I just had to add my 2 cents as I too live in a brick house but am cottage through n through otherwise. I love painted brick, and here in our old town all the old historic houses are painted. We haven't gotten to that yet as our very very old bricks are crumbling and need more pointing up and sealing first... sigh I also think painting can be a great way to soften a slightly contemporary/newish looking house... (Love the use of trellises too.) My mother, who is not a cottage type usually, became bold and painted her 50's brick house a pale yellow, with delft blue doors and trim. It's on a very shady lot and now the place really pops and looks so welcoming. She's thrilled. I think you have to follow your heart. If every time you drive up you imagine it painted... But then I live with truly distressed surfaces in this old farmhouse, so the peeling paint look wouldn't bother me either. If it did, I'm not sure I'd paint because low maintenance is the nicest color of all to come home to after a hard day! ;-) Thanks to all of you for sharing your fantastic creations and knowledge with us lurkers - we sure do appreciate it, even if we rarely get up the nerve to post!

The red bricks are not really dating the house any more than the architectural style is. It is what it is......a mid to late century ranch style. And unless you do something significant to alter or amend that style, it will still read from that time period. Sure, you could cover the brick with ledgestone or a stone veneer but that is not going to change the style or necessarily "update" it. I think if you really want to update the exterior appearance, you need to get an architect involved. Any landscaping would necessarily wait until after all that was completed.

Lori, after 30 year my husband is tired of the maintenance and upkeep wood requires, hence vinyl. Not my first choice but I get it (kinda..). The usual light options are white (Great Lakes brand is called “cream” white and has a tad less grey tint) or a beige which is a darker and starts to look dingy and I can’t imagine that color on all those columns.. The only thing I can think to do is try to find a lighter white for the remaining trim (columns, fascia, garage door, but one still warm enough to compliment the brick, and try to trick the eye away from the cooler white vinyl. Would love to use a 3rd accent color but not sure where that would go with no shutters and no solid front door. Would welcome your suggestions! Windows on Washington, I can’t find any brand that supplies a true cream! Would you know of any? Yes, there are other color options, but they are all darker and that worries me with a darker brick. The brick surround will be wrapped, too; are you saying there are more trim options than window colors and try to match the trim to the existing and keep the white windows? Thank you both so much for your feedback!! Much appreciated.

More background about the remodeling project. The living room is a sunken living room and we are raising it to level with the dining room etc. We need to raise it about 8 inches. This fireplace is in the sunken living room. Since the fireplace has a layer of brick that is raised right now and we are going to make the fireplace flush with the new hardwood flooring, we will be raising the fireplace up for about 5.5 inches (8inches - thickness of the one layer brick + thickness of hardwood flooring that will be installed). It is about the thickness of 2 layers of normal red brick and a little more than one layer of the brick that is inside of the fireplace. After raising the fireplace, the opening of the fireplace dimension will be about 24 inch tall * 36 inches wide. Will it look OK? If it is still a “normal” size opening for the fireplace, I tend to want to keep the wood burning fireplace as I can paint it white and it is still functional.