Hi, N Texas here, too. :)

Beautiful home. I’m confused — what part are you wanting to paint?

The area’s that are marked. Similar (sans stucco) to 2nd photo. We’ve lived in our house 20+ years and just looking for a change.

UGHHHHH

I'm sorry, I need to take time off this forum and the endless stream of black and white. Unfortunately I cant delete and not sure why ... Anyway on second thought, its not clear to me what your arrows are pointed at. I thought the brick, which prompted my unfortunate comment above, but maybe you meant only the doors, shutters, trim, etc.? If so - yes, changing those would be a significant change. Perhaps changing brick to be less of a two-tone effect - but you would need to use a breathable masonry stain (opaque or transparent), not regular house paint which traps moisture and causes mold issues or (in cold climates) spalling and damage to brick.

Sorry for any confusion. The brick areas that I pointed to will be replaced with siding. Then trim, doors shutters, etc

Thank you very much for your candor. I don’t disagree with anything you mentioned. We do have a beautiful home and even after all this time great curb appeal. We also have a large backyard and those are near impossible to find in today’s new home markets unless you have really big bucks. Perhaps a second set of eyes can offer me a lovely refresh instead.

Andrea, I’m so glad my thoughts didn’t offend you. It’s truly a beautiful and timeless house, and I agree — wonderful curb appeal.

I can’t see the front door, is that maybe something that could be updated? As well as trim and garage doors? I think those are things that might satisfy your desire for a change. :)

Front door is there just disappears because of paint blandness. I really want to say thanks. Just doing a bit of updating on the things you mentioned will probably do the trick. I’m excited, actually! :)

I’m excited for you! Please update us with what you decide! :)

I agree with every word Jinx just typed. Its a beautiful home. Please dont paint the brick, or put siding in place of it. I agree, the door could use a bit of color. It seems to recede back into the house, and should show up nicely, so guests, see it at first glance.

Another North Texan here who agrees with Jinx. I know we see many houses in this area with a similar look to yours, but that's not a bad thing. I also understand craving a change and wanting to create something that stands out against the rest, but I really believe that painting your house black in places will have a negative impact, perhaps even on the value of the home. The black and white painting trend is just that - a trend. What you have now is classic and lovely, with a natural and organic vibe. I'm heartened that you are reconsidering!

Houstonian here. Don’t change your home that much, please. I’ve lived in the D/FW area and down here too over a dozen years. I so appreciate the solid, classic brick/stone homes. Yours is lovely and I wish I was capable of offering some minor perk-up ideas to satisfy you.

West-facing in Texas and you are considering painting it black?? 🥵

The brick is lovely and I wouldn’t paint it or cover it. For the siding, how about something like one of these greens?

You didn’t ask this, but I would remove the tree on the left. It’s a nice tree but planted in the wrong place, way overgrown, and trying to hide your beautiful house.

Ugh…don’t even get me started on that tree. I couldn’t agree more with you, but unfortunately my husband won’t remove agree to remove it. ;(

I feel your pain. 😫

I see this picture is several years old and can’t imagine how big the tree is now, rubbing up against the house.

Andrea did the builder plant it? In my town, they bulldoze all the trees, build homes, then plant a Live Oak or Red Oak right in front of each house. 😆

I can understand where your husband is coming from — we need the shade here so bad! It’s a tough call.

Will your husband compromise and just allow a good pruning of the tree?

That particular picture was taken in 2016. It is now a towering beast of a tree, however, it has been substantially pruned upwards. When we planted that tree (river birch) it was our thoughts that it would make a lovely ornamental specimen. Wrong! Nothing ornamental about it now. At almost 25-30 feet it has become a source of shade for our house and our neighbors garage area. Every time I mention removing it my neighbor starts praying that I’ll change my mind-not even kidding here. She absolutely loves that tree (definitely more than me). Doesn’t matter that during the summer it will go into heat stress and start dropping a ton of leaves in both our yards. Thank goodness for her uncaring attitude…she’s a real sweetheart! If our roles were reversed I’m afraid I would not have been so lenient. 🫣

I chose an old picture rather than a new one because we’ve very recently had a series of storms move through and the look today is rather messy with debris. Apparently I don’t take a lot of pictures of the facade of my house so I had to go way back to get the one I used…

Glad you’re getting some regionally experienced advice. If this were my house, I might explore changes to the landscape to freshen things up. Maybe add some hardscape, like a curved brick walkway to the area where your guests park. Add a few mor plants that have variation in foliage color and texture,

Those are all lovely landscaping ideas. 2 winters ago we had a horrible freeze in N Texas. We had so much damage we had to start from scratch. The only thing that survived was our hydrangea shrub. I had no idea that they can survive major freezes without dying back. Blew me away!

I can't recall how cold it got in Texas during that freeze, but hydrangeas do well in colder climates. Mine have survived winters where it got close to zero for a period and I've never lost one.

Hydrangeas like cool wet weather. I’m surprised you can grow them in Texas.