No paint brick - that would be putting an inferior finish over a quality item. Its a nice variegated brick, not the heavy orange type that some people complain about. An argument might be made for applying a masonry stain to tone down a color... not that it needs it... but to put an opaque high maintenance plastic coating (eg acyrlic) isnt a good idea for the long term. I wholeheartedly agree w/above suggestions to remove the fake tudor and rethink those spaces under the eaves and around the windows- even just simple paint in a well-chosen brown that bridges the brick and roof colors would be a big improvement. Sometimes less is more, and I would argue that a handsome house in natural brick or stone and muted nature-colors is often the most beautiful house on the block. Then, you could put your $ and effort into some really lovely landscaping & perhaps pillars but I wouldnt get carried away with reinventing the architecutral elements - its very nice & balanced as is. Is that the view from the side? Looks like the street is off to the left?

sage greens work well, the shutters could go, or be replaced a bit larger. the front door needs to be a pop since its set back, maybe a blue tone. soft yellow trim is nice with this combo

@Zone4 yeah, I think I'm starting to realize that the brick probably helps break up the facade and keep it interesting. I'm starting to be really intrigued with the limewashing idea. If it turns out we could paint the windows, would you do black or white? I like the idea of a black/charcoal, but have also heard that is the worst color on vinyl windows. @aprilneverends it has been hard to really get the colors across from the listing pics. Basically it is 50 shades of unappealing (to me at least) tan inside and out. So I want a dramatic change, but I know people are really torn about changing brick, so I'll probably have my husband mockup a version with the brick and a dark greige paint to see how that looks alongside a limewashed version. Front door, yes, that thing has a big stain glass Texas star that doesn't help anything. I was thinking one of the modern doors with 3-5 satin horizontal lites to keep some light coming in from the door, then finding a complimentary garage door. For the French doors, I definitely won't change my mind on the divided lites - however they are just an overlay on top of a solid piece of glass, so one of the contractors said you could just pop them off. One set of doors needs a new handle, the other needs about $300 in repair work and weatherproofing, so that is why I'm debating whether or not to rehab these versus put in new ones. And if we replace, I don't know if sliding glass doors that let in tons of light or new French doors with the thinnest frame possible would look best. I know landscaping will have a huge impact too, and could really turn this into a more modern looking house. The bones are certainly good, and it is plain enough that we can subtly take it in a couple directions, just trying to narrow down what will look best while also being somewhat our style.

"Ideally, a primary or entry walkway should be at least 48" wide and even wider is [often] better." I concur 100%. Another consideration in addition to sheer usability, is that a walk's width needs to coordinate with the building architecture ... size being one of those characteristics. This walk does that in that it is equal to the full width of the opening at the porch. My guess is that the walk is 5' 4". I have no arbitrary opposition to straight walks, thinking that many of them are equal to curved walks in their potential to be beautiful. From what we are shown in the picture, either seems like it could work well. It would probably only be worth the expense of changing it if a person developed a compulsion about it, as compulsions cannot be explained by reason alone.