn't look right.

I think the only other option we will have is to maybe put all brick on the front adn then red siding around the sides and back. I would really like to get rid of the brick altogether though I think. what do you all think? I have asked DH to get a quote for that too. He thinks it will be expensive.

DH liked your idea to take off the railings on the top of the portico so much I think he was ready to go out there today and take them down......