Can you post a close-up of your brick? Hard to tell the color.

Not sure if it is in your scope but the two large evergreens, Christmas tree and shaved single hedge, IMO should be removed. Just don't think they are doing much for your cause. The Japanese maple is lovely and kind of over shadowed by the big tree. For $$$ you could have it,the Christmas tree, replanted out, farther away from the house, on your property.

Ok back to the paint. Can you paint your siding or would you replace? If replace I would add some eave trim and trim out the upstairs windows. Gray could work depending on the brick. Then sure, paint that front door. Maybe consider very dark, dare I say black, trim? That might punch up the house a notch. The doors would look best in a dark color that kind of camos the style.

I think it's hard to see from that photo whether the colors in the bricks would look well with darker/grayer siding. Maybe try a photo of the bricks closer up? I agree that "Christmas tree" and the other large green shrub would be best removed. I hate to kill a tree, so I don't make that suggestion lightly, but the placement is bad. I can't see dark red doors with that color brick. I like Missymoo's suggestion of going darker on the doors. If it's possible to paint the window trim and mullions, I'd paint them a darker color, too, if the siding is going to remain light. If you go with darker siding, the white might look better in contrast.

I live in a 1969 house, so I know the struggle of trying to update, and I hope you enjoy the process of choosing!

thank you maggiepatty and missymoo12..here's the brick pic upclose.

I think the evergreens block the house and agree on moving along with most of the shrubby looking stuff along the walk. I would probably not pick a red/orange tone with the burgundy leaves of the tree to the right and the tones of the Japanese maple. It looks like there is something in those color ranges growing under the right side lower window as well? What state are you located in? Helps when making planting suggestions

Kippy, we live in Pacific Northwest..

Yeah it looks like there is black or at least darker colors with the brick, so I think a gray might work well. But not necessarily a dark gray maybe a medium blue gray, because I stand by my idea of darker trim; all of it. If not black then the darkest gray you could find.

Is the siding gong to be replaced? Or just painted? I think your house could benefit from some beefed up trim around the second floor windows at least.

I think we are just budgeting for siding repainting or touch up for now. Unless you guys think the benefit from the higher cost of replacing would far outweigh the repainting cost in our case? Another worry we have is our house sits further inside and a bit smaller from our neighbors houses. I read that darker color would make houses looks even smaller and sits further in from the street ....opinions?

I agree that our trim needs to be beefed up. But since they are fairly new double pane windows, we didn't know if there is a way to just improve the trims while not replacing windows?

Thank you so much for all your inputs!

I agree that the landscaping is the biggest factor in detracting from your curb appeal. I would remove almost all of it and start with a softer look. I would remove the brown shutters. Pain the door a dark red first. Then see if you need other changes. With the overgrown landscape and a darker door you might be happy with the look.

Maybe some light fixtures and house numbers would dress things up.

I agree with the others about the landscaping....it seems disjointed. Rather than go to the huge expense of painting/replacing the siding right now (unless it's in bad shape and needs it), I would invest in a professional landscape plan instead. You will save a lot of money if you do most of the work yourselves and you can implement the plan slowly if necessary when you have the funds. They should also be able to make suggestions about the house itself and be able to recommend contractors who could,for example, beef up your windows. An easy and quick change in the meantime would be to paint your shutters and front door...I would go with a rust color from your brick.

I thought I recognized this as a PNW home. I'm in Oregon. I'd be all over that landscaping in a heartbeat, but I'm a gardener. It's not uncommon to see older homes that haven't updated their landscaping. Your landscaping probably looks like everyone else's on your street. The one thing you should stop doing is shearing and pruning all of your evergreens and let the foliage grow back. That large evergreen, for instance, is a beautiful graceful tree when not sheared off at human height.

I would paint the siding since that beige is dated with its pinky/yellow/tan undertone. There's no relationship to that color and the brick. Without that undertone in the siding, you could paint the door and shutters a dark gray-blue that pulls from the dark bricks. If you have a Codel Door dealer nearby, go look at their Flint color. They're made in Washington. I saw their doors at Parr Lumber.

Gray will look great with your pretty brick.

But not with the PNW rainy season. :) Just kidding. Looks so much better. The brackets are a great touch and inexpensive.

Yes, those pesky PNW rainy seasons. Why doncha send the water to California where they could really use it? ;)

Here
in the NE, our winters can be gray. There was a near-by house that had
the prettiest color scheme, I thought. It looked great against a
leaden winter sky. The house was gray with a violet undertone. It had
crisp white trim and glossy black shutters. When the ground was covered
with snow and with the deep black green of towering evergreens, it
looked great on a dim day. Subtle colors but so pretty: juuuust enough violet (leans towards blue, not red)
that it was relatively colorful and worked really well with the winter
landscape. I've tried to reproduce it here.Not advocating shutters on this window. I only drew them in to show the color combination.

ETA: Picture below. Having trouble uploading pictures in Houzz these days :(

We don't get snow. Just drip drip drip from October till May, then dry summers with little humidity.

Thank you again for all your inputs!! It has helped us a lot to get some ideas on what others think, to give us more confidence to make the right decision, esp going with the grayish siding..

Going on gray questions--I initally have found bungle house gray by SW but the more I look at it, not sure if it's the best choice?? Any suggestions of grey with that color of brick?

Thank you for putting things in perspective with your visualizer, awm03--I love it all esp the brackets idea!!!! Wonder what visualizer tool that you were using? What color was the gray in your first uploaded pic and was it the same on the second pic? do you think a dark red, for the shutter and double entry door would be strong enough contrast to the grey siding + brick? Or Black is the only best choice? Kind of worried about having black as our accent?:(

For the door and shutter, what do you guys think of sun dried tomato or french roast of SW?

I haven't read any of the other suggestions but personally would give your cottage style home a classic makeover with a creamy white paint in the siding and larger (black or antique brass) exterior lighting, and a red door. No shutters on bow window, and cut down overgrown landscaping in front of house. Lovely home!

Yes, kswl2. Thank you for your honest personal view. We have always struggle to decide to keep the classic lighter look or to more modern grayish look.