Make the garage door the same color as the brick. It is the wall, not a focal point. If you put up cedar, please stain it either redwood(which does fade)or maybe a walnut or pecan stain. If you do that, than you can paint your front door or you can stain it to match the siding, and add some really nice hardware and a brass or stainless steel kickplate and update your exterior porch light and garage sconces to a style you like that is complimentary. If you paint the front door, than use a slightly lighter shade on the eaves probably so you don't give your home heavy eyebrows? Think slightly lighter tones since your brick is so pretty. The cedar idea is very pretty. Just wonder if making the eaves or overhang dark is the best option or if you would tire of it quicker. ?? Either way, you are way ahead not removing the brick if it is in good shape and just changing the siding and paint trims. Really nice home!!

Thanks Beverly! The timbers are actually painted in the same chocolate brown color as the window and roof line trim as well as gutters. And the house is painted wood (been painted several times over the years house circa 1980) although we've only been here two years and inherited the bad peachy sandy beige siding and chocolate brown trim. I agree the darker pic you attached is appealing. Right now I'll be taping up several colors I've picked up. They range from mid toned to darker grays mostly with a green undertone. (I'll post some pics this afternoon.) And we don't see a choice of keeping the chocolate brown trim if we really want to enhance the appeal of the house. So we really ought to get rid of the chocolate brown trim for good--which will include also replacing the gutters and downspouts to a different color (they need replacing anyhow). I'm attaching a closer image of the timbers in the front door area and one looking in from the driveway to the front deck. After paint, trim and gutter color is chosen, we'll tackle a paint color the front door. It's scary now as it has some sort of faux finish with actual leaves embedded and painted over. Since it's an oversized custom door size we are trying to fix it rather than replacing it. The front door is to the immediate right in the deck pic. The two doors in deck photo lead to the dining room and the other to the kitchen. Will also replace light fixtures. It's always a domino effect major project to redo an exterior but it's sorely needed. Thank you again for your time, interest and sharing of talent.

I'm very sensitive to noise, so I'm just going to ask if you know that a metal roof may be noisy in times of rain or hail. As far as the colors as concerned, I like to stick with all warm colors or all cool - gives a unified look. Cool colors: bright white, ice cool pastels, light medium and dark taupe, cool blue red, royal blue, Kelly green, dark green, forest green, purple, navy, black. Warm colors: off-white, cream, beige, tan, golden yellow, orange, rust, peach, olive green, brown.

Thank you all so much for these great ideas! The siding is only a few years old, but every contractor we’ve spoken to (6 now) has said it would be difficult to find the match, and even if we found it, it might not match exactly. Most suggested re-siding the top and continuing it down, or just putting up stone. The other concern about siding all the way down was the need to put furring strips into the concrete foundation. I’d feel so wasteful residing the entire gone and getting rid of perfectly good, new-ish siding!