I think I like the 1st one. I dislike dark trim so I find your inspiration gloomy. At first glance I was going to say just paint the new brick at the garage until I saw the back. Look at ROMABIO for the brick although I'm not sure you can limewash 2 different color bricks and have them look the same.

Just an aside: it's too bad with your beautiful home you were not able to come up with a better solution for the trash.

In general, the best way to make a cohesive look is to paint the body of a house all the same color especially if there will be different materials. Would advise avoiding darker colors. Would advise you to opt for lighter colors instead.

I like the pic you posted immediately above.

I’m also super interested in the ”before” and ”after” and your scope of work. Would you share what you have changed with the structure, especially inside. I ask because we are imagining a similar front/back reno for our own ranch with walk-out basement.

Light uniform color of beige or grey will looks good

I have no clue wy you added brick if it did not match you could have done siding and then kept the brick IMO painted brick instantly devalues your home .From what I see you added the cost of brick fro no apapent reason and now you are going to paint it . Brick in its actul form is almost 0 maintenace and now you will add many maintenance issues over the years .

Patricia, this feedback is not particularly helpful 😬

@Juliet
We added a garage, mudroom, foyer and porch on the front. We added a new primary bedroom with en-suite bath/closet off the side, and built a new deck/ screened porch off the back. We changed the roofline and also gutted the kitchen and added a 2nd laundry room on the main level.

The whole house was brick so we didn’t really have a choice when we decided to expand, sadly.

I like the picture above, that you posted. Hopefully, all will work out well for you.

Here’s hoping today’s progress pic solicits more input / constructive feedback 🙃

Color samples:
Eider white
Dorian gray
Deep creek
Deep River

I like this one.

thank you for explaining more what your project entails. I’m definitely interested in seeing before/after. Our 1958 house doesnt have a garage or mudroom and has a small kitchen and living room so we are brainstorming something similar—popping out a bit in the front, back and side.

Instead of painting, could you add some other material, some architectural detailing of sorts, on top of the brick on small areas just to hide the transition between the old and the new brick?

I'd be very nervous to paint a brick house for the reasons Patricia mentioned.

I like Dorian Gray which was a contender for our house. We ended up using Repose Gray only because I wanted to keep it light.

Don't paint the brick please; cohesiveness is overrated. Dirty up the lighter one or just wait a couple years for your match.

@joseph corlett… how can we NOT paint the brick?! The color is starkly different from original. Look at the pics

Our architect original did a blue gray paint on the bricks … which echos this beautiful Raleigh NC reno.

I think in the long run a medium tone gray is your best option.

Your brick seems very common, I am confused why the could not find a close match.

Agreed that the way some of the "advice" was phrased was not very helpful. But the dilemma you present does bring up the fact that blending in a new brick wouldve been the best. So now the ship has sailed, the question is - what is second best. A potassium silicate paint is indeed what you want (Romabio is but one of several options) . You shouldnt have to "convince" your architect, he should be enthusiastic about learning new things! MIneral paint keeps out water (rain) but allows water vapor to pass through - this is essential for preventing mold issues in warm climates, damage caused by freeze-thaw cycles in cold climates. You can get both the transparent limewash versions or more opaque flat solid colors.

Has your architect spoken directly to any of the co's in US which offer these products - besides Romabio there's limeworks.us and beeckmineralpaints.com both which I found provided exceptional technical assistance.

BTW one benefit to using a potassium silicate aka mineral paint is that real mineral pigments are used, not plastic chemical colorants as is the case with ordinary acrylic paint, so the quality of the color is really beautiful and "alive". Its also not as thick, absorbs into brick more, keeps the texture of brick more, so will look more like real brick (albeit a different color) than a thick plastic acrylic coating ever could.

Re color, the stark white and gray or white and black has become vastly overdone in recent years. Kinda like the mushroom colors of the 1990s were - at the time they were just the latest thing. I remember people liking them because they were a change from boring ordinary white LOLOLOL.

Your Deep River inspiration pic is quite lovely I think but what makes it work is the natural brick serves to "ground" the house and blends nicely with the green-blue-gray of the Deep River. To transfer that scheme to your house, youd have to consider the same grayed weathered wood color for roof color + a beiger /earthier tone for the brick and then siding in Deep River.

What a cool project, it is going to look amazing when complete. I think both light or dark could work but its your house, surely you have a sense of what you want to see when you pull up? I would look at staining the old brick to match the new since it is recessed. Black windows, grey trim and soffits, red brick...

@Aliss, I like that last pic you posted: Wider white brick with Dorian gray siding/soffit

either way, your house is very cool, it's going to look soo good!

If you do choose grey for anything, note that it can wind up feeling a lot different than it appears on the sample. I've encountered this many times, particularly outdoors. there were a couple of different times where I chose what I thought was going to be charcoal grey, but in the sun it wound up looking a lot closer to concrete. once you choose your colors, do some BIG sample swatches to be sure!

Do you like one of the bricks over the other? If so, just paint one of them and keep the other as a feature. I might paint (or re-side) the old brick and keep the new brick unpainted as a feature. Many new houses in my area are doing almost what looks like the idea of colourblocking and using either cedar or stone as a feature part of the front and then hardiplank (cement board) as the main siding for the rest.

Your remodel looks amazing! I hope you’ll share photos when it’s finished. On this forum, as soon as anyone mentions painted brick, no matter what the project is, the painted-brick haters get out their poison pens. (Not helpful, people!) Of course you're going to paint the brick and make it all match and it will be fabulous. We had the front brick facade of our house painted years ago with a brick-formulated paint and it has held up very very well. So don’t worry…focus on whether you want a light or dark house. Maybe someone with photoshop skills can help out here?

See if you can stain, rather than paint. Less destructive to the brick, and you can still do a wealth of colors...

No "hate" here. Mostly, people are expressing opinions on what they think will look and function best for this house and yes opinions wil vary. That's what we do here! I see a few of us who do prefer the look and texture of natural unpainted earth toned brick suggesting stain and/or ways of how the two tones could be blended. OP is of course free to do whatever she wants.

OP, back to your inspiration pic. The question is how to translate that to your house. Have you sampled the DeepRiver? You might consider hiring an on site color consultant - should be able to translate a vision into a plan. Given the scope of this project already the added cost would be well worth it. A more whitewash effect could work beautifully- youd have to use a beigier tone instead of pure white to replicate the look of your inspriation pic. You might have to contact the co's to find someone to apply it - outside of the skill set of many house painters. Be careful- this forum has seen examples of limewash jobs gone terribly wrong! The opaque version of mineral paint is super-easy though. Its, thinner than regular housepaint, absorbs into the brick, so it takes some getting used to, I did it DIY because I couldnt find local painter willing to use it. Like your architect, they didnt want to learn anything new.

We have to fill in some brick for a door we closed in and according to the mason it will be nearly impssible to match color with the size brick we need. He suggested ”staining” to match current brick. This might be what others are suggesting but he suggested it’s a much better process because the color is absorbed into the brick rather than a coating on it, which helps the brick let the house breathe. I think its also less upkeep.

Good info Juliet. I think I'm switching sides and getting aboard the stain train LOL. I just looked and there is in fact a wide range of masonry stain colors/ opacities - even some that look a lot like the light grays and blue grays in OP's pics above. The difference is it reads more like real brick vs. the thick paint coating on top which obscures the texture.

BTW Ive always considered these forums to be a community-wide discussion, and by participating (commenting, reading responses from others, looking stuff up to be sure I know what I want to say) I often learn stuff too as much as the OP does, if not more so. Posters should not expect a one-on-one consultation - you will get whole gamut of opinion! But thats the value of this forum - some new direction might come up that you wouldnt get by talking to only one person. As maddening as Houzz often is, it really is a good resource!

Neat project!! Can’t wait to see the results!!

Hired a designer to do an exterior paint consult. Analysis paralysis 😵‍💫

To give your home a cohesive fascade I would suggest painting all materials the same color. To help acheive a midcentry modern look I would suggest going lighter rather than darker. Good luck!

@Aliss Of the three you just posted above, I love the darkest one!

Last debate is if the siding on the rear screened porch should be dark/cohesive (sea serpent) or light (origami white)?

I think prefer the all white - since it is in the back and is to some extent concealed by screen, it would not have to repeat the same color proportions of the front. I also think that you do not want to break up the space and have dark walls, light ceiling. So what's the alternative - all dark? I suppose that could work since its such a large open space.

Am I understanding correctly,, that entire back section is to be entirely screened? If so - wowza, that is like the mother of all screen porches! I think I would live out there all summer long. If you have a cat, you could really do some incredible vertical space for her out there (ala Jackson Galaxy "catification")

Yes, everything under the roof is screened. The alternative is blue on the whole back of the house. Perhaps white on the hearth side of the fireplace.

We love our screened porches in North Carolina! The mosquitos during the summer are unreal.

I like this^^^

Update time! Not done but lots of paint progress to report back on 😅