My neighbors have a house they painted charcoal. They have tried a number of different front door colors - pale yellow (definitely not a good choice), turquoise (not my taste, but it wasn’t a painful mismatch). My favorite was a dark red that leaned toward orange rather than blue on the color spectrum. It popped and picked up some of the colors in their brick chimney. Perhaps that would work for you. Currently, their door is a paler shade of the charcoal, which makes the house seem very monotone. I suppose the main lesson from them is that the front door isn’t a big area, so if you don’t like it, you can try again.

Ok folks! An UPDATE! and call for more advice! After much deliberation we decided against painting the brick. Too expensive and too much work. We sampled several different paint swatches (some suggested by you!) and opted for a dark gray with a hint of purple (I know, I know, the majority said no to gray, but we really liked it with the red brick. And we are pleased!). We just purchased modernist light fixtures in bronze https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AINJ3F2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and plan on replacing the double doors with simple, full light ones that should line up nicely with the adjacent plate glass windows. The effect will be similar to the wall of glass that is the back of the house--so you can see right through from front to back! One of the biggest changes, however, is the elimination of the stone pillars in front! We just demo'd them and the difference is amazing. So much more light and the car port roof seems less oppressive. However, we need to clad the steel posts with something. Any suggestions? I was considering something much narrower than previous and maybe painted to match the house color? Would love to hear everyone's thoughts!

First, let me say - I love Benjamin Moore paint and colors. But - I can't for the life of me, understand WHY they have one of the worst product websites EVER!!! I am not a color expert, so hopefully Lori S or someone else with similar expertise will weigh in. In the meantime, I don't think that Mascarpone can work well with Kendall Charcoal. I think you need a completely different white. Especially on the exterior. The more light you have, the more yellow it will look. Maybe try to get a custom match to your window frames.

As for the house, itself, a new paint color with Patricia’s deck/stiars, the exterior will show beautifully. My suggestion for the body of the house: what if you just painted the entire house white, brick and stucco? Pink roof would be a stand-out. Inquire about power washing the roof. We had it done professionally, with no negatives. Pool decking: we have chosen “forever lawn”. No, it is not astro turf! Not cheap, but the product is amazing. It drains, doesn’t stain or mildew, is cool to the touch…. Worth investigating, which I did after I saw it myself in a friend’s front city yard. Trees need trimming and a new driveway would be ++++.