Ooo I like the FB tallow quite a bit, a little creamier. But i couldnt really judtify the price, let alone have the patience fir delivery, but Home Depot had a formula for imitating that I will get a sample of. Here is an old picture of the place before we added anything and even finished the siding. As you can see it looks more like a hunting shack than a romantic candlelit cabin, and Very small! It has come along way from here but I've just sealed the knots in the pine so it looks a little silly or I would take new pic.

Don't install the shutters. You have big, beautiful windows. Don't ruin the look with the wrong sized shutters. Your windows are too large for properly sized shutters. You simply don't have the wall room next to your big windows unless you put in the ugly undersized shutters which would ruin your home's appearance. Here is a brief article to show you why: https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/residential-architecture-101-shutters/ As to the black gutters and downspouts: where are you putting them? The black downspouts will highlight that area no matter which color you chose to paint the body of the house. Is that the intent? Or is the intent to have black gutters and all the downspouts painted the same color as the body? Please clarify. Work on your hardscaping (walkway at the entrances is too narrow) and landscaping to truly finish your home. Landscaping can make or break your home's appearance and would be far better than the shutters IMO.

We plan to paint the exterior siding, trim, and garage door of our house soon and need help choosing a color scheme that works well with our brick and new black windows. I am open to painting or staining the brick to create a uniform look, but my husband is a hard no on touching the brick at all. As you can see, we're growing ivy on most of the front brick anyway. We initially thought white siding with a dark brown or charcoal for the trim and garage door would work well, but I'm worried the house will end up looking dated and busy. Should we go with a dark siding and even darker trim, or use the same color for siding, trim, & garage door? Too many choices. Help!

Really attractive home. Liking the front porch as is. Would NOT paint or whitewash the brick; however, if you do you do want a more solid color, consider staining it, keeping the grout/brick look. Unless the garage door needs to be repainted, and if you like the garage door color as is, then you might consider staining the brick the same light gray color as the garage door, keeping the grout / brick look in place. Alternately, stain the brick a color you want to act as a frame to your front door. https://www.google.com/search?q=brick+stain&client=firefox-b-1-d&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiggr2-4PfpAhXamXIEHWDxBtcQ_AUIoAIoAQ&biw=1366&bih=654 You could literally then paint all the painted surfaces, except the door, the same color -- whichever one appeals to you -- add white board trim around the white window frames and have a good look for your home and make choosing your roofing easier. A medium/dark mixed shades of gray roof would work with most exterior siding colors -- white, grays, blues -- and the mix of roof colors will have a more clean look than a solid color with splotches of bird poo on it. Fascia and gutter could be gray or black or white, with downspouts painted to visually disappear against your choice of siding color. A medium/dark shingles mix of shades of brown and tan would also look good, with either white or black fascia and gutter, again painting the downspouts, of course. This would work with brown or tan or green siding. Would not put a contrasting trim color around the garage door -- would keep the color around the door itself all one (siding) color. You should decide on all colors as a combination: roofing, fascia/gutter, brick (stain), siding/downspouts, window trim, -- you want them to work together. Too many different colors could have a cluttered vibe. Last time I looked the gutter choices in stock at the local big box building stores were either white or brown but there are others available. https://www.milehighgutter.com/gutter-color-options/ Since the siding color will be dominant, my suggestion would be to pick out your favorite siding colors -- just a few -- and consider what other colors you'd want with each of those, then decide from those few groups. I also suggest you drive through some neighborhoods in your area and consider the color combinations others have used, paying attention to the difference in how the colors give off the vibe you want - do you smile or have a negative response or are you indifferent to those combinations: what reaction do you want as you approach your own home. Exterior natural wood finish boards can be a great look and worth considering in a protected place but they don't really weather well, including/especially where they're getting direct sun, so, unless you're considering covering the brick and using that natural wood board look for the entire indented / weather protected front porch niche and that space doesn't get any direct sun, there is no obvious place to add those. Keeping/staining the brick either to match the garage door or to create a desired frame color for your front entry door likely would be a better option.