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.

Don’t go by pictures. Have samples of each color made and try it out on your house. Then look at the samples from a distance and see how it looks in your light with your roof color. The front of the house is most important, but you might want to consider test samples on other sides of the house as well.

Ha, ha. Aluminum siding really is wonderful. The only reason we painted ours was because it was a horrible color, that fake redwood color. So very dated even 20 years ago. You should probably power wash the siding. Once the shutters are down, I'm sure their prior location will be noticeable since it will have no dirt underneath except for those bugs who have built their home there over the years (at least ours did). We were told that the only reason to replace aluminum siding was if the wood underneath was rotten due to water damage. If you don't have any leaking from your gutters, you are probably okay. If you ever do replace it, take it to a scrap yard for $$.