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Exterior Paint The Old House

trim color suggestions for 1920’s brick home

last year

Hello! My husband and I bought a 1920s foursquare last year, and are nearly complete with our kitchen/dining renovation. We had all the gutters replaced, and are starting to focus on repainting the exterior.

The exterior has a handsome vera gated red brick with some green in it, but I feel that all of the white trim is very stark and am wanting to change some/all of it. I’m toying with the idea of using a black-green to you play off the green in the brick (and the roof which has dark green ceramic barrel tiles), but I’m not sure exactly where I should use the darker color and what I should leave the lighter color.

I feel that especially around the doorway there’s an opportunity to bring out some of the architectural details through use of color. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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Comments (7)

Sigrid
last year
You could pick a green for the shutters. I'd also recommend a more creamy color for the rest of the trim. You could paint the door, but I would not paint the details around your door anything but the white of the trim.
elcieg
last year
last modified: last year
The shutters are distracting from the front entry. Typically, you do not see shutters on a four square and if the (distracting) shutters were gone, the entry would become the focal point.

Next is the storm door...we can't see the front door at all. Photo of front door? Particularly the stained glass as one of the colors would influence the choice for the door. If you must have a storm door , choose a full view and it must be painted what ever color you choose for the door.

Keep trim and downspouts white.
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teeda
last year
The shutters are amazing, original and belong with that house. Please do not even consider removing them!
Christie Beard
Original Author
last year
I agree that while the shutters draw attention, they are original to the home and feature a unique design with a clover/key cut out that we really like. I want to add more depth to the house, though, and thought paint might be a good option.
Christie Beard
Original Author
last year
I also agree the the storm door is hideous. However, it is built into the door framing making flush with the trim, so I do want to switch it out for a full glass door to make the main door visible (thank you for reinforcing that idea; my husband is hesitant about it!)
teeda
last year
last modified: last year
I think a custom full glass storm door would be a wise investment. You could consider painting the door, storm door frame and inner surround the same color. What colors are in the stained glass? I think I would start with the door and then think about color changes elsewhere. I have a brick home and we chose our shutter color based on the mortar shade. They are a kind of greeny greige. I would also suggest you cross post this on the decorating side--I think you'd get a lot more feedback. Beautiful house!
Sigrid
last year
I have a full glass storm door. Because it is full glass, there's nowhere except glass for your hand, so it gets fingerprints. Further, if you have careless kids andd it might get kicked, it can't take it. In addition, if you swap it out for a screen in the summer, the screen is far weaker than the glass amd it's a large area with little additional,support.

If I had a different storm door, I would not swap it for full glass.

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