OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!! Thank you, all of you!!!! My son borrowed my computer for the evening, so I missed the spectacular unfolding of all of those door colors. I absolutely LOVE looking at the different colors. Each one changes the whole look of the house so much. What a wonderful resource you all are. I am humbled, thank you. At first glance I am loving the plummy-grey brown. It satisfies my urge for a red door, while incorporating the beige of the house and the brown shutters AND the grey roof. Brilliant. Oakleyok, you suggested a wreath. Great minds! I had a lovely spring wreath on the door, but the birds decided they wanted to use it for nesting material. We were treated to a constant scrabbling noise as they tried to remove the twigs from the wreath -- so I had to temporarily take it down. Right now it's hanging on the INSIDE of the door. Thanks again, everyone! I will tell you what we decide, and then post more photos later. -- Maureen

So, lets look at some options. You have a rather traditional looking staircase and surrounding decor. If you paint the railings black, it's going to disappear into the wrought iron. Notice all the white surrounding it. even the risers. Nothing else is black. would you be willing to paint the trim work upstairs black? or how about the doors? What if you took off the carpet and did the risers in black, stained the treads and updated to a more contemporary railing? more all black, but white risers and darker treads. Notice the newer light fixture in the foyer you could always darken your stain color and get a more modern, square style spindles in white this one looks good. the black/white contrast w/the herringbone stair runner, squared off newel posts. who says you have to do black?! Live a little.

Just looking at your home again, Nina. It's really cute and while I agree with others that you could make a larger impact painting the whole house, I also realize that's not always in the budget. In the meantime, I'd take a que from Beverly's rendering and leave everything as is except I'd paint the portion above the door white to match the door and garage. The light fixture above the mailbox looks a little small so you could add something a little bigger and contemporary. You could install it a little more to the right to help balance the space since the door is off centered in that strip of siding. I'm not sure what your bushes are but I'd try to trim up the one to the left of the front door and probably replace the one to the right with something a little smaller. Small boxwoods below that front bottom window would look very nice. Edge out your beds and add some mulch, power wash your front stoop and sidewalk and it will give you a fresh look for your home. Whatever you end up doing I hope you enjoy it.

Pool, I thought I’d love the navy, not sure why I don’t! I like it in Deco’s example. Maybe it’s just the mock-up — the lighting, door style, etc. Mock-ups can help somewhat, but of course aren’t exact. You made a lot of good points. Different colors really influence the personality of the house in different ways. My fav is the California Chamois, or something like it. It looks fantastic with the stoop and brings life to the house without being garish. I don’t love every color I posted, but just wanted to show a variety. I think shutters (especially white) would look awful on this house because the windows are different sizes and too close together for them to look right. Kathleen, if you decide on white for the door, you could bring in color with pots. Such a charming house. :) I hope you don’t paint the bricks. They bring personality and character. White brick would stain easily, peel, etc.