HOUSE: The brick is great! The roof is a pleasant neutral, and you say it's in good condition. What is strange is the way the windows are snugged against the gable, which is accentuated by the shutters. And the huge, glaring gable of course. Removing shutters and painting gable and other woodwork in something muted that blends with the roof and brick - maybe a grey-green or grey-blue? LANDSCAPE: It's got a nice lawn, but some planting around the house to emphasize the entry and the walk, and break up the expanse of brick on the right would be nice. You have a perfect spot for some small flowering trees and perennials between the walk and the house. RE: the GIMP ... originally was the General Image Manipulation Program, but its long name was changed to the "Gnu Image Manipulation Program" when GNU (http://www.gnu.org/ ) took over the development. The use of "gimpy" to mean "walks with a limp" is US slang dating from the 1920s. Do you also think cartographers should give up the use of "plot" because it's crude and insulting French slang, have all machinists and Irish dancers stop using "jigs", etc.?

I would suggest when you do paint the house that you paint the whole house first with that strip painted out so he can see it without and paint that piece of the trim last as then you can see how it would look without and with it. Well what I was trying to say is your house does lean towards the spanish revival and you keep saying you want spanish and not tuscan, mexican etc. and really what is spanish color theme tends to be white or a very light color that reads white with a darker trim color such as brown, or more very muted colors. Landscaping makes a huge difference in how a house looks too. What I'm wondering is if you really have settled in your mind what you want the house to be or if you really need the house to be one particular style. Many color will work for your house as long as you pick something that works with the roof color. Maybe it is your mentioning spanish that throws me off. BTW if you look at the picture I posted it is a very simple style except for the tower and the other items are things your house has or will have too. You have arches, you have the curved wall, the raised trim, you're adding a pergola (not a porch like in the house shown). You could on your gable sides add corbels either dark stained wood or faux looking wood like you're planning for the garage door. If you look at a spanish villa - they tend to be white, with tile roofs, mainly boxy. Some have arches, some have railings that are often white and look like concrete formed (don't know the correct terminology). I guess I would ask yourself do you want the spanish look, or does it really matter and should you just go with a color that you like and not worry about trying to keep to a particular style?

Agree on shutters, no shutters. If they can't be architecturally correct or at least appear to close and angle properly, no shutters. We do virtual exterior designs and recently did a more classic take on that same style house. We added trim boards and beefed up molding on windows. I know you are leaning modern farmhouse, but thought I would share for fun because house is SO SIMILAR. We also added some brick to bottom of columns and a great stained, wood door. This classic look will never go out of style :). We gave the client two color options.

Lovely home in need of an update, but nothing you can't live with for a while. You will get a ton of people telling you NOT to paint brick, and NOT to paint wood. Each person has their own opinion. I would paint the brick. The fireplace is massive and painting the brick white would modernize the room. My daughter just did her fireplace, and what a difference it made. As to the wood ceiling. I'm not sure - I'd do the fireplace and then see how you feel. As far as the kitchen cabinets go, I don't think that color is coming back anytime soon. In addition, they are the same color as the floor, so nothing shines. If they are "builder grade", or you feel you are going to make layout changes, then let them go for now as I wouldn't want to waste money painting them. If they are good quality cabinets, then that's a different story. However, before you decide to paint them, I'd be sure the kitchen layout worked for me. It looks like you have a built in refrigerator, and those can run 10K, so I wouldn't want to replace that with a cheap one. The other appliances could use an update, but again, live with them and see what is and isn't working for you. The backsplash needs to be replaced, as do the countertops, but again, make sure you know where you're headed before tackling that. I would totally paint the exterior brick. I simply LOVE painted brick and feel it makes a home much more charming than the sometimes ugly pink/red color. I'd also remove the mexican saltillo tile in the foyer and lace in hardwoods if possible. The front doors, while very charming, don't seem to go with the home. Painting the exterior white would help those doors to stand out. The columns on the porch look too skimpy and could be beefed up a bit. Yes, the landscaping needs help, but that is never my top priority. BTW - the home while built in the 60's, in no way reads Mid Century Modern to me. It simply reads 60's ranch.