Thank you for the compliment!! I knew I was always liked old houses, but never really thought anything about it when we bought this one (didn't know it's true age at the time). Having an old house sort of feels like old coin collecting ~ and it starts an obsession. Anything we've done to the house, we've done ourselves. Lucky my husband has a knack for learning new things. Anyways, the huge Poplar came down right before we did the roof. 20 feet from the front of our house, 9 feet in circumference, 80 feet tall meant it should/had to come down. I felt sort of sick about it at first because it was healthy, but I'd like to find some life out of the whole scenario. I'm trying to sweet talk hubby into getting a few logs to a saw mill and let them cut a few thick slabs for a one-of-a-kind wood countertops. He says that's pushing it over the edge and afraid it would be ugly (like he thought the roof would be). =)

Your brick is a really beautiful blend of colors. I'd let that be the star feature of your house instead of trying to overwhelm it with paint color. Your house is formal, so dress it up with subtle accessory colors. For bright color, depth, & texture, talk to a landscape designer and do something special with the yard. I like this Certainteed Landmark Old Overton shingle with your brick. It's a soft black/gray blend without a blue cast. And I couldn't get it right in this mock up -- waaay to bright & not the right shade -- but I think an off-white would work really well with the bricks. Something soft & antique looking, a white with a hint of putty. The door -- I've used a dark blue here, which is just ok. Perhaps strip the door & stain it a rich wood color? A super high gloss black would look good too. Or a super high gloss in your trim color, perhaps a shade darker, would be sophisticated, especially if you pump up the landscaping. Trimming the shrub by the door would have big visual impact too.

It's so easy to misjudge exterior color. I spent weeks painting swatches of color on our siding, but it was early springtime, overcast and on the east side of the house. I thought I was choosing a dark green gray. Well, it was more green than gray and unfortunately, in the summer afternoons when the sun was orangey-er in color, the west side of the house (our back yard) took on the nastiest greenish brown color. UGH! It really bothered me for the first few months in the summer, but I eventually didn't think about it anymore. sherwin williams has a handy app that allows you to take a photo of something and use it to find their paint colors to match. If you'd like help with your sidewalk/front step project, you might start a new thread with photos focused on the walkways. Personally, I like concrete sidewalks I just might replace what you have with wider paths.

When I was choosing the room color I tried the online Owens-Corning site to play around with the colors. When I had narrowed it down to 4 colors I asked the contractor for strip of each to try out. I think the strips were about 30" wide and 8-10" tall (not skimpy littles samples). We laid them on the roof across the front of the house and kept them there for about a week so every time we drove up to the house we could evaluate the colors.