Update - I finally painted the house this past summer (yep, Covid-era project) and am really happy with the change. See below for "after" pic.

We moved into this stucco foursquare house two years ago, patched up some crumbling stucco and are finally ready to paint it this summer. The roof is good for ten more years and is a basic medium brown (doesn't show up well in the picture), and I am hoping to have the soffits and gutters painted a lighter color to lighten things up. I'd love to give the whole house more color, while staying true to its era (1922). Suggestions for colors? Body and trim? The flower boxes below the front porch windows are stucco as well, but have wooden support gable-things underneath. If I trimmed the bushes down, you would see those better and they are a nice feature.

We do plan on either painting or replacing the ugly front storm door but alas, it is necessary in our Midwest climate, even with the deep overhang.

Our only restriction is one next door neighbor has a beautiful red house, and other neighbor is dark-painted shake-style (mostly brown).

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Pardon the barren landscape - December in the Midwest, plus I removed some bushes that were hiding the corbels under the flower boxes. I plan to add lots of landscaping this spring! And yes, my husband DID put out a red light and no, my name isn't Roxanne :-)

We ended up using Woolen Vest for the body and Only Oatmeal for the trim from Pittsburgh Paint (Glidden), plus Cherokee Red for the door, corbels and a few other places on the back of the house. The red is my favorite part.

It was sometimes grueling work and I conquered my fear of heights in using the scaffolding. I am proud to say that I can use a paint sprayer with confidence, although I will always be more comfortable with a trim brush. So glad to have this project knocked off the list and I can't wait to add perennials, bushes, and some fountain grasses to the yard in spring 2021!

Thank you so much, Houzz community, for helping me figure out this project!