neighbors recently painted their red brick house trim a deep olive green and it looks like a million bucks. the front door and all window sashes are bronze green (all SW paint) and its really hot. whatever color you choose (yes, even black and white) make sure it works with the shade of brick you have. brick is NEVER red. get a paint sample book and match the brick to a paint color, that way youll find it easier to make choices. And finally, look at every option outside in full sun - its amazing how much the sun bleaches out color. you may need to go darker for outdoor paint.

I would make friends with your local nursery, take photos of the house with you and simply be honest with them. Tell them you are an very happy new home owner, overwhelmed, don't know anything about gardening/landscaping but you really could use some help to come up with a 3/5 year landscaping plan. A lot of nursery owners will come to your house free as long as you purchase a plant or two. (huge help) Start with a tree in between garage windows. Plant it at least 5 feet from house. (make it an anniversary gift so it starts memories/roots for the two of you) Plant other trees or more expensive special plants on important dates as they come, children, promotions, birthdays... Definitely go slow, but you will be amazed at how far a couple hundred dollars can go. Hang some plants on the porch it will fill in and soften the porch area. Don't forget winter color too, like red twig dogwoods, willows, --- Lastly, paint that front door a fun color that you love! ;-) Enjoy & Good luck!!

I would change the current shutters to properly fitting shutters or remove them entirely. Your current shutters are too small (skinny). To get the right look, size the shutters so they look functional (each shutter would be half the size of the window) and add hardware. Read this article for details: Old House Guy on Shutters ^Different style house, but you can see the impact of properly fitting shutters whether they are functional or not, they look like they could close over the window. Since you have white siding you could go with any color shutter. Black is classic. A deep green works. You could even go with something brighter. What colors do you like? Your choices are wide open. As to the front door: not sure I would use red because of the brick surround on the entry. You could go with a black door or navy for an understated elegance. Or use another brighter color to bring the door out the shadows. I happen to think a wood front door on your home would be stunning. ^If you want to really make your front door pop from the recessed entry, a bright green would work.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I think those grey/green shutters could be an option for us. I like the look of darker gutters (not black, more iron ore or copper), but starting to think that the uneven gutter coverage on the front of the house will just look odd unless we also do dark trim on the peaks of the house. Since we want to avoid painting the trim it might just be easier to go with white and add color/character via shutters