Welcome to Gardenweb, CWQ!

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/63310388@N06/5758433528/

Was thinking slurry brick with a cream color & stain cedar dark or paint brick & trim, need ideas please!!! If anyone does photoshop, that'd be great! Thanks!

Here's a clickable link to your photo.

Here is a link that might be useful: photo

Here are two rudimentary attempts, working with the roof color:

I'm not sure a slurry finish would mask the orange tones of the brick enough.

Beautiful home! It has nice lines & proportions, lucky you. I think the shutters could be wider to relate to the window size better. I'd do the wood & brick the same color so the look isn't too chopped up. The textural difference will provide a pretty detail.

I'm not sure that brick is so bad, although it doesn't go great with the woodsy feel. I'd do something about the cedar and then reconsider the brick. Foundation plantings would help enormously. Maybe add a few planks to the shutters and make them wider.

It's a lot of low maintenance brick to turn into painted. If you think the roof is about to go, wait until you change that as well.

Boy, I totally agree with fori - on all points. The brick is pretty to me; it is the siding that needs help. That said, I actually like the first mock up that awm did for you.
Diane

We have orange brick here -- right now our siding is a dark gray-green with a high-gloss black door.

For your house -- how about a medium gray on the siding -- to tie it in with both the tones in the brick and the roof.

Also -- perhaps consider adding fake round wood vents (paint the same color as the siding) above each window.

And perhaps add some basic moldings above each window to add some additional visual height?

Yes -- wider shutters will help too.

And -- of course - landscaping will change the whole look of the house. Think of wide half-moon gardens around each window.

Check with your local garden centers -- and find some taller specimen bushes for each far end of the house -- and then add large rocks and suitable bushes around them.

Maybe add a patio and seating area under the tall tree?

And seating (maybe a couple of larger chairs and a round table with an umbrella?) by the front door?

Be very careful about painting brick especially on the outside of a home it will hinder you greatly when you go to resell the place.
I'd work on some of the ideas the other posters have given you and then if after doing all the things they suggested IF it still doesn't work for you, then I would consider painting it but only as a last resort.

A good place to give you ideas on what to use to match the brick is to go to a brick website. They usually show homes in brick with coordinating siding colors.

Find a picture with your brick, or close to it, and see what other colors was used with it.

I agree with the others,I think the brick is okay, start by painting the siding and planting some shrubs. I think the brick will look okay.

The brick is GREAT ... it's the water-stained dark wood that's wrecking the place. it's probably in good shape, but cedar weathers strangely.

Pick a pale shade of opaque wood stain that blends with the light tones of the brick for the siding, and in the same undertone family as the roof.

Remove the shutters - they are too small for the windows.

If you want to make the windows more prominent, frame them with trellises with some sort of vine - climbing roses.

And my pet peeve shows up again! There is no visible path to the door. Wherever it is, make it more prominent with some plants or a wall or something.

Okay, so everyone that says don't paint brick, what color for the trim?? I have no idea where to start.

My parents house has red brick around the bottom with cream siding and blue trim. The link I'm attaching came up with a similar scheme.

Here is a link that might be useful: Someone else's brick & siding color discussion

The problem with that orange brick is it's hard to find a good complimentary trim color, in my very humble opinion. You're stuck with a few colors that work -- grays of various shades -- but in the final analysis don't look great. Ugly brick is ugly brick, & you can't finesse it with a trim color. If you like the brick, that's one thing, but if you don't like it to begin with, you're not going to like it even after spending money on a paint job for the trim.

The current roof color is tricky to work with too, so you've got the double problem of finding a color that works with the brick that works with the roof as well.

I love brick siding, but not all brick is beautiful.

I definitely would not paint the brick - it will become a maintenance issue. On a house I owned earlier, the previous owner had painted the brick. It was constantly in need of repainting, but since we hated it we refused to paint it. It looked like one of the old country French chateau (not!) . It took almost 27 years for most of the paint to peel off.

My current house has almost the same color brick as yours, but mine is a 2 level with a light siding upper story.. I think you need to go for a lighter color in the wood areas to lift up the roof line visually. The color of the roof is similar to mine, too.

As an aside, I think it would also look better to have similarly toned window treatments (at least for the outside appearance), as the contrast between the 2 sides of the house makes it look as if the windows aren't similar, which they are.

Landscaping will make it beautiful...

Helene

It's possible that your brick is much uglier in person. I've certainly seen some brick that deserved to be painted!

If the brick is that bad, individually painting the surfaces (no mortar!) of some of the orange ones in a brick color might tone it down without being a maintenance issue. If the paint peels off those bricks it won't be obvious. Really, painted brick isn't objectionable. It's the painted mortar that is.

Ok, I am pretty set on painting the brick. I don't think I should have to drive up to my house & say ugh I hate this brick everyday...my house is what you see when you drive into the neighborhood & it looks like an orange pumpkin when the sun shines on it. I plan on living here for a very long time as houses aren't ever for sale in this neighborhood & it's right by my family.

With that said, we got estimates on painting & total is $5100 for everything, wood only is $3850 (detached shop & sunroom in back are both all wood). As it's a little more than we are willing to spend right now, we are thinking of splitting it up. Should we do brick first? Or wood first? Only thing with with wood first is, I love the first scenario AWM03 came up with & I feel like the green trim would look crazy with the orange brick for a little while. Wondering if painting the brick green would look too bad with faded cedar for a little while. I'm thinking this might be the better option, than paint all the wood maybe in a yr. or so? AWM03, could you please do a work-up both ways? Or tell me a website I could use to play with it? NEED HELP!!!

Countrywood, I too was in your same predicament last year. I had a yellow/orange to work with. I too seriously started considering painting the brick.

It was when I stopped trying to have the color combinations that I liked (seperate from elements of my house) and worked WITH the brick instead of against it. Now I'm HAPPY that I have the brick that I do. In fact the neighbor a few houses down, painted their house the same color combination as ours. I heard once that all colors look good, it's just what is around it that makes it look good or bad.

I used the Sherwinwilliams.com free website. You download your house and change out the colors. It was great! I used it not to get the perfect colors (since computers don't reflect color that well) but to narrow my choices.

I included the before and after (landscaping was photoshopped in).

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CQ, I used the Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer and also MS Paint (basic, but helpful).

Must say I'm excited for you about this house. The design fundamentals are great! Someday when you get the colors changed & the landscaping fixed, you'll have a truly beautiful home.

May we have a peek at the interior too?

I have a brick that I love and would never paint it. However, our local small town Dairy Queen gave their building a nice face lift about a year ago and painted the brick and trim. Every time I walk in there, I am SO IMPRESSED with the quality of the painted brick. It is a nice creamy beige, looks like a high-gloss paint, and there is not a blemish on it. DH laughs at me because I always reach out and touch the brick as I go through the door. Now, there is no comparison between a Dairy Queen and your home (lol) but the paint job is perfection.

$5100 sounds like a great price for your entire paint job.

Tuesday

How about staining the brick instead painting it. Might remove the maintenance part and get you a color you'd like instead.

I like the brick and would not paint it. Once brick is painted, there is no going back.

We're dealing with painted brick on a rental property we own, and it is a real pain. I can't tell you how many times we've said "I wish they never painted the brick!"

Agree with many others. With my dollars I, personally, would:
1. Paint/stain the siding
2. Match the 2 front windows
3. Put in a walkway to the front door with landscaping
4. Only then consider the brick, which will probably be fine.

Instead of painting the brick, I would recommend a limewash instead. It has been used for centuries on masonry and brick surfaces. The lime, salt, pigments chemically react with the brick to form a permanent bond which gradually wears off over decades. You adjust the opacity by the number of coats applied and can add more wash whenever you want. Limewashing allows the brick to breathe and will not cause damage to the brick. It's more complicated to apply in that you need to wear a mask and gloves. You can buy it premixed or make it yourself using hydrated lime, salt, portland cement and optional pigments. It also needs to be done in a certain temperature range to allow the chemical reaction between the brick and lime to proceed.

A gw member ppps7 used a limewash from US Heritage on her new construction brick home. It looks amazing. Here is alink to a thread where she and I talked about limewash.

http://ths.gardenweb.com//forums/load/build/msg0519572419310.html

General info
http://www.traditionalplaster.com/?view=765âÂÂ=824

US Heritage is one supplier of premixed limewash that I have found. They also do custom colors. I have 3 gallons of the wash in my garage for my rental property. I never got to it as i am not allowed to stand on a ladder anymore or at least till the baby is born.
http://www.usheritage.com/form/marketing-limewash.pdf

For more information, just google limewash or whitewash. I think this is the answer to your problem and doesn't add any maintenance issues since washes don't peel off.

I think the brick would look great with a wash on it. I had a fireplace that color which drove me crazy till I stained it darker so I feel your pain.

Instead of painting the brick, I would recommend a limewash instead. It has been used for centuries on masonry and brick surfaces. The lime, salt, pigments chemically react with the brick to form a permanent bond which gradually wears off over decades. You adjust the opacity by the number of coats applied and can add more wash whenever you want. Limewashing allows the brick to breathe and will not cause damage to the brick. It's more complicated to apply in that you need to wear a mask and gloves. You can buy it premixed or make it yourself using hydrated lime, salt, portland cement and optional pigments. It also needs to be done in a certain temperature range to allow the chemical reaction between the brick and lime to proceed.

A gw member ppps7 used a limewash from US Heritage on her new construction brick home. It looks amazing. Here is alink to a thread where she and I talked about limewash.

http://ths.gardenweb.com//forums/load/build/msg0519572419310.html

General info
http://www.traditionalplaster.com/?view=765âÂÂ=824

US Heritage is one supplier of premixed limewash that I have found. They also do custom colors. I have 3 gallons of the wash in my garage for my rental property. I never got to it as i am not allowed to stand on a ladder anymore or at least till the baby is born.
http://www.usheritage.com/form/marketing-limewash.pdf

For more information, just google limewash or whitewash. I think this is the answer to your problem and doesn't add any maintenance issues since washes don't peel off.

I think the brick would look great with a wash on it. I had a fireplace that color which drove me crazy till I stained it darker so I feel your pain.

Sorry about the double post. I left the window open on the computer. It resent the form.

I LOVE painted brick and could see a nice creamy color on your bricks with a tan on the wood (if the roof has brown in it, which is what I see on my monitor).

Thank you so much to the ones who say paint brick! I absolutely LOVE painted brick also. AWM, I will get interior pics up for you as soon as the outside gets painted. My fireplace is the same horrendous brick & I need help with that too! The painter is coming Thursday...I am thinking in the direction of SW Macadamia, Latte or Dormer Brown on the house & possibly re-staining the cedar a dark brown with larger shutters & front door in the same stain. Will look into that more after the brick is painted. Do you think these colors are too brown & should be lighter creams? I'm just afraid it will be too yellowish, which I hate!

I'm definitely NOT a color expert, but looking at the photo-shopping, think going lighter on the cedar looks better, since your roof is also dark. Notice how the dark siding on your porch really makes that area recede. I think I also read somewhere that you should use darker colors toward the bottom of a house to "ground" it. Just another thing to think about.....