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Paint Design Dilemma Exterior

Exterior Trim Colors for Red Brick Ranch House

5 months ago

I previously posted my exterior and feel like I'm getting close, but need additional help. My ranch house is currently red brick with white trim. I am planning to remove the shutters and replace windows with new bronze-colored aluminum windows. (I am also going to change the posts to square). I like SW Urbane Bronze for the trim color, and have a photoshopped image of how the house would look with Urbane Bronze trim, soffits, gutters, door, posts, and garage door with shutters removed and new windows. I like it, but it's a lot of brown. I wondered about either painting the garage door and/or front door a different color or doing something different with the lap siding. Though I can't figure out how. Someone previously suggested painting the garage door the color of the mortar. Or maybe I should go with something a little lighter than Urbane Bronze?

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Comments (7)

Susie .
5 months ago
The Urbane Bronze mockup seems a little sad to me. As much as I love UB, I also wonder if it's nearing the end of its trend. Also, I think the UB may look better with a darker roof. Here are some ideas. Adding some color/interest with landscaping would help even more than paint, IMO.
kandrewspa
5 months ago
I agree with you that something lighter than Urbane Bronze would look better. I like the colors Susie suggested. If you want to paint before the windows are installed, check the paint color against the new window color so you don't end up with something that doesn't look good with the windows.
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Your house is a gorgeous, classical, balanced, symetrical style, & I'd think it will look best with colors that are in keeping with that image...even if you have to think a while to figure out what to use! The brick & wrought iron & the very size of it give it weight, so you need colors with "weight" so that they look well-matched with the rest of the house, & since the brick has depth & texture, you want simplicity. Paint the downspouts as close to the brick color as possible to camouflage them. I like the way the house looks now, as far as matching & contrast, so I'd experiment with maybe charcoal gray or British racing green (deepest green in the universe, with a little black mixed in) for the shutters, & spanking white for columns & window trim. I like the red door, but if you want a change, maybe stain the door a walnut color & use the same color on the area above the porch. That combination might give the house a "lodge" kind of atmosphere... or you could go spanking white on everything but the door & use a deep Chinese laquer red on it. Whatever you do, it's a beautiful house, & you'll have a lot of fun working on it!
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The house near me is a medium cream with sort of olive green shutters. Cypress is big here so lots of people use it. I must say it looks nice. Kind of makes me wish I didn’t paint my old cypress shutters. A light color may show dirt easily considering the trees in the front yard and a dark color will disappear in the shadows. Accessible beige would look nice with SW sanderling on the trim and SW cadet on the door. I’ll attach some pics of some color schemes that could work and assuming the stained doors would be your posts.. The house styles are wrong but you can see the colors. Alos once I changed my windows, the tint gave off a bluish color that made my blue door (SW Riverway) look better, so waiting until they’re in may guide your decision. For this one, the door color could be the stain for the posts.
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We recently bought a 1950s red brick house, and I'm looking for suggestions on exterior paint colors. We'd like to keep the brick as is but update the siding, shutters, trim and front door. The first picture is the house now (we are going to remove the large wheelchair ramp and add some landscaping). The second picture is old, but it gives a better view of the front of the house. TY in advance!
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Comments (8)
Is your roof as blue as it looks in the pic ? Not a fan of #3 - better would be windows/doors dark, trim/porch midtone or light (but not stark white). Dark colors recede, lighter colors come forward. I know its partly the lighting, but the entire front of that house is a black hole, not very welcoming. ETA - just read that your windows are new and white. Its too bad that stock window colors have to drive a color scheme on a house, but it is what it is. So you have three colors - brick red, white windows , gray (blue gray?) roof. I always like to keep things simple - get rid of the yellow (ie cream) and stick to 3 colors. Shutters /garage and other doors could become a grayer/ darker version of roof color, and switch the cream to a white that is not as bright as the window white, but still relates well to it. Maybe the siding on the back could be same or slightly lighter gray as shutters/doors. The back would have a different feel from the front, but thats OK.
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Susie .
5 months ago
Also, you could use the Urbane Bronze on just the trim, downspouts and posts and paint the siding/garage door a coordinating color. Felted Wool with Urbane Bronze below. I'd look for something about the same value as your roof.
cat_ky
5 months ago
I just looked up your last post. I think, the white windows look so much better with the roof on the house. Urban bronze and your roof, are not a great match. The house looked so much more inviting in your first post than it does in the rendering above. Your door needs to be a brighter happy color, that says welcome.
thewillco
Original Author
5 months ago
Susie--thank you. I like the Felted Wool combo with Urbane Bronze and was thinking something like that. cat_ky, I know what you mean. Maybe I should just be staying with white and be done with it. But so many people seem to want the bronze windows. The bronze windows also go better with the interior renovations than white does, but both are fine. I am likely selling the house after I renovate it and want it to appeal to a wider audience. I'm posting the original photo of how it currently looks here for comparison.
thewillco
Original Author
5 months ago
Here's an image of what it might look like with the garage painted darker (courtesy of one of you nice folks on Houzz). I suppose I could do something like this and paint the gutters dark. Or something like that.
Susie .
5 months ago
What does your realtor think? I do like the bronze windows better - though wonder if you need to have the six over six for that style home. I also think improving the landscaping would do more for curb appeal than painting the house.

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