Painting Exterior (including brick) of my house . . . help!

11 years ago

Hi all . . . this is the first time I've posted in these forums. I live in a 1960s colonial with very ugly, dated, tacky gray brick. I've attached a photo. Believe it or not, it looks a lot better than it used to . . . we put on the small front porch (used to just be flat) and ripped on very dated evergreen bushes last year and replaced the landscaping . . . which is still growing in. My husband and I are inclined to paint the entire house . . . bricks included. But we are a bit at a loss of what palate to use. Do we do the siding and the brick the same color? What about shutters and door (planning to replace the front door with a nicer one when we paint)? We live in Michigan so I want something that will look nice in the snowy winter as well. I'm kind of leaning toward a mocha color for the brick and siding with a muted blue on the shutters. But then what do I do with the door? Other ideas include taupe with black shutters, some shade of green . . . maybe even a creamy yellow-ish beige? My husband (who's color-blind) suggested a shade of blue for the brick and siding. My inclination is that we should stay neutral. We have a red brick house right next to us! What are everyone's thoughts about painting the brick, color combinations and any other ideas to help bring turn my house into something not quite so drab and dated!

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Comments (4)

graywings123
11 years ago
Welcome to Gardenweb,stefaniematt. I love your porch!

The gray brick looks nice in the photo. I wonder whether you could work a theme based on that, using a darker gray above. For other color schemes, go to your local Ben Moore and Sherwin Williams paint stores and pick up their exterior color ideas pamphlets. They are also on-line.

Wider shutters, fitted to the exact height of the windows, is a subtle change that would look good.

If you don't get a lot of responses here, you might want to post this on the Home Decorating forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ben Moore exterior paint combos
Annie Deighnaugh
11 years ago
What a nice looking home!

A few suggestions...that bush on the right of the picture is too large and too close to the house so you'd probably have to remove it to paint anyway. Keep plantings away from the house for water drainage reasons as well as aesthetics as the plants get bigger.

The shutters on the house are too small....either remove or replace. To look right, shutters have to look like they actually work....when shut, just cover the window.

I like the brick and would try to work with it. However, if you choose to paint the brick then consider eliminating the wall sconces and replacing with a pendant in your lovely arched porch. It will highlight the porch and the front door so much more. (I think the brick would be too hard to patch well unless painted.)

It's hard to see what's going on with the front door...does that have sidelights? If not, I'd consider replacing it with a door that does....more glass and jewelry will really make that entry way a total wow!

My preference is not for blue. Blue is a hard color to get right on the exterior. (Neighbors really flubbed it with their house which is now port-a-pot blue!) But it can be done if it has enough gray in it.

You might go to the Certainteed website where they have a colorview area where you can select a home similar to yours and paint it different colors to see what you might like. Sherwin Williams has a color visualizer on their website that allows you to upload your own photo and try on paint colors.

Benjamin Moore has their color gallery where you can select the color of your brick and then it will recommend color combos. For example if I select BM silver crest it recommends slate blue or red river clay along with the dark gray like your roof color.

Here is a link that might be useful: Silvercrest
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PRO
Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
11 years ago
I would never ever paint brick. If you do , it will be forever a maintenance problem you do not need. Work with the color
trancegemini_wa
11 years ago
Ditto to what cristophern said, you'll be creating a big ongoing maintenance job to your house if you do that. It looks nice to me and I agree with those above about making some other changes to make your house work better without painting.

Painting Exterior (including brick) of my house . . . help!

Comments (4)

graywings123

Annie Deighnaugh

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