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Exterior Paint Design Dilemma

Should we paint our brick?!?!

Jennifer Cooper

6 years ago

We need help! Our brick is an orange tone and are having new (larger) windows and having our stucco redone and new stucco! So I’m having a hard time choosing a color for the stucco so it doesn’t clash with the orange tone. We are thinking we are going to paint the brick, but so torn! HELP!!!

These are the colors I love:
Benjamin Moore Rockport Gray and Revere Pewter (not sure if we should do the bricks the lighter and stucco darker or vice versa)
With white trim!!!!

I’m also planning to do stained wood shutters on the front windows (if this helps with your advice).

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Comments (4)

decoenthusiaste
6 years ago
Consider James Hardie cement siding instead of stucco. Then you'll never have to fool with it again. Don't paint the brick; you don't want continued maintenance and it can be tricky to get it right. The country style wood shutters are totally the wrong style for your home even if you had appropriate widows for them, which you don't.
Rawketgrl
6 years ago
I agree with decoenthusiate: no shutters, don't paint outside brick.

A warm charcoal color for the field would help dampen down the orange tone. Larger window trim & trim color in a warm light gray tone. Paint the door an eye catching shade..
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To me, shutters look dumb when they can't possibly cover the windows that they flank. Painting brick will be turning a low- maintenance exterior surface into a relatively high high-maintenance surface. That is not what I would be wishing for on my house. Apart than the shutters, it is nice-looking house from the street. I would not mess with it for a while. The interior shots make it look like some nice spaces too. If I owned it, I would be jumping around like your girls are.
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If you want your brick to be damaged in 20 yrs by water/vapor trapped behind paint film, go ahead - lots of info readily available online about need to paint masonry with more breathable coating than acrilyc latex. Fwiw the US sources of silicate paints (Keim, Limeworks, etc.) can match any SW or other paint shade and.... you can get it as a colorwash if you want instead of opaque. Its actually quite affordable (comparable to mid-high end paint cost) esp considering it should last much longer. No I dont work for them but maybe they SHOULD put me on the payroll LOL. Its just that I spent 12 yrs researching what to do with my own masonry ....plus have to repair damage done to it by paint slapped on it 20-30 yrs ago by a PO.... so Ive gotten a bit passionate on the subject..
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If you have enough moisture on the brick, the paint will probably fail prematurely. I am assuming that section is a garage, which might make it colder and also encourage moss to grow. There are some solutions that help prevent regrowth that can be added to the power wash. Anyway, as nice as brick homes can look right after they're painted, it isn't worth the upkeep in the long run. Besides, your brick is good looking as is. Getting the right color on the gable section and the trim will be your best bet. Think about a creamy color instead of bright white. One red brick house change their trim from white to cream and the house looked so good. You would never think such a minor detail would make such a difference. A gable roof is like this /\. A shed roof is like half a gable. A house with shed roofs:A house with gable roofs:This house is predominately gable but has dormers with shed roofs:
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I like a brick color with a grey stone. Around here that typically means granite for the stone since it is supplied locally, but a bluestone or a gray cement would work well. Just make sure that it works well color-wise with your red and gray pavers as well as with the house color. I would only use two masonry materials in such a small space, though if you want your fire pit to be a freestanding metal piece, I don’t think that will be a conflict.
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Kathi Steele
6 years ago
NO shutters. DON'T paint the brick. A dark charcoal could look good. Make sure it has red oxide in it so it will go with the bricks.
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
6 years ago
You can paint or stain the brick. Paint if you are in a no freeze location. Stain if there is any chance your brick would be subjected to a freeze.

Fixer Upper paints brick because there is no deep freeze in Texas.

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