You can do a technique called German Mortar Smear. Lots of videos on how to do on YouTube

Or you can stain or white wash the brick to change the color but keep the different shades of brick.

No one wants to up keep chipping paint. The stain or mortar will not chip but will have to be washed just like regular brick from time to time. Look for staining brick videos too.

Staining would be best, IMO. I love smear and lime, but not for this home.

Wisconsin Brick Stain Project · More Info

Crystal Lake, IL Exterior Brick Staining Project · More Info

I'd probably engage an architect to do something like this to the portico and front porch.

groveraxle - Thanks so much for taking the time to show me this and reply! It is so cool that you were able to create this! Is there an app or something that can be used to do this? I would love to play around and get more ideas. I'm so visual and the problem for me is trying to visualize things without actually seeing them. It is making it so hard for me to make decisions.

J C, it's Photoshop, not for the faint of heart. In my last comment, I uploaded the wrong photo, so I edited to upload the one where I relandscaped the front.

I took a stroll through your exterior ideabook and have to say the photos you have saved there are going in the wrong direction for this house. You can go contemporary or modern here, but trying to go craftsman will be a mistake. You'll be fighting the house all the way.

It's a great house. Consider getting an architect to redesign the portico and front porch.

Really nice house. Congrats.

Please don't paint the brick. Anything painted inevitably needs to be repainted and usually begins to look awful as it gets that way. The whole point of brick is low maintenance.

The back two story brick looks great as is.

The front brick doesn't even look to be the same color brick as the back -- likely the lighting, though.

You could "cover" the entire front with a full width front porch, making the brick less visible, and add a skylight to your new front porch roof so your upstairs angled window still gets light.

Would leave the fascia and all the window trim as is -- dark/black. The metal likely will not hold paint well (made the mistake of trying it with my storm door; wish I'd left it dark, nearly black, similar to yours)

Any wood that you can leave with its wood finish (deck), consider doing so; alternately, consider a really dark gray or black -- matching the fascia and window frames.

You could clad the back deck posts -- more wood or another material -- so they're visually larger.

You could investigate staining the brick and see if you can get something like this. I guarantee it will be labor intensive, though.

Pics are clearer but there still appears to be some dark gray in the (first) close-up of the front brick that isn't noticeable in the brick in the back or in the (second) full width pic.

If you remove the current roof over your front stoop, you could add extend the high forward facing gable on the front supported by large wood posts and beams for a really good look:

[https://www.houzz.com/photos/entrance-rustic-entry-minneapolis-phvw-vp~693855[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/entrance-rustic-entry-minneapolis-phvw-vp~693855)

If you were to add water proofing to the area below floor level to the right of your front stoop and build a retaining wall (with steps leading downstairs within the wall) from that right front corner straight forward in a line with the right side of the house, you could level up your front yard and hide a significant part of the brick of which you're not so fond.

Leveling up the yard would help you with landscaping as well. You and your husband could compromise: you could both keep the brick and yet hide part of it with shrubs -- even create a front yard patio.

Wow, I usually love brick but this is one of those situations where the brick is begging to be toned down, to allow the overall very powerful and good shape to shine out. Rather than paint, which in addition to possible maintenance issues also seems like too refined and restrained a finish, how about carefully experimenting (either in very hidden area, or on some other brick somewhere) with a German schmear but in a darker tone? Just add masonry pigment to the mortar mix you use. https://www.bobvila.com/articles/german-smear/

Keep in mind you don't have a high degree of control of the exact color and overall look you get......you need to be OK with that. I'd go for as uniform a look as possible.