I have a red brick Bungalow with white trim around the eaves and white pillars out front. I built a 5 ft. white picket fence around the front yard (I have two huge dogs to keep in). My eldest son & I built a white arbor and gate that leads out to my Japanese Koi pond/garden. I planted English Ivy that has grown up on the arbor and under the cedars down on the front and up on the brick columns of the front porch. I have yellow Lady Banks roses growing up onto the front porch. The front door is Christmas red and the shutters on either side are my favorite green. My back yard is where my best cottage gardens are located as the front yard is too hot and too dry in summer and the dust boils up off the road, but I have evergreen landscape plants and roses and a huge, ancient lilac bush. I have Spring bulbs and grow Garden Phlox and in mid-Spring there are tall Larkspurs with deep blue spires. White flowering Bridle's Wreath and yellow flowering Forsythia grows along the fence row with pink and white fairy roses and Red Blaze climbing roses on the fence, and whatever else I can poke in there to fill in spaces. I have to rebuild my fence this year and paint it (ugh), but I love the look of an abandoned, ancient garden that has overgrown its boundaries and has run a muck! I like it, and that's what counts as far as I am concerned. The link below shows how my yard changes every year. A lot depends upon the weather each year, what I grow and what I don't. ~ sweetannie4u Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Cottage Garden in Oklahoma

@JDS. Yes, you're right, I do make recommendations/suggestions. But like any recommendation or proposal, you can take it or leave it. It's a recommendation, not a requirement. My show is for new builds primarily, but, to my surprise, house flippers and people who are remodeling have also been listening. I am definitely not a "pro" in general, as I admit on my "About Us" page, but based on the criteria of this forum, bloggers/podcasters can be considered pros (I emailed the Gardenweb administrators before I set up my profile to confirm). And finally, yes, the info on this site is free, as is the info on my site. I am not selling anything-- just teaching folks what I learn as I do research for my own future project.

I suspect that it is a fungus or mold. Esp. since the wall beneath the covered porch is stain free. I would try something like Wet n' Forget. Won't remove it immediately because it takes a while for the chemicals to kill the organisms. (You can save some $$ by using any quaternary disinfectant ; Wet n Forget is a quaternary disinfectant with clever marketing & a higher price tag.) *Edited to add that you could use chlorine bleach with immediate results. A quat will take longer to work but will give you residual control that bleach won't give you. Also, no risk of discoloring the brick with the quat. The bleach might give you streaky results??

Thank you all for the input! @hallettco, I appreciate the run down on what is involved with the trim, I had no idea it was that much work. Since we are at the end of the renovation that started in October, and they've already finished repairing the siding on the back, I don't think it is wise for us to start cutting up the siding! At least I know now to rule that out. It sounds like re: shutters that we should remove them from the horizontal windows and bay window (assuming that the brick looks ok underneath, we shall see). @Patricia Colwell and @houssaon, I'm curious what you mean about the size of the shutters? They are taller than the glass part of the windows, so I'm not sure how much bigger they could get?