Insofar as arts & crafts style meant honest materials/ design your heavy 6x6 newels/guardrails are fine. By honest materials, I mean shingles and heavy timbers that aren't ashamed about what they are. 20 years previous, Victorians embraced the idea of all forms of sham and pretense. The porch posts were more like table legs writ large. The popular furniture style du jour was expended into the porch, the cornice, and the dormers! If a material could be tortured into a convoluted shape by saw or blade, it was. Or they cast it in plaster and tacked it on. Was it supposed to be emulating ancient stonework? then paint wood it and embed the surface with sand! Instant faux-stone. Things would not always (if ever?) be what they appeared. A&C was a reaction against this, and timber and shingle and natural lines without artifice and pretension were embraced. Your little bungalow is a simple expression of an honest ideal. "Let things be what they are". They _did_ like to use oversize elements, especially on the porch. Think of the huge pyramidal rounded fieldstone piers, and knee-braces and timbered gable decorations. Brutalism is something else entirely. It's about raw unfinished (and intentionally roughened) concrete surfaces. Not 6x6 porch railings. I grew up in a 1938 house that was sort of a stone cape cod and adirondack lodge combo. It had a third-floor interior balcony/catwalk enclosed with 4x6 white pine rails and 6x6 newel posts. Woodsy, but not brutal. The stair treads were solid 6x10's. I should scan the construction photo album from that place some day... Casey

Not at home now, but here are the rustoleum colors. I used the bottom right bronze. The top left is the oil rubbed bronze, it is the darkest. If you went with that color it would probably mesh well with black. The lighter bronze is more neutral, and is my favorite. Rustoleum makes regular paint in cans as well as spray. Though I think the spray gives a better finish than a brush or roller. The cost is probably worth it. If you are feeling particularly handy, or if Dad is helping, why not look into renting a paint spray set up. Prep your railings then mask and drop cloth everything well before you paint. If you have bare metal you surely need to prime. But I did not prime my lamp or frame, just a thorough cleaning and light sanding and cleaning again to remove dust. I'm sure priming would be a good idea, of course. The paint I used was supposedly paint&primer in one.

You have a very classic home, so stick with that. I'd say white pillars and railings. It's classic and will work well with your other choices. This example isn't your home style or material but you get an idea of the colors. For the porch flooring that really depends. Remember that too dark or too light will show everything. Try to find a medium natural color.

Thanks for the advice and opinions. Please keep them coming. We bought the house two years ago, which was built in 1997 (but looks much older IMO). I've heard from neighbors that the builder did not like original homeowner's plans. I've had some designers and an architect come for ideas, and usually, they'll say, "I'm not normally a fan of painting brick, but this orangish-pink brick is one of the uglier bricks I've seen." Maybe I should look into lime-washing instead of painting? I'm still torn about how to best bring this very non-cookie cutter house into the 21st century. We bought the house for the curb appeal of the back yard but need the front to say, "Welcome Home," too.