Flush joints are not the recommended joint for an exterior application due to the risk for water penetration. Have you considered a grapevine joint? That would give it an older look (at least early American, I'm not sure about "old, antique") and provide better water penetration resistance. I've attached a link to the BIA guidelines. We're using a grapevine mortar joint on our house (it's an historical reproduction) with a brick that is similar to the one shown above, and IMHO, it looks perfect! I love your brick...gorgeous! Here is a link that might be useful: Mortar Joints

Congratulations on your new home, Ritholtzes. Regarding the wood shutters, a fair number of people here weren't alive last time they were considered very desirable, and if they were in style now advice would be leaning a very different direction. Same shutters, different points on the trend graph. When I was young they were very highly thought of, quality throwbacks to the American colonial/revolutionary era that was very in style. That was our own new parents era and we could have afforded the sort of fine 18th century furniture being shown in decorating magazine pictures about as readily as the shutters on the windows beside it then. If they were mine, because I do like sunshine, if they could be folded back against the sides of the windows I'd do that. Otherwise, I'd just take down all that I didn't want to leave up now and clean, wrap, and store them. I personally would only paint any if that was right for the decor, and that kitchen makes me wonder about that. BTW, although I prefer very light kitchens, I also really like dark when it's done well--no wishy-washying around midway, rich and dark and luscious. That's your kitchen. It feels good to me too, and it going to be magnificent in the evening. I wouldn't want the floor a bit lighter, or the cabinets. I would prefer the hood vertical so art could be hung straight, like my hood and my art standing on its shelf, but oh well. :)

Cairo is a nice neutral color, I love it. Choose the floors you love the most, they are going to be the most long term, most everything else in the home will/can change. Once the floors are in you can think about paint, etc.

if you post pics of your kitchen, we can help you with all kinds of ideas to help refresh the space. my opinion is that if money is tight, save it up until you can do some big changes. do a few DIY jobs for now to tide you over until then: painting the cabinets white will definitely brighten, but I'd only recommend it if you don't like the wood and/or if they're in bad condition. note it can be hard to do it the right way so they end up smooth and impervious to chipping. some people remove doors from uppers (and paint the interior) to help open up a space. this is particularly nice if you don't like the style of the doors. of course this will only look good if you think you can organize the contents nicely (you could do just a few, not all of them). painting the brick wall white will majorly brighten the space. will rugs help cover the bad parts of the floor? such as runners in high traffic areas, or large-ish rug in the kitchen to hide water stains or whatnot? and of course, like Celadon said, lighting will really help. but we need to see pics of your space to give you better advice.