Thank you! So much great feedback. Sadly, the paint job is a necessity rather than just aesthetics -- paint on the back side is failing pretty badly & peeling off in layers. (After reading up on the paint forum, I think it was just too many layers of latex on top of old oil paint without adequate prep.) Maybe we will keep it close to current color. I'm not sure what color it is, but I'll have to stop by the BM store and pick up a tab for Briarwood. I think those color visualizers are just a bit off, at least on our monitor -- Down Pour is a very smurf-y blue on my screen. Luckily, SW store is right down the street. Of the SW colors, we liked Mineral Deposit -- gray, but not quite so dark. Johnmari, my wife said exactly that about warm trim looking bad with cool gray field color. I just want to get away from the current ultrawhite, just tone down a bit but not too much. Shutters? I think we will someday, after we've finished the essentials. Of course, being picky, I don't want to just screw aluminum shutters that don't match window size on there, so might be a while given that real shutters & hardware are pricey. The suggestion about doing the sash black is good--that could look really sharp and make the windows pop a bit more until we can dress it up a bit more with shutters. Absolutely agreed on the landscaping solutions. Could be more varied and it would add a lot. THANK YOU for all your suggestions, such a helpful group & nice little corner of the internet.

Something homey and less showy, is nice for a front door when your brick is so rich in hue... I kinda like the Mushroom color, Morris Room Gray on the door and Urbane Bronze on the siding with white trim....or Timber Bark, or Monterrey Taupe on the Siding and Cobblestone on the door, with white trim...just get white, no divided light, windows. You have so little white in your brick and they would look nice matching the trim and accent the darker siding and door very very nicely(and white is not a premium pay more, color on windows). Don't get any divided light. Your windows will look so pretty with the darker siding and pretty brick. When you dress the inside of the windows, try to make sure all the shades, lining or drapes are a solid color either white or something similar to your front door or siding color tones if you do coordinate the door and siding, both of them in the same color family. That is, any one of those 3 colors, not all of those colors. LOL That will make your home exterior look very special. Keep us posted!!! Love your homes' exterior style! And given the shape of your windows, I like the style of the navy blue door above the best. You don't need to add more shapes to your home horizontally and the other door is pretty busy. You just need a bit more simple door style with your multi surface siding, brick and exterior walls that also are not flush. And not sure you need sidelights with the higher window. Maybe a 2 door entry would be stunning? OR put the door all the way to the right hinged and make the sidelight just one on the left of the door? or the reverse of that?? If you want to change the color of the brick, which is very pretty as it is, especially if the siding and windows and door are all refreshed, check into dyebrick.com or into limewashing brick, which can be used to lighten the brick as to give a glaze over it. You control how much lighter or glaze you want to apply to the brick. I have read it can cost as little as 30 dollars to do a medium size brick home. Dyebrick, is more permanent and either of these processes will resist mildew by leaving your brick porous and breathable, allowing moisture to evaporate easily. I have seen both done and the effects are very nice. It is not hard to do, but it is much nicer if your brick is in good shape and you have not had alot of mortar repair done to it, to enjoy it as it is when it is pretty and timeless as your brick is. You have various hues to accent and it looks nice.

In general, you will not go wrong in trying to work with the original design intent of the house. I would probably clean the stone and reevaluate. Since you appear to be changing flooring you could try to find something you like that works With it instead of Against it. Right now it seems as if it is in keeping with the architecture of the house and with the built-ins that you are preserving. There are probably a bunch of different ways to make it look better and updated if you were looking at it in isolation, but it still has to work in the context of the house itself--and I think you could easily fall into doing something too 2020s contemporary to it, which will then not look good with the other bits of character you are keeping.

are you keeping the florescents? If you are, none of the colors are going to look the same as they do on the swatches. you'll have to get samples and try them. if keeping those lights, stay away from anythng in the green undertone or green/yellow/green family. I hope that green carpet in the waiting room is going. (maybe you could switch out those fixtures for some LED lights?) you want something like this: (the lights, the molding, trim color, art ) any of these would be nice w/the floors