Painting Brick White - Window Dilema
We are wanting to freshen up the house by painting the brick white And replace the front entry with a new door. But the windows are causing us some grief. We don’t want this to become a rabbit hole of changing out everything. But we are having a hard time figuring out what we can do with the windows the make the color change work. Shutters don’t seem to be an option due to available space between windows. The trim is white as well. I will attach a photo of our house. The color we chose was White Duck, but are looking for ideas on how to make that work. Thanks!
Comments (9)
houssaon
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Seek Input on White Wash / Painting of my Brick 2 Story Home
Comments (34)Hi Dmaull and ptaylor, Unfortuantely we never got around to whitewashing our house, but, I did an enormous amount research on the subject and discovered that you do NOT want to paint brick. Why? Because the paint doesn't allow the natural breathing to occur with brick. Brick is partially pourous and paint changes the game... Instead if you are going for that aged look then you want to use a product that simulates lime washing. Lime washing is the actual technique used in the 1700 and 1800s to protect buildings (including brick). Some still practice this today, but it is messy and potentially dangerous (your working with slaked limeor calcium hydroxide a natural chemical. The reason however you want this kind of finish is that it allows the brick to "breathe". Unfortunately the lime wash eventually wears off so you have to reapply ever few years. What I did find however was the ultimate solution I planned to use (until we deferred the project). It's a modern product that produces a finish identical to lime washing but is PERMANENT! It works at the molecular level and the minerals in the product permanently bind with the brick. What this means is that you do it one time and one time only! Additinoally the brick can literally be power washed later with NO ill effects on the white washed finish since it is permanent! Below are the notes I made to myself for later reference when I was ready to proceed. You'll want to contanc this firm and research the product yourself, but I am 100% confident that this is the BEST way to achieve a permanent, old world, white wash finish on your brick! Hope this helps! bradesp Jeff at Eco House 877-ECO-HOUSE Must apply in 46 degrees or warmer - needs four hours in 60 degree weather to fully dry-out Apply Primasil first as base "coat" Then apply one coat of Salizur. Will need to mix pigments to desired color and translucency. http://www.eco-house.com/silazur.htm Eco House can't ship if temperatures are going to freeze. Products can easily be sprayed. Will need to custom mix and keep mix "suspended" during spray....See MoreTaupe windows with white brick and black roof? Advice needed!
Comments (17)You need to pick a yellow that is almost white on the chip if you go yellow. Yellow has a much, much stronger perceived color at the same saturation and brightness level than other shades. You learn a lot about that if you pick up watercolor. :) I wouldn't go taupe for something as long term as windows. White or bronze would be the only colors I would consider. Sierra white will look strongly yellow in person. The roofing above is gray. Medium gray....See MoreRanch home Exterior painted brick and trim dilema
Comments (4)The house near me is a medium cream with sort of olive green shutters. Cypress is big here so lots of people use it. I must say it looks nice. Kind of makes me wish I didn’t paint my old cypress shutters. A light color may show dirt easily considering the trees in the front yard and a dark color will disappear in the shadows. Accessible beige would look nice with SW sanderling on the trim and SW cadet on the door. I’ll attach some pics of some color schemes that could work and assuming the stained doors would be your posts.. The house styles are wrong but you can see the colors. Alos once I changed my windows, the tint gave off a bluish color that made my blue door (SW Riverway) look better, so waiting until they’re in may guide your decision. For this one, the door color could be the stain for the posts....See MoreWhat color exterior with Green roof, White windows & Red brick :)
Comments (6)Yes, the roof is blue to us. For the siding, I'd choose a color close to a mid-tone in your brick (i.e. not the darkest, not the lightest, not the boldest, not the dullest). It will blend well. Given everything going on in the facade, you want a quiet blending color on the siding IMO. It's a beautiful, interesting-looking house....See MoreJohn Campbell
3 years ago@Elizabeth Minish Design The main concern was white on white and lack of contrast. Some of the window trim is inside the panes, so can't be painted as well. We have not seen great examples of white brick with white trim. Usually they are darker (black/gray). So, we are looking for ideas on shades are examples online.
The front area would be replacing the door and surrounding glass with something that goes better with the change. Not sure we have enough space for a double door, but are considering options like that. The door would probably be gray/iron.
More photos below.
@houssaon- We are also looking at that. Maybe even a German Schmear.
Thanks for the quick replies!
There is a brick trim around the windows that we would paint another tone to add a little contrast.
Standard white sheet of paper for comparison
PROOpen House Home Staging & Redesign, LLC
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoHere's two examples of white-on-white brick houses. Both have really pretty front door colors.
Source: Young House Love
Source: Instagram
I wouldn't do a gray/iron front door, I'd do a really gorgeous color that stands out in the sea of white.
PROElizabeth Minish Design
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoHi John,
I can appreciate your vision for creating contrast as perhaps you can surmise by noting my outfit in the accompanying head shot. That said, I did a search of images for white brick houses with white windows and came up with a significant number that looked quite good even to my contrast-craving eyes.
It is often said that the key to happiness is not having what you want but wanting what you have. To that end, I also searched red brick houses with white windows. You could actually try this approach by beefing up the amount of white by painting your brick surrounds on the existing windows. If you didn't like that, proceed to paint the entire house. You don't have to worry about matching the window white exactly as that white would be too stark. There is historical precedent for corner stones and lentils in a contrasting light stone paired with red brick (see bottom photo for example).
A hybrid of either approach would be to lower exoectations re: contrast and paint the brick in your chosen off white with the brick "trim" in a pale to mid-tone grey. The ultimate tone of this should be keyed off the colour of the drive way and/or roof colour, neither of which can be seen well in your photos so far.Re: your entrance. You don't have room for a double door and I don't think it's the problem anyway. Take a cue from the photos above. Your side lights and transom are reading more like glass block. You don't need to have a curved top, but something that makes the door and its side lights and transom look like a unit would be helpful.
Beautiful house and landscaping, by the way!!
PROLori A. Sawaya
3 years ago
freedomplace1
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoYou will have a lack of contrast if you paint the brick white. Same if you whitewash the brick. Whitewashing is preferred in terms of maintenance, etc.
It’s a beautiful brick house. Why destroy it?
There are any number of things you could do to ‘update’ or just generally give your house a new/different look. The red brick is not dated and the brick is not a problem.
PROBeverlyFLADeziner
3 years agoDo you want the house solid white or would you like to have some of the brick texture show through?
freedomplace1
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago
Elizabeth Minish Design