I think it looks great! Love the yellow door, though I might go just a bit deeper, a bit more gold.

This may sound crazy, but with the white shutters and the new door color, the house seems 'happier'.

My vote is no to white shutters. I think they are the perfect color right now. White will make them too visible and they are not attractive enough to be a feature on the house. Let the white trim on the lower windows be the big feature.

I agree with graywings, I think the original color of the shutters looks best on your house.

I also prefer the shutters black. With the white board at the top of the siding, it doesn't look unbalanced to me. I would, however, paint the sidelights white.

A vote for the white shutters -- and a crisp black door.

Or: for a change -- perhaps a red door?

I like either the yellow door with the white shutters, or the dark shutters and dark color door. Both look good, but I agree the yellow/white combo makes the house look a little happier and snappier.

I love the white shutters---- great change and choice!!

I vote for the white shutters, white sidelights and yellow door - I agree it makes the house look happier!

Love the white shutters and either a red or goldish door.

I really dislike black doors because it looks like a vacant hole at the entrance. That is just my taste though...I know a lot of people like the black.

Depending on the responses, I might really regret posting this pic, but here's the house before we painted it. I just wanted to show what it looked like with white shutters. This pic was taken in the spring vs. the fall of the most recent paint job. I know the lights need to be changed. I am working on that as well!!

Look at that lush vegetarian and beautiful spring setting! Honestly, whatever you decide, it's such a pretty and inviting house. I like the way your gray/white/black scheme brings a little more contrast to the house (and I like the horizontal white boards above each story). But the all-white trim is nice, too. Good luck with your decision. You're a brave soul to throw your house and your ideas out here for comments!

I agree with Les - white shutters and sidelights and a golden yellow-orange door will get you to that "happy" house like your inspiration pic!

Love the house color you have now.

Beautiful house and yard. I love the yellow door, but don't care for the white shutters. I think crisp black shutters, white trim and a yellow door would be beautiful. The white shutters look rather boring, sorry!

Before I even saw les's comment about happy house, my thought was white, white, white and a happy door color. I also like the deeper tone of gray you painted the siding. White shutters/trim look better against that tone than against the lighter blue shade the house was.

i definitely prefer the darker shutters...

I love the new house color! I also think the white brightens the house a lot.

We have a grey colonial with black shutters but our gray is much lighter. In your case, I prefer the white!

Mahlgold- I really like your house, I grew up in a house with the same painted blue shingles just a grayer version of the lighter blue. The darker gray paint with the dark shutters is very nice, it allows a brighter door to stand out but still keeps the house in touch with the beautiful surroundings. I strongly dislike white shutters on just about any house, my last neighbor had them with almost the same paint color that you currently have and it made the house look sad. Have you considered not using shutters and instead beefing up the trim around the upper windows to match the lowers?

Love the shutters as they are! Beautiful Home!

Why would you regret posting that picture? Your home is lovely and so is the yard!

I love the white shutters, but sadly, I am not much good on the door color! LOL I'm thinking with the reddish shrubbery up near the door that something in a shade of red would be a good choice.

I like the black shutters best with the yellow door. Adorable house!

I like the white shutters with the new darker siding color. Kind of like a crisp, starched white shirt with designer jeans! I can't help with a door color -coming from someone who still has the white factory primer on her door - for 3 years!

I'm not sure how much you wanted to spend, but if I were painting the shutters white and making them more of a feature, I would get larger, thicker, more substantial shutters and black shutter hardware. I think that would really look nice.

I like the yellow door in your inspiration photo, but the one you photoshopped is too pastel. You need a more assertive mustardy yellow.

I've been looking at your inspiration picture, and I think what makes the yellow look really great is that it is separated by a substantial area of white architecture. I think the problem may be that simply painting your door is not giving you the impact you'd like because it ends up being a small amount of color in a sea of grey, without a substantial front entry. And maybe some people are responding to the white shutters because it is breaking up the grey a bit?

Of course, adding architecture to your entry would be much more $$ than simply painting your door. However-- and forgive me if this was suggested already-- what about painting all of the trim, including sidelights, and the siding that comes out to the left and right of your door, white? Then just paint the actual door yellow or orange.

And maybe add some sort of trim piece to the white board that runs above the first floor, but only to the portion just above your door to beef up your entry? It may help it look more like the inspiration pic and give you the feeling you like.

Just my 2 cents... :)

Thanks everyone.....seems like it's a 50/50 split on the shutters about whether they should be white or black. I probably should've mentioned that they aren't black right now. Can't remember which affinity color they are, but they seem to lean more towards a brown/gray and blend with the house. With that being said, if I chose not to do white, I think black might be better and provide more contrast.

I have thought of changing out the shutters to something more substantial, but I have so many home projects going on right now, I just don't think I'm up for more "research". I am considering removing them and putting beefier trim around the upper windows as athomeinva suggested, I would just have to see if the house has faded at all and it you'd be able to see a difference where the shutters were removed. The house was painted about 18 months ago.

At this point, I think I'm leaning towards a yellowish door. Hlove had a good suggestion about painting the siding white on the inner section of the door. I think someone in a post of mine quite a while back suggested it as well. Maybe I'll try that myself(easy enough to change back if I don't like it) and if I like it, maybe change out the siding in that area to something that goes with the trim woodwork.

At this point, I will also be changing the lighting and door hardware probably to black. But I'm sure I'll be posting about that also because I can't seem to make any decisions on my own!!!!

Thanks again...

Your door will look wonderful in a yellow gold~ good luck!

another vote for white! It draws the eye up.

I like the idea of removing the shutters and putting beefier trim painted white. I think that would look more like the shingled style than with the current shutters.

I then like the idea of the yellow door a lot.

You have a very nice house though so no matter what you do it will look great.

Your home is beautiful. I think the white shutters would look great.

Would you mind telling me what color the siding is? I have been searching for weeks trying to come up with an exterior color.

I love black shutters... feel like it makes any house color "pop". Could you photo shop black shutters and see how you like it? (Maybe try a red door?) I think black shutters set off a house and it's windows... not unlike how black frames set off a picture when it's hanging on the wall. Even if you have a white (or other color) matting, a black frame sets a picture off from it's surroundings, and gives it pop.

Your house and yard is lovely and beautiful

Miss Mary

Another vote for black shutters -- with a yellow-gold door I think your house will look crisp and even more beautiful than it is now.

really pretty house and landscape. but i think the white shutters are a mistake. i like them as they are!

jamie81 - On another post it was mentioned that the house color is AF715-Dolphin from Ben Moore's Affinity colors.

The yellow door in your inspiration looks good for two reasons. One as mentioned above, it is surrounded by a white. But I think the other reason is that the house is more grey than yours. On my monitor, yours looks very blue. If it doesn't IRL than ignore this comment. If it is more blue, I can see a door in the cranberry tones.

I will weigh in in favor of keeping the shutters the color they are.

FW

You have great taste, so I'm sure whatever you do will look lovely.

However, I prefer the current color shutters with the yellow door from the inspiration pic. I also like the lantern style used in that pic. Hinges and shutter dogs would be nice too.

The white looks very traditional and the dark looks more modern. What look are you going for? What is the interior like - modern or traditional?

I like Homeagain's rendering, with the dark shutters and the yellow-gold door. If possible, I'd go even richer with the yellow-gold, and definitely, larger lanterns flanking the door.

I like the current look best.

I love it when spam revives a thread, lol.

So Mahlgold, what did you end up doing?

That's what I get for not reading completely through a long thread!

I wound up painting the shutters black, the door yellow and the sidelights white. Not sure if it's exactly the right yellow, but I'm so much happier with it now, that I'm not going to do anything more to it. I did replace the lights, but I don't think they're big enough. When I get the courage to tell DH that I don't think they work(LOL!!), I'll figure out something else. I'll get some pics tomorrow and post them.