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Paint Design Dilemma Exterior

Shutters and exterior paint -- advice needed!

2 years ago

We removed the shutters on our house in order to replace the windows. We replaced the windows with black ones, so painted the trim on the front of the houses black too.

Two questions now about the shutters: First, whether to put the shutters back on. I actually love the more streamlined look without them, but you can see the difference between where they were and the rest of the brick on the facade -- they are lighter and look a bit damaged. The second question is, if we do put them back on, what color to paint them. Our inclination is to paint them black to match the trim, but that seems like an awful lot of black on the front of our house.

Would it make sense to pain them the same color as the door? We are also trying to figure out what color to paint the door - we are not fans of the red and are leaning toward blue, but are thinking maybe a light gray would look nice too (light enough to contrast with the black trim, and perhaps with the slightest purple to pick up the brick). If it would make sense to paint the shutters the same as the door, that would probably influence that choice.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Link to photos (including before)

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Comments (7)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
I love the look without the shutters that BTW were too small
AGKY
2 years ago
I like the look without the shutters too. The lighter patches don't look that noticeable to me--I wonder if power washing would even things out? To test out door color you won't be able to tell anything with those small paint chips. Use a large (like 8x10) painted board or paint the door in an area isolated from other colors right next to the black trim. One idea would be to paint the trim around the door a lighter color to relate to your roof or the color of your mortar in the bricks and then paint the door black as well--or another color. It's looking great!
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I'm not a fan of painting brick as it turns a no maintenance product into a long term maintenance issue. The brick seems to have more browns than grays in it but the roof is gray. You need to find a color that marries the two. Something in the taupe family would work. Also, a couple of other things. If you plan on keeping shutters I would switch to a wider shutter that is correctly sized for you windows. The current ones are too narrow. Also, the area without a railing in front of the door needs to have one installed. Building codes require them if the change in elevation is more than 30", which yours definitely is. If you're interested in seeing some virtual makeovers of your house check out my website, Creative Visual Concepts.
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Thank you all for your suggestions and comments!! I have so FAR decided regardless I will add 2 cedar window boxes on first floor, and add 2 larger lights. I took off shutters on the side of house to not make such an eyesore to see how the condition is underneath and how 'off' the color is. (Picture below.) I sprayed it down with water but tomorrow am going to try to scrub with some bleach and separately a vinegar/ baking soda mixture in hopes to match the colors. ANY other suggestions to clean the aluminum siding??
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hi Maureen, thank you for this photo. I have been looking at plenty of inspiration photos and know that I want the house more off-white than white. Just unsure which paint color is going to give me that look best, especially knowing white paint looks different in different lights. I really like the photo you shared. Is the door Boothbay gray? We just painted our office Boothbay gray, and it's really pretty. For the garage, we currently have it white. I don't see why we couldn't leave it white. I've seen many white homes with white garages :)
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Love pictures 2 and 3, and the idea of black light fixtures. Are you painting the shutters or replacing them? If you are replacing them, take the old ones off and look at your house with no shutters. Your house may look larger without shutters, ours did. The current shutters look too narrow for the windows (you have nice size window). Each shutter on a window should be half the width of the window, so if they're closed they would cover the window. I know most shutters are totally decorative, but the size and proportions should be the same as if they were functional. You may not have room on the main house for larger shutters, but you could put larger shutters on the area with partial rock wall. To determine the color that would look best, take a couple off and paint them. Be sure what color you choose looks good with the rock on the front of the house.
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Melissa R
2 years ago
no shutters. I think the rest of the brick will eventually all "dirty up" and look the same OR you can get someone to pressure wash it. Looks like the roof could use a good wash too.

Prior to living in Florida I had no idea there are companies that wash roofs! lol
AGKY
2 years ago
Oh yeah, we had our black shingle roof cleaned when we first moved in. It was growing moss! We have since replaced it, but it was an eyesore for sure.
Laura S.
Original Author
2 years ago
These are very helpful comments -- thank you so much!!
lethizo
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
It's just my opinion, but I really feel that any shutter whose size doesn't functionally match the size of the window looks bad. Even if it isn't a functional shutter, but is only there to "look the part".

By the way, stucco looks great. And if you're going to go that route I HIGHLY suggest https://primestucco.com/stucco-trims/ - but you need to have it installed properly!
Laura S.
Original Author
2 years ago
This is something I had not thought of but is a great point!

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