Hi there. Nice home. Yes there are many lime formulas and techniques to white wash a house on the internet. Does your brick have a smooth finish to it, is it porous? A way to test this is to run water over the brick, does some of the water absorb into the brick? Does the brick stay damp for a bit? If so then your brick will work well with lime washing. If not then lime may not work well on your brick. So test a small area first. I know this may be a bit bold for you but I would consider white washing the entire house. I personally like homes in one color. It gives it more of a classic look. Also it would like very nice with the different textures of material( brick and stone). If you feel that might be a bit too much start with the brick first and see if you like it. Start with thin coats then keep applying. I feel the stone needs to be softened up a bit. So add a few thin coats over that as well. I would personally go all white and add plant, shrubs, trees and vines next to the house to break up the wall height. Plus that would really make your landscaping pop up against that White House and give it character. There is a lime formula that is mixed with white Portland cement that a world renowned architect Ken Tate gave me that we are using on our home. I've done some sample walls and it turned out great! It sort a tad thicker than a straight lime wash and it gives the brick a soft edge. It looks like it's been painted 100 times. Just like the old buildings in Europe were limed washed back in the 1800's. The mix I use is 4 parts white Portland cement and 1 part lime, 4.5 parts of water. Should have a consistency of whole milk but not too thick! You can mix pigment in with any formula but we choose not too. It comes out white but with a very soft gray white. I tested it with the reverse formula and the lime was Greek white. As light hits the lime, light reflects twice as much. So the more lime the brighter it greats unless you add a pigment. Some people like some brick sort of bleeding through, however we are covering all our brick so that it's all white. If you plan to go all white, you'll need several coats to cover. Sounds like you are adding shutters, good idea. That will give the house character. Also make sure when you buy or have them made to make sure they are sized properly to actually cover the window if they were closed. Not too small. I would go with a dark hunter green on your shutter and keep your windows and window trim the taupe color. And other trim white. If you go the lime route make sure you find someone that knows what they're doing. The most import thing when applying lime is to keep the wall wet down but not standing water, after applying the first coat of lime, let it dry 24 hours between coats. If you don't let it cue long enough between coats you'll have crazing (which are a network of very fine cracks). And make sure it's done between outside temperatures 50-90. Morning and afternoons. Try to not apply it when the sun is beating down. You don't want it drying too fast. We are liming the house ourselves, I know it's cray but we can't fine anyone that can do it. Also if you don't want to mix this yourself there is a company called Roma ( google Roma lime wash) they have premixed lime putty formulas and they can also mix in your pigment of choice. Just add water and your ready to start liming. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

I think once you paint or stain the brick white the mantle will really stand out and look like a rustic and more farm like feature. Is that the look you're going for? If so then I would wrap the beams on your ceiling to match the fireplace mantle. I would think about lightening the color of all of them though. Also the mantle looks high to me I would lower it. The space to the right of the fireplace looks painful to me. I would think about taking that fireplace mantle beam across and then adding a couple more to do shelves down that side. I think the main issue with that fireplace wall is it isn't balanced .Explain that tile again. Are you placing it on top of the hearth (now brick)? Or on the actual floor surrounding the fireplace? Either way I would eliminate the tile. I don't see any need for it. Are you or did you add the window? It looks like it hasn't been finished with casing yet. What color will the casing be?

Post sone pics but IMO limewashing works best on vertical spaces not traffic areas.

Aren't those inspiration pics gorgeous. We moved to NY from TX and I'm worried about dark skies making me depressed. So light and bright is definitely a must. My husband wouldn't mind the TV over the fireplace, but I worry about straining our necks up. Though to be honest, we hardly watch TV. I would bet he'd be open to a second bookshelf or floating shelves. I like symmetry too. Thanks for your input.