Precious house! Definitely a color. Something in the taupe family?

Catknapp, a former GW member, lived in southern CA in a similar house. Wish I could find some of her photos to show you.

Sorry, but I LOVE it the way it is!

I think a color would be terrific. I like taupe (disclaimer:my house is taupe with a purple door) as well as some soft green shades.

You have a wonderful house and I think adding color would help show that off!

White White....just as it is!! Great house....but for that squared off shrub by the garage....LOL!!
Certain things are classic and your house is one!

I love crisp white houses, I would love to paint ours white but DH grew up in white houses and wanted something different. I'm with you though, after white for a while maybe a color would be fun. I have a brick base like yours and a similar roof. My original color was a Benjamin Moore color that is a pale yellow, we also have dark grey cobblestone sidewalks. Here's a pic, but the yellow is very washed out in this pic don't know why.

Here's a pic of one side showing the yellow(ignore the yard, this was a before pic of my hosta bed).

I'm about to repaint this fall, I think I'm going with a light peacock blue with black shutters and a red door, or grey/green with same accents.

Annette

I LLOOVVEE your house! It has so much charm, nomatter the color!
I grew up near a pristine victorian with a carraige barn. It was dark grey. That would be stunning. Of course, it would also be very east coast.

Here is a link that might be useful: Westchester gray

I'd leave it white and add tons of color through landscaping. LOVE YOUR HOUSE!

BTW, unless you are going to redo your roof (gray, yes?) I would stay away from the taupe/tans/browns. Your driveway is gray, too . . .

Yours is one of those houses that gets sold from the curb. I would buy your house without even going inside.

House colors generally should reflect the local community. What would work back here in the East may be totally inappropriate where you are.

I would go with a sagey green color...BM's Nantucket Gray with the red door, gray roof and white fence would be gorgeous. Add pops of red and purples in your landscape.

You could go with another color, but it wouldn't look as good as the white. I think your current color scheme is perfect.

I'd do a pale yellow or pale green. Something that gives a little contrast with white trim but is still mellow is what I'd shoot for....

When I decided to paint our poop brown wood siding on our cottagey ranch house, I went with lavender because I knew someday we'd replace the siding and wanted something one could not find in a building supply store if I was going to bother to paint. The p.o.s had painted the brick lower part white and we knew we'd be adding a gray roof. Since it is a one level house and the lower part is white, there is not a huge expanse of color anywhere. If you did a pale lavender and painted the front door a mossy green, it would be spectacular with your style house. Luckily, my dh did not mind (mostly because I did all the painting, lol). It really changed the entire look of the house and we get a lot of compliments.... We may not side for a very long because we like it so much now....

I have a white and brick house with black shutters, so.....!:)
I think the comment that you have to think about your existing roof color is a good one before deciding on a color change.
I also agree that rethinking your landscape would be just the change you need.

I am not very good with photoshopping as I only have MS Paint on this computer, but here goes:

dianalo - have we seen a picture???? I must see the lavender house. Sounds lovely. :)

thanks for the input everyone! and dianalo, I love the idea of painting the garage door a different color - I hadn't even thought of that but it is a great idea. Thanks for the mockup, too. I have been wanting to do that but have no idea how.

anele, you make a really good point about the roof and driveway being grey. I was leaning towards a light grey or pale blue but it may be too matchy matchy with the roof/driveway.

We're going to walk around the neighborhood today and look at some different color schemes. I love the idea of a sage green door and shutters. And maybe bring in some other colors on the trim (beige, chocolate?)

I like the white! I agree about the greys too. My house is white, but I love a grey house. I think that the door as it is goes well with the brick. I do think it would be interesting to paint the garage door though.

I like the white

My neighbor uploaded a photo to Sherwin Williams Visualizer and it worked really well for her.

Jennifer

Here is a link that might be useful: Sherwin Williams Visualizer

I like the white too, but I think I would try something more fun for the shutters and the front door than black and red.

Periwinkle? Aubergine? Tangerine?

dianalo, I love the idea of a sophisticated lavender. It would be charming on a house like pipdog's and different too. Nice mock-up!

I was going to suggest a pale warm shell pink (emphasis on pale). It would work with the greens in the landscape, the roof color & the driveway too. It's cottage-y and would be elegant if you stay away from the candy-like pinks. There's a historic colonial near us that's painted a warm pink and it's beautiful.

Totally agree with anele "I'd leave it white and add tons of color through landscaping. LOVE YOUR HOUSE!"
To me it is a blank canvas just waiting for colorful landscaping to complete the picture.

I wouldn't paint the garage door a different color from the house as I would not want to draw attention away from the house to the garage door.

I agree with sis3 & anele!

I think your house is beautiful as is, but here are some fun ideas for color:

My personal favorite:

I was going to say leave it white until I got to olychick's post. I don't know if her first picture is green or gray, but I love it with the white trim.

I like white, too, but for something different I was also thinking along the lines of yellow.

There is a fabulous yellow house in Montecito just steps from the beach. It's sunny without being garish. While they were building it, I'd walk my dogs by and just smile. I really envied the people who lived there. :) Wish I'd thought to take a picture of it before I moved away from Santa Barbara.

I love so many things about your interior...and now love the charming exterior as well. Can't wait to see what you decide on doing!

binsd, that's funny because I was looking for a nice yellow pic to post and wouldn't have thought to look in SB (or Montecito) because of all the white with red clay roofs, but here is a great yellow house in SB.

It's copyrighted so I can't paste it here but here's the link - there are some other really great examples at this site, too:

Here is a link that might be useful: nice yellow, too.

I am liking the white. Why not change out the shutters on the front and the front door? Not liking green either. How about a turquoise or one of those lovely blue colors from BM?

We're going to look at some paint colors tomorrow...will post more later once we've made a decision. thanks again for all the helpful input!

olychick, I absolutely love that last house you posted with the bright red front door! what a charmer!

It is funny, but I did not change the garage door color. I used MS Paint and it did weird things to the roof too. Looking at it here, it seems like I made the top part brown....
I'd either do the garage door with the 2 light tones or keep it all white. I'd paint it last to see how it looks white first with the new house color.
When I was working on the mock up, the lavender was either too strong or too light. I went with too light because the next step up was garish. Our lavender is sometimes very subtle, but when you see the nearby white, you realize it is not white too. It also looks different as the light changes throughout the day.
I'll try to take an exterior pic of our house tomorrow. The landscaping needs a major trim, but the blooming trees out front are at their best. I work from my office Thurs-Sun and from home Mon-Wed (much fewer hours), so can do some work on them in the a.m. and take a neater photo ;) Although, it sounds like it is raining outside at the moment...

I like the white too..But, I would paint the cross sections on your garage doors. They seem too white and the black hardward doesnt' seem to standout enough. You may even want to add some more hardware to jazz it up.

I saw a very pretty home that was a soft sage green and the trim was a pretty beigy tan...Though, you have a lot of green in your landscape.

Sorry, but can't take pix today. Have too much to do inside and have appts, so won't get to outside cleanup until tomorrow a.m.. It does help that it is 90 degrees outside at the moment and rising.

I like the white too, but I agree with the other suggestions - make the door, shutters and garage door pop. Add your color there. Maybe something in the navy family as it wouldn't look "off" with the roof and would still be a sharp contrast. What a lovely house though!

I like the white also but think a very pale grey would work. I agree with not using taupes/tans with the roofing. I also agree with not accenting the garage door. I'd concentrate on the front door and shutters and as someone else suggested - the landscaping.

tina

Hm...I love the white house as is personally but whatever you do, I vote for not making garage doors 'pop'. While you happen to have much nicer garage doors than most of humanity, I fall into the camp that firmly believes garage doors benefit from being painted in.

like it how it is

I wouldn't chance a thing and leave all the charm just as it is! Beautiful house!

I love the white too. Am entranced with the carriage garage door. My take would be adding straps to them and enhance. Or give the door to me..... You house looks great as it stands, darling welcoming home.

If you did enhance the garage, I'd also look at using antique replicas of shutter hardware too.

And a bit of landscaping. But for me, stay white. It is so easy to touch up when needed. Other colors for shutters, door, etc. I haven't any recommendations. But I do like the green pics posted with white trim and doors.

olychick - I love all the houses you posted! Especially the purple one. ;) Santa Barbara & Montecito actually have a lot of Craftsman style homes. I love the architecture there.

pipdog - how are the houses in the rest of your neighborhood painted? Just curious. Are they more adventurous types (your neighbors) or are the houses pretty uniform in color & style?