Thanks so much for all your comments -- and for not going "yech" when you saw my tone-on-tone shutters. I can always paint them again later, but sure don't feel like doing it now. Enailes, the pathway, which will widen to 10 by 10 at one spot to accommodate facing benches -- will be a stamped concrete in a coquina (light creamy tan color) banded in a taupey brick shade a bit darker than the shutters. The benches (Ellsworth on benches.com) have been painted to match the shutters. I like them. Amysrq, the plants you mention sound interesting and I will pass them along to our wonderful landscape architect. Thanks. Caroleah -- no offense taken on the roof suggestion. Yes, we're planning on cleaning it -- just trying to find something that will not damage the roof like pressure washing can. Next week the digging up of the old walkway and some plants will begin. That's why we have to figure out the door color. So I hear it for a dark berry or black -- any green/teal fans out there or anything else? Thanks so much to all!

Hi guitargoddess- Congratulations on your lovely new home! There are so many paint colors, you can make yourself crazy, and it would be infuriating to pick out a color, fall in love with it only to have it rejected by the HOA. Why not go about it from the other direction? Drive around your development with a piece of board painted the color of your house with a stripe of your eave/fascia and your stone trim grout color. Look for a house that is any of those colors and see what their shutters are painted and take a photo, better yet, knock on the door and ask them, or put a note under the door. Another thing you can do is contact your HOA and very specifically ask for suggestions. An HOA can be such busybodies, you may get someone to speak to that may actually be helpful to you, i.e. tell you what colors other people have used recently, since they have had to ask for approval.

Hi, I can't see enough of the Reddened Earth sample to tell at that distance, but I think you're on the right track. What I would do is find the color closest to your brick, and then use it on both the downspouts (as Chloe suggested) AND the garage doors. I always disguise downspouts on brick in this way, even if I don't use that color anywhere else on the house. Leave the garage surround (trim) white for contrast. Because your brick is highly variegated (contains several different colors), you won't be able to "match" it exactly. What you're looking for is a reddish brown that seems to best 'fade away' into the background of the brick. If you need to look at other paint decks, do it. The old Ben Moore "Classic" fan deck has a lot of muted red and orange colors that tend to sync up well with common brick tones. An ideal place to test your simulated brick color is on the downspout. Paint out a long section. If testing two colors, leave a foot or two of white space between them. The one that seems to disappear is your winner. In the future, when your budget allows for a full repaint, I'd probably replace the peachy sand color with something more taupe or greige, such as SW 7031 Mega Greige. At that point, you might choose to paint the doors greige as well, or if you're happy with the brick tone, they could remain. Downspouts should remain the brick tone -where they cross the brick- no matter what.

I would not add more stone if I had the funds. Remove all or none of the shutters. They look fine, so I'd go with keeping them. Don't use dyed mulch. Always use undyed. The solution to mulch is to plant up your beds so little mukch is visible. Lighting in the roof peaks would look odd. Dark trim would probably be too big of a contrast. Your house has a really nicely thought out facade and colors. Probably done by a designer, it doesn't need "tweaks" from random people on the internet.