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Put the spray gun down, step away from the brick, and nobody gets hurt.

Seriously. Painting that brick will not only devalue the house, but removes the variation in colors that add interest.

But the brown of the trim looks a little off on my monitor--like National Park Service brown.

So happy to hear you decided not to paint the bricks. I think the right color combo is all you need. Here is Sherwin Williams' read on your brick colors based on your photo. Perhaps it will help you choose a trim and siding color.

Your lawn looks fabulous.

Please don't do shutters here. And have some wine every time you consider the spray paint gun...

Are you in Texas by any chance? I see so many houses like that here...

I feel you on the love/hate exterior thing...the things I don't like about the exterior of my house, I REALLY don't like...

As far as your house..I have been told to keep the shrubs below the window line, so I'm doing that, and think it's the right thing to do with yours also.

Can you show us what's going on in the archway directly to the right of the garage?

And please don't take offense, but when I see those concrete tree rings, I always get a little bit sad...

Oh that's a lovely, lovely feature...! Would you consider removing that tree? That gate is what makes the house and should be the star....

ETA: Yes yep YES...Get rid of that tree....if there's any pushback, talk about roots and gutters and foundation issues, etc...

Wgricius...If you start your own post, responses to your question won't get mixed up with those meant for original poster here. You'll get more responses, too.. :)

Don’t paint your brick, you just need to find the right colours to enhance it. Benjamin Moore Copley grey and Elephant Tusk trim, note the brown roof on this house photo. I would see how it looks against your grout and the brick.
Too bad the tree is so close to the house. You could have an arborist take a look at it to see if it should be removed or limbed up. Don’t try pruning it yourselves, you need a pro for that. Dangerous and not a good look if it’s not done properly.

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I would seriously consider cutting down that tree thing next to the garage. Is it one of those cypress bushes that are so cute when they are two feet tall? I was pointing them out to my daughter yesterday on the way home. They grow up to eat cute houses.

SW Ramie and Urbane Bronze are nice colors. You have a nice solid house.

I'm believing that iron should be black...that's just my opinion. Once the tree is gone we can see it better ;)

Just do it...

My landscape is a work in progress...so far, as I said, I've replaced the foundation shrubs with Japanese boxwood to just "underline" the windows...I'll fill in with taller things between...

Your shrubs can take a real hard cutback (won't look pretty for a while, but they will fill out)

Well all I can do is insist. Plus it's really hiding the star (wrought iron gate) of your house....\

Can we talk about beautiful wrought iron lamps? It would direct people to the front door and make it more of a feature...

Many good suggestions here. You might also consider enlarging the planting areas around the trees. They were probably a good size when the trees were small but now look out of proportion to my eye. You could create larger circles or (my preference) irregular shapes -- maybe even connect the planting beds. Larger planting beds would allow you to add color and texture to the landscape. And (yippee!) you could go plant shopping.

Nice home. Please don't paint the brick ... unless you want major regrets.

You could change the front look of the home by adding either a cupola to the roof -- many different size and style options; or

You could add a dormer/forward facing gable to the roof -- perhaps over the entry only or the entry and the left side of the home -- the roof of which could be extended to create a front portico or larger front porch at a later date.

The only way I can think of to actually change the look of the front of the home on a tight budget is to do it in stages.

If you don't want to do anything to the existing roof, you could

add an arbor over the front entry (and, if your cut a tree, also over the left half of the home)

beneath which you could add a small patio

which could later become a poured concrete porch floor

with a roof.

Adding a sidewalk and landscaping between the sidewalk and house it could make a difference.

If your tree is not the cedar monster, leave it and have it laced out/thinned out a bit. Yes, remove the white ring and enlarge the bed. I always add some red and yellow flowers to accent the beds. With some clearing, that center bed would be great with geraniums and caladiums.

I'm so excited to see this with the tree gone!!

(winks and runs)

Those online paint programs are really useful for helping to decide colors (all the major retailers offer them). Still do a tester, but they can at least narrow down the general shade. I actually like the brown because I think they complement the window trim. I am usually not a fan of the arches, but they really look perfect on your home. I think it's all landscaping that will make the difference here. Bring in some nice lime greens with big-leaved hosta's and some fun colors.

I don't like taking down mature trees unless they are actually causing harm or have completely outgrown their spaces. I like tqtqtbw's suggestion of thinning and maybe raising some limbs. Have it done by an actual arborist, not someone who scalps and ruins trees for a living. Your house will be beautiful with a small amount of outdoor work! Love to see another post when you finish.

My husband and I did talk, and removing the tree would be the very last thing we would ever do to our yard. We don’t super love it, but we don’t hate it at all enough to take it down. I do see the good behind it not being there, but I also love all of the nice shade it provides and also the birds it gives a home to. We are going to have it trimmed down though. That should make a good difference. I am loving all of the landscaping ideas...all things I never considered would make a difference, but I see would be very beneficial now. Here is a picture of our house as of last week. Not too much of a change since the original pictures I posted (they are from when we moved in in Feb 2017) but still a work in progress for sure.

This isn't quite right, but maybe someone can do a better job with some of the ideas here. Or use it to move in a better direction.

I use Paintshop Pro, a photo & graphics program similar to Photoshop, but am not a sophisticated user. My skills are pretty much cut & paste & erase & paint! If you have a PC & would like to try your hand at this stuff, you might start with Paint.net It's free, has layering capability, & is a great way to learn photo editing basics. I use that program too sometimes.

The Windows snip tool is terrific too for working with images. For example, the walkway in your house picture: I actually searched for images of stamped concrete driveways, snipped a rectangle from a picture of one, then pasted it in your house picture to fudge what appears to be a walkway.

Believe me, it's all stuff anybody can learn to do with a little patience. I got started with the little MS Paint applet when I wanted to visualize our own exterior remodeling ideas. The picture I came up with was very crude (I barely knew how to use Paint), but it's surprising how much the finished remodeling job resembled that initial crude rendering. (The remodel is more polished, of course!)

Me too^^

If you don't want to remove the tree, I think it's the perfect way to bring the necessary attention to the gate..

Maybe a small bistro set and some potted plants so you can enjoy hearing the birds sing..

Glad everyone talked you out of painting brick. Aside from aesthetics and value, I have heard mention that painting brick is a poor choice because it can allow moisture to get trapped between the brick and paint and cause a lot of damage.

Get a great tree trim, find the perfect shade of deeper brown to paint the siding on the side of the house, and save up money for a really nice oak garage door stained a beautiful color to coordinate with the bricks.