Here is another option. It is Charleston green shutters (almost black looking with the deeper dark red door:

I like the black and deep red, but i'm thinking with your brickwork a really dark tealy blue would look nice for the shutters.

I think the black looks fabulous.

I don't think you'd have to change the shade of red on the door.

Adorable house! and love your colors. I actually wouldn't put shutters on the bay. I think you could finish/fill the area by strategically placing a lamp post (or beautiful bird house), and maybe a flowerbox. The black looks great. A dark black-garnet shutter would be nice also.

Ok, now I'm really undecisive. I love the lamp post and window boxes.

Actually I was going to put the black light fixtures up to replace the white ones but didn't include that in the pic.

Thanks so much for the visuals. You really make my house cute and gave me something to think about.

Couldn't I still put the shutters around the bay window and still do window boxes and lamp post or would that be too much going on?

I think you could do them all. I love shutters, even when they're not functional, but just wouldn't do them on that type of window set.

Very charming home : )

No shutters on the bay window please. The first thing I thought of was "that window has earmuffs" LOL

Shutters were meant to serve a purpose, and I know that people do them where they serve no purpose, but on a bay window, I just don't see it at all. Sorry.

I would do the lampost and why not have a custom built window box that wraps around the entire window, not just under the centre one.

squirrelheaven, where did you pull that lamp post from? I love the looks of it. I did a quick check at Home Depot and Lowes but didn't see anything that nice.

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for your advice.

I agree. No shutters on the bay window. The lights and flower boxes add character!

I like a deeper brown-red. I just did BM Cottage Red on my doors and I love it and think that shade would be nice on yours.

I think I've made up my mind. I'm so glad I posted here and got some good ideas. I love the visuals.

I really think I'm going to paint the door and shutters on porch a darker deep red and I love the window box around the bay window and I love the lamp post (if I can get one that cute). I too was going to do the black lighting and replace what's there now. I think that will look cute and add the character. Thanks so much everyone.

Wow, that wooden lamp post is so old. I'm not sure where I got it. Could possibly have even come from a sign company. I doubt I will remember, but will keep it in mind! Try a search on wooden lamp posts. I know I was looking for an old-fashioned one.

Didn't want to get carried away : ) I was afraid it was too much. Long as I've got it up here .. adorable!

Here is my wooden light post that I had custom made that I love. Would look great in your space!

I like the window boxes under all three bay windows.

scottmel, that's a beautiful post and house. I like your landscaping also.

Right now I'm kind of liking this one:

You have a charming home.

No shutters on the bay - they look like an afterthought, and don't fit any of the windows there. I also wouldn't do window boxes on the bay - they just make the angularity more pronounced, and chop up the bay.

I do like the window boxes on the front of the porch.

I would also get rid of the shutters on the window on the porch. Instead, I would add more substantial support posts there, to give some dimension and detail to the porch itself. If there is room, a couple of chairs with print cushions could be nice in front of the window.

I would take out all the rounded bushes in front of the sidewalk (they kind of look like muffins or cupcakes), and the taller ones in front of the porch and bay - you lose the charm of the brick behind all those bushes, and also the depth of the bay is not visible. Instead, I would do taller pyramidal yews on either side of the bay, and then lower plantings along the rest of the front so that the brick is seen. If you can't fit chairs on the porch, a charming bench down in front of the porch, once the rounded bushes are gone, would be nice.

Given that you have the dark grey or soft black roof, I wouldn't do black on the door. Instead, I would do the black/green color.

A birdbath or fountain would be cool in the corner of the house to the left of the stairs, or a flowering taller bush of some kind would be nice - maybe a red-stick dogwood. Or get one of the taller metal plant hooks that stake in the ground and would support a larger hanging basket there.

I like the dark red. I'm thinking a bit darker on the shutters, so the door stands out a bit more.

Had another thought for the corner, something upright, along the lines of the shape of this tree hydrangea. Looks like you've got about a 4' spread and this one goes to 6', though. Don't know if it's happy being pruned. But, have seen similar things. Or evergreen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea Tree - Half way down the page

You know, a cottage-y flower garden would look nice in that island bed under the lamp post : )

Thanks squirrelheaven for all the visuals.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I can't make a lot of changes at this point as I just was wanting to change the shutter color and add/remove shutters but when I saw the lamp post, I fell in love with the character it gave the house. I had the one plant stand that I keep filled with flowers beside my front door. I guess I can put it in the back yard so I don't have window boxes and planters....maybe too much going on.

I think I'm going to take the advice and not put shutters around bay window. And I love the lamp post so I want to add that and of course I love the flower boxes but who knows if I could keep them looking pretty all year. I may just start out with one on the bay and the one on front rail and add more later on the bay if I decide to or I may just do all by the bay. Ack! It all looks cute.

Since I don't have but one set of shutters on the house and one front door, why would it look better to have each different colors? Why does having the door and shutters the same color not work? I'm just curious and interested.

I've always liked black shutters/trim on a white house, but I really dont' have much trim on the house. I figured too that I wouldn't be so limited to feel like I had to plant red flowers each year to kind of blend in. I added the shutters to the bay window when I was considering making the shutters all black and thought the black bay window shutters would balance out so I'd have a set of shutters on each side of the red door. That's why I did that.

But after seeing all the visuals, keeping it red looks good with all the added character but still curious why most say to make door different that shutter color.

Thanks everyone so much for your help and suggestions.

Agree that the shutters on the bay look out of place.

I would use wider shutters than the existing ones on your porch window, and paint them black.

Window boxes on all three windows of the bay or on none, and no "window" boxes hanging on the railing, which looks messy and ruins the sight lines of the porch, imo.

You have a very pretty house!

I agree with you that, with only two things to paint, one color is good. Not that I don't like the black. I just think doing a darker garnet on the shutters makes the door more focal, but still remains much the same. When both are the exact same red, they seem to bring equal attention. Both reds are adorable though! and I love them : )

The deeper red has more flexibility with other colors than the bright one, I think.

Off season, for the windowboxes, there's cabbage, small pumpkins and such. Mini evergreens or just greens and berries in the winter : ) They do take work though, as frequent watering is necessary. I find those moisture beads that can be added to soil do help a lot. My boxes aren't out now, to try them there, but the planter by my door needs little attention now (not much Sun though). It even went for weeks last year. Even the impatiens were fine.

Have fun!

Ivy is also a good choice year 'round for flower boxes. There are winter hardy ivies for northern climates.

Thanks all to compliments on the house. That's nice of you.

Squirrel, I see what you're saying about 2 different shades of the same color. That makes sense. I'll consider that.

Since I do like black because it matches things better is there a way with just one set of shutters to do this in black? Should the door be black also or would that look bad? Wouldn't it looked too pieced together to have door and shutters 2 different colors?

If I can do black, then I think the red looks cute and I'll keep it in the deeper red family.

I can also do pansies in the winter. They do really well during the colder season. I'm in SC so it doesn't get that cold or snow often.

Thanks for suggestions on what to put in planter.