Wow everyone, thanks for the input and the compliments, we are at that stage where we are just tired of remodeling, even though we are in the home stretch, so it's really nice to have positive feedback! Suero and Justgotabme, I really am liking the idea of the pergola it's something I hadn't really considered before. Thanks Suero for trying the cedar shakes on the gable ends, I'm sure it didn't do much since it just accentuates the low slung roofline and that's something we'd like to down play. Oceanna I completely understand what you are saying about painting. We do have a really good painter who has done work for us for years and is very reasonable so I could ask him what he would charge. Scoobyruby I hadn't thought about natural wood like cedar, I may have to think about that one, if we don't choose to paint the brick it could be really complimentary to the tones of the brick, but less cottage like I would guess. Socks and Megsy it's good to know that we don't *have* to paint the brick since it appears that people on here don't hate it, which is great. I do think better landscaping and shutters would go a long way in making things look better. I had to laugh at the white shutter/white sock analogy, we think they look like white socks too! :-) Kitchenkelly, I have long admired your kitchen and your photos of your backyard so your compliment really made me smile! One of the best parts of my job as a writer is that I've been privileged to write about some amazing homes, both large and small so I've been filing away ideas for a long time now. My husband loves my job and hates it all at the same time. I do a lot of designer and renovation homes so I come home and say things like "hey we can take that wall down!" When he gives me the "no we can't" look, I simply say, sure we can I've seen it done! I'm amazed each time I do a renovation story, I've found over the years that most of the time it's the homeowners with the vision. Few, if any, of the homes I've covered used high powered design or architectural firms to create their dream homes, most of them, like me, have just had a picture in their heads that they are lucky enough to make into a reality! I'm not knocking either designers or architects, if my MIL hadn't had either she would still be trying to make decisions and with their help she and my FIL have a lovely home! And like it has been said before, good architectural plans can often save you money and give you a more sound structure in the end. My husband has been playing around all day with Photoshop Elements to try and color the house, we just need to figure out how to import BM or SW paint colors, so far all he's been able to apply are crayola primary colors lol! Kat :)

Our guy is Marvin's "territory manager" for our area. Had a hard time getting Marvin to quote me on painted fir. If I asked for MG fir, quote came back clear coated. If I asked for painted, quote came back painted in pine. He said he had to call the factory to confirm that they'd paint fir. They think I'm weird. I'm still undecided, like the idea of the stiffer wood, rot resistance, but maybe it's just better to spend the money on three panes. Particularly if the MG fir is from young, interior trees. Loewen vendor really pushed their use of the fir, strength, resistance to rot, etc., particularly the "Coastal" fir which they said was slower growing and takes preservatives better than the interior fir they suggested that other companies use. They pretty much said that pine will rot in cold wet locales like eastern Canada and that I should get a vinyl window rather than pine. A third party company that I got a quote from suggested that Loewen's use of Douglas fir is more about Canada being a net exporter of that species and an net importer of ponderosa pine. I really wanted to choose Loewen, but they had fewer options and won't finish the windows in the factory for me. Just to confirm, I wasn't trying to dissuade you from mixed grain, just posting my experience for forum posterity. :) Let me know what you find out and decide.

I have an orange brick home. It's the prettiest house on our block. Use a browned green and a deep brown for the trim. We used SW too. The color at the time was High Tea. High Tea is the garage door and the gutters/trim color. Previous owners had the trim painted a yellowish tan. Once we put the green and brown up, the eye sighed. We get compliments every day on it. Bad time of day for pictures, but I think you get the idea. The previous owners also had a green roof that was sorely faded. Oh, it was a very good day when the new roof went on. This is a 7 years ago remodel. *Don't dis my shutters. I know they're not properly sized and that's ok cause they're for looks only. :) We did them pre-Houzz knowledge.

stick w/the charcoal color roof. it goes w/everything. you're keeping the wood siding portion? just freshen it up w/new stain and varnish. you want the wood color to look like this I like the dark trim around the roof fascia, and just do the creamier color around the windows. So look at this color gray roof. Here are a bunch of greens that go w/it: bring in the warm wood tones, and a cedar color deck (not that red, and not brown) cedar color. ditto your siding you could do this combo. I'd do the trim in the gray, or one of the other greens. You could do the deck in this khaki color: I also like the blues. this is a great color combo w/a gray roof.