Your house is in an absolutely beautiful setting and just fits right into its environment.

I would look at almost any option before painting exterior brick if it's in good condition. You will be going from almost no maintenance to lots of maintenance. I would definitely personally not do anything in the white range... look how lovely it looks in brown against that backdrop!

AR shingles (is that architectural roofing shingles.. sorry haven't seen that abbreviation before)? Are you re-roofing as well? What is the current roof and is it in poor condition?

A white house will not blend in with the surroundings, agreed. Work instead on some landscaping instead.

Yes, we need to see a better picture. What color/material/age is the roof?

I agree on the landscaping

The roof is tin and its a brownish/orange. It is in poor condition so we wanted to use Architectural Shingles and we used the Owens Corning Duration Sand Dune on our Previous home with a clay (beige) vinyl siding and it turned out very pretty. My husband just said a few days ago he was unsure on the white. The brick def. needs painted. Here are closer pics of the brick. I am looking for a better pic of the house.

Closer pics of the brick

It will look like a big white mushroom on the side of the hill if you go with white. In such a rural/wooded looking area, I would try a more natural color so it nestles into the trees behind.

I was told never to power wash the brick. Our neighbor is a brick mason and he said it will ruin the brick??

Sorry can't see much brick in the photos. Is it already painted?

From what I can see the brick looks to be in excellent condition so I personally wouldn't paint it. What does the brick mason say about the condition and finish of the brick? Does he think it needs to be painted?

Also, when you say the roof is in poor condition, do you mean it's leaking or that it is pulling off? Because a metal roof lasts pretty much forever. If you replace it you might want to go with a new metal roof rather than architectural shingles. Just me but I think a metal roof would fit better.

Good luck :)

The brick color may not be the source of the “ugly”.

Mark what would you suggest that would help?

@mimimommy the roof is about 20 years old and had been leaking in several places and we knew we needed a new roof when we purchased the home. Our home inspector also suggested we replace it. I love the look of the architectural shingles. I’ve never been a big fan of a metal roof on brick. I love them on old farm houses with white siding.

Sorry your roof is leaking but at least you knew before you bought, thank goodness! You need to do what you like of course... I'm not living there, just trying to provide some thoughts for you to consider as you go along! Architectural shingles do look very good, and lots of varieties to choose from. I just like standing seam metal so I never have to reroof again, but that's just my own personal preference :)

You may notice I have a theme of "less maintenance." You have a lovely home in a lovely setting and I hope you enjoy many happy years there!!

You dont power wash on full blast, you use a power washer lightly. You have to be able to clean brick some how, and yours does show dirt, and even if you do decide to paint it, you cant paint over dirt and expect to have a decent paint job.

What I give to have a low maintenance brick home. Maybe needs some architectural interest, larger windows and framing definitely some plantings of trees (and some shrubbery that will get tall) that don't get to large close to home to break up the large expanse of brick. Change up the porch with better design.

If you Google dark brown house trim color a lot of ideas come up.

Here's a link to one

https://goo.gl/images/R1638Q

@izzy I agree, I think there need needs to be something to break up that space with all the brick. I would love larger windows :) YES!!! Thanks for the info

Yeah, it might be worth it to have a design architect give you some ideas that could enhance rather than cover the brick in paint. You could do a few projects at time. Might cost a little to get a design architect to give idea. But would beat being a slave to upkeep of paint on brick and possibly problems with paint on brick. The brown really isn't bad actually nice appropriate color for the surroundings, it's just plain design. It may still look plain in a different color too.

Why did the builder of the house not put in larger windows? Looks like great views!

By the way, beautiful spot.

@Izzy thanks for the helpful info. Larger windows are on the to do list. My master bedroom is huge... and it has one small window??? I think we are will consider keeping the brick, adding some color with some nice true definition architectural shingles. I need to add something for that open space on the front. This is why I made the post and I am so glad I did.
Thank you, we like the house and the rural setting. We just moved from the middle of town so it’s nice.

Painting the brick will turn a low maintenance exterior material into a high maintenance evterior material. Landscaping can work wonders.

@Mark, thanks for the input we are going to leave the brick as is.

Glad to hear it - it is unpainted brick, correct? Its actually a pretty nice shade of brown, quite current in fact. Not like the orangey pumpkin color that some people complain about.

Stark white and brick rarely looks good together - usually pretty blahhhh - so if we are talking color its not the brown per se thats the problem, its the combination of those particular colors. I would sit down with roof samples and plan a whole house-color scheme with your brick so that all components - trim, brick, roof - look great together. You might want to post some better clearer pics that accurately show the color - incl closeups so that we can see the different color variegations of the brick.

I would save my money and rework that front porch thingie - that IMHO is what you notice first and what I would consider the no 1 thing that detracts from the house - kinda looks like what youd see on cheap rental housing where they took old house and stuck a stairway onto the second floor.

They say you should live in ahouse for a year before deciding anything major. Whats going on with that front stairs anyway, where is the front door? Whether some sort of sunporch, or a better designed open structure, it could be made into something much more welcoming and appealing as you approach it. And landscaping of course - a could use a few more well-placed trees to frame the house.

@current resident your ideas are great. I have been sharing with my husband we agree about the porch but have no idea what to do with it??? Maybe that will be another post ♀️We didn’t do any of this, it was this way when we purchased. I have been having a hard time choosing a shingle color. I was trying to match it but now I’m thinking lighter. The landscaping is a must.... the brick is not painted, it is all original. I will post the only other picture I can find until I can take another one. We also have a matching fireplace inside the house with the same brick color.

Brick color up close

Really nice brick color and looks to be in great condition. You'll have much more time to focus on landscaping/trim/windows now that you're not painting it :) Cool!

Thank you! Here is better pic of the exterior

The search for brown brick houses popped up on my browser so I did again. Thought it might be of interest to you.

http://lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.com/2016/09/how-to-do-a-german-smear-mortar-wash-on-brick-dave-and-brittanys-fixer-upper.html

Looks like a no paint way to lighten your house...not that I think you can't work with the color bricks are now.

And then got sucked into the rabbit hole of Google and found this.

https://www.askthebuilder.com/whitewashing-brick/

***Note, keep scrolling past a large block of sponsor links, more info past that.*****

One thing to note, don't white wash with watered down paint, use a lime mixture.

Signing off for today... just too many ideas to get lost in.

White wash may be something to think about. Here is a home we just completed- I can give you the customer's contact and she can tell you about her experience and why she chose to white wash.

how much do you charge to white wash a home? Trying to get general idea?

April, every home differs (size, home condition, product usage, etc.). The good thing is that our company works together with the paint vendors so the products we use (PPG or Sherwin Williams) is at a discounted price equipped with a warranty for the actual paint or product use and a warranty for the work we do.

WHY NOT USE mineral paint - aka potassium silicate - which is a much more appropriate (breathable) product for masonry. It can be applied in any degree of transparency, and in other colors besides white

Its also useful cos it acts as a conslidant on soft, weathered, porous masonry like Ive got.. Im kinda baffled why so few professionals in the US are expanding their skill set and offering this product

Re my ownhouse - guess Ill be overcoming my fear of tall ladders next summer and doing it myself! Not cos I want to though!

April you need a big porch with a peaked roof and it would be spectacular. Go with the whitewash and cedar shutters and some new landscaping and WOW!

@shadywillowfarm that was my original plan all along :) I think that’s awesome and everyone seems to be completely against painting the brick and I am trying to also consider re-sale value. It’s something I can undo once it’s done so I am trying to make the right decision. This post has given me so many ideas. I love love love the cedar shutters .

April, the problem with regular paint on brick or masonry is moisture gets trapped behind the paint film and eventually deteriorates the brick. It wont happen overnight, or maybe not even in 20-30 yrs but it will.... I have 100 yr old brick walls in my basement that are horribly spalled, cracked and crumbling where the paint was applied about 60 yrs ago - not to mention all the nice lead paint flaking off! Where it wasnt painted is just fine.

You might look into Romabio which is marketing itself as a user friendly whitewash/ mineral paint product. I talked to guy there once when I was deciding about my house and he was very helpful. Price is probably comparable to a high end acrylic paint - maybe slightly higher but not much esp considering it would last for decades.

@currentresident I will look into that, thank you for the Information.y husband said the same thing about painting the brick so he wasn’t a big fan.

I have used romabio biodomus and think it is great. They have a good warranty and point out that mineral paint has been used successfully on masonry for centuries in Europe. It made our previous home (dumpy brown brick) look so much better. We used a sage green, because I didn’t want white.

@susie do you have a pic ?

Hi April,
I will have to look on my other computer. It was for a rental we Reno’d two years ago.

Hi - I found the pictures. This isn't a big fancy house -- it's a rental, but the paint made a huge difference.

@susie
Looks awesome, I love it.