Marti are you painting the gable ends and trim? Both colors are nice with your brick. I really like your soft sandy brick colors. Your DH is a glutton for punishment. But just think when you do get it all done all you have to do is sit back and enjoy it. LOVE the patio court yard you will be creating.

Thank you. I wish I liked the brick better, but I just don't. I have really disliked the flesh colored paint on it. Yes, everything that isn't brick will be painted.

The biggest problem I have is that I'll like a paint on the gable with the brick, but hate it with the roof, or won't be able to find a color for the shutters that looks good with the other combinations.

I like the 'brown' on the body of the house (not the brick) and the gray on the shutters and trim. However, I'd start with the 'brown' on one wall of the dining room addition to see how it looks, on a larger expanse. If it doesn't work for some reason...it will be much easier to change :)

Oops! I meant to say, I like the white trim around the windows, but gray on the shutters and accents/lattice, etc.

To through a wrench in the works. LOL I know we discussed painting brick. You were not fond of that idea ad I totally understand that one. Was looking for paint colors to go with your color brick and came across this site. Very interesting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Different way to color brick and stone

I like the brown too & dh likes the gray. Here's what it looks like. I thought the color was distorted by Picture Painter so super imposed the color from the Benj Moore website onto my picture and the color was the same.

1st, BM Plymouth Brown on siding, Bittersweet chocolate on the shutters
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2nd, BM Devonwood Taupe on siding, desert light on shutters
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3rd, BM Chelsea Gray on siding, apache red on shutters
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I like the 1st or 2nd, but not the 3rd. I also wonder about another (but different than original), light color on the siding.

Any suggestions? I'll try any color.

It's dh who really didn't want to paint the brick. But now that we have 2 different styles of brick, some smooth, and some with a sculptured edge, I think it would be more noticeable if they were all one color.

I like the gray, gives you more options for landscaping colors and ties in roof and cement on the property. Texture on the brick is good, gives more interest, and be sure it has gray in the colors to match your 'gray' color scheme. Nice house!

Dh still likes the gray. I just don't think it looks right with so much yellow brick. Still playing around with it though.

This one with the plymouth brown siding and a charcoal brown on the shutters. Better or worse?
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And this one is the gray with black forest green shutters.
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I like it better with these shutters, but still not convinced about the gray.

I like the first one. Looks richer. Especially the shutters against the brick.

The first one in this last set of photos? I like that one best too.

Yes Marti The first one on last set of pictures.

My house has a very similar brick. Glad to know I'm not the only one! All our wood is painted (stained, actually) a dark brown, and I like how it works with the house. The only other trim I have is gutters, and they are painted to match the siding. It's a totally different kind of house than yours, but we have the crazy brick in common!

I don't have much brick directly next to wood, so it's hard to get a picture. The ones below are the best I could find, but could give you some idea how a darker color could work.

On my computer, that one is too mustardy; and is the wrong shade with all your beautiful purple flowers below. But, I liked your original shade, which you say you don't like. (ha!, sorry!)

I agree with you kirkhall. When I find a color that is the right shade, it's too puky looking. But that's what color the brick is - puky yellow, with some rust and brown splotches on some of them.

jakabedy, I like your house! Your brick seems to be lighter than mine, but it could be the lighting. Do you have any painted trim or anything on your house?

I've been playing around with a darker brown, but I don't like anything I put with it.

Marti- I know you don't like the color of the brick (I think you called it flesh colored?) but on the monitor, it looks like there's a lighter/golder shade, next to the light pink. Can you find a paint color to match that, rather than bringing out the accent colors?

Marti-

I don't have any other trim on the house. The windows all have metal frames and the two entry doors are stained. It's all very woodsy and minimalist.

I just remembered our fireplace in a house we had. The next owner painted the walls next to it a pretty sage green. The fireplace was the sandy pinky beige color.It was rock but pretty close to your brick color. The sage looked wonderful with it. I do not have a picture of that.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fireplace

That's pretty Chris. I like sage with this brick too, and that's what color our doors and shutters are, or were before they faded. But it's too much green when it's on that big gable.

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Just for fun I painted more of the bricks.
Original:
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And with more brown bricks:
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Can you tell any difference?

YES I can tell the difference and the added darker bricks look good. What a huge job that would be but if it would last I would go for it. To me the original is a bit bland. Course that is coming from the person that is all about bling. LOL

I don't know how huge it would be. The new brick that was just delivered is all yellow-tan so some of it will have to be painted or stained with the browns and rusts to match the rest. It was the only brick I could find that was the right size and the right base color, so had to go with it. So if I can do it, I don't know why I can't do the rest of the house too, right?

I've been looking at your photos and trying to figure out what's not working for me. I decided that it's the gable that starts immediately above the windows, rather than a few courses of brick above that. I think that's what makes the gable seem so imposing. And then I started working out how to improve that.

1) Rip off the siding and brick the gable (probably not happening!)

2) Rip off the brick and make the entire front of the house siding (a lot of trouble for a move to a worse material).

3) Run a piece of contrasting trim across the bottom of the gable so that the "field" of the gable isn't so large. Something like this:

4) If you're up for a little construction, take option (3) a bit further with something like this:

or this:

'3) Run a piece of contrasting trim across the bottom of the gable so that the "field" of the gable isn't so large. Something like this'

this. I hadn't noticed before but does look like windows just cut off at the top. run a piece of white trim across there?

btw, I like the grey.

I can tell you that any kind of construction is out, at least for now. But you've made me think about the gable starting above the windows. I've never really noticed other houses, but now I'll start looking to see if the ones here are like mine or have some kind of transition piece.

Thank you Summerfield!

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back. We've been out of town for a week. I am a mother-in-law now! After the wedding, we went to Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.

Along the way, I looked at houses, and noticed some differences in houses in other areas. In my area, most of the houses that are about the same size as mine, have siding above the brick done like mine. There was a house in St. Louis that was almost exactly like ours with brick color, long front porch, and shutters, and they used a dark sand colored paint on the siding, and white on the trim, with darker brown on the shutters. It looked great. The house was also about the same age as ours, but the colors made it seem a lot newer.

Most of the houses in Kentucky had brick all the way up the gable.

Tennessee had a diving board between the brick and the siding on the gables, like in jakabedy's first photo.

While I don't think it's possible to add a bigger face board there, I do think it will work to just paint the one we have in another color, like in Summerfield's drawing. It would help if the board were wider than the siding, but since that board can't be changed without redoing the siding, we'll just have to see what difference the paint will make.