Painting a brick home?

[Sumaira]

Hi everyone...
My husband I live in a brick home, built in 1925. Its your typical two story, 4 windows in the front, 4 windows in the back, flat roof home. It very outdated. Most of the home near us are exactly the same. Some of them have updated their roof to a pitched version. Others have added larger porches. We'd like our house to stand out, and were thinking about painting. Suggestions? Comments?

[mrcaptainbob]

I think that's one great looking home! My taste only: I wouldn't paint that beautiful brick! I do see, however, a grand opportunity for some complimentary landscaping. Something to help the house look wider, or detract from the height. The two existing bushes appear to accent the height. The front walk/stairs are a grand entry that could be greatly enhanced by some parallel plantings. Along with that, the introduction of some color would also be a great touch. Color in plants or designer type stone work.... the downspout is necessary, but, DANG! Why can't we invent something that's hidden on houses! I've never seen a downspout that adds to the beauty of a home!

[Sumaira]

lol. Thanks! Actually the three bushes that are in front of the house have been torn out and tossed away. I really disliked them. Now there is three Blue Hydrangeas with a mulch bed...and a soon to be wide border around the mulch. the rosebush thats right on top of the ivy has now been replanted to the side of the house, outside the bed for the hydrangeas...

Id like to add a small tree or flowering shrub right at the top left hand side of the stairs....

But dont paint it? *Whimpers* lol

[kactuskid]

I agree, I wouldn't paint it, that brick is beautiful, and once you paint it, then you no longer have a maintenance free exterior. You can add little details around the front such as planters on the porch with colorful flowers, maybe some solar powered walkway lights out front, etc. Here's a link that'll give you some ideas of outdoor treasures you can add, such as new house numbers, wind chimes, etc. http://www.outdoordecor.com/products...es/default.htm

[mrcaptainbob]

It's unfortunate that the sidewalk handrail is on that side. It's splitting the front yard and the house front almost down the middle. For me....I'd change that over to the other side. What could be done to change the accent color from white? Could a beige be used for the larger areas, such as the porch ceiling and the the porch roof gable ends? And maybe a hunter green color for trim, gutters and downspouts? There's always the muted auburn with gray color scheme, too. Something that would compliment rather than clash with the brick and mortar colors. Are there any colors in the brick that could be accented by trim color choices? Our last house had brick that was beige until you looked close at it. There were gray and rose/pink flecks in it. So my wife chose colors to bring out the pink. After we painted the trim and did a few other things, that rose/pink color jumped right out!

[mrcaptainbob]

By the way..that siding on the porch roof gables.....(Now this is just my personal taste!!) I would replace those with the narrow boards. It appears to be the ten inch aluminum siding. Too large of a board for that area. Having more 'slats' in there would make it appear longer. THis could play into your hands if you decided to change the color. Accomplish both at the same time.

[Sumaira]

Thanks everyone! Lets see if I can catch up with my posts...
The handrail. I hate that thing. As much as I dislike the rail around the porch. To me it just looks too skimpy......I wish it were brick like the rest of the house so the porch was a bit more private. We were debating on just taking it down altogether...but our steps are so nasty in the winter that we need it. And as you can see...the lovely ivy on our front slope makes it impossible to ever attempt moving things.

As far as painting, we are starting to pick colors to repain the foundation (right now its an icky gray/blue...) since our brick (close up is really a mix of browns and reds...I picked a dull redish color (which is already on the back of our house as the wood siding on our little itty bitty porch....) I was thinking of doing the majority of the porch in that red, the siding and the ceiling and then the trim in a cream color......

We were also thinking about painting our door a more inviting color....perhaps the same red, with a cream trim. Right now its a light wood color and it totally goes with NOTHING in our out of our house.....

I also looked into a few solar lights.....which I like the idea of....we found a couple that we liked...and if by magic....on the way to buy them...noticed FOUR of neighbors just installed the SAME ones...our street looks like an airplane runway now. lol