Color? The house is red brick on the first floor. Wouldn't be my pick, but not interested in painting the brick - so there we are.
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| Front - tough to see full view because of the tree and bush in the front far corner. We had the trees trimmed last year and that big ass bush in front of the front door next to the tree probably needs to go. It does make our front porch very private. What can I say, we tend to be dark and mysterious. |
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| Side view that faces the culdesac. Below is the back view. If you look carefully you can see the top of Curly's head. She's reading on the deck. "Who is this 50 year old crazy lady with baby toys on her deck," say all my confused neighbors. |
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| What, we don't need a paint job. This looks fabulous. To the right, just out of view is the dumb overgrown bush. |
I love the color combos the website suggests, but none of their examples show how to coordinate them with red brick. The examples are recently built houses with brick colors that lend themselves to earthy tones, etc. We can just stick with white. We've lived here 13 years. Sometimes change is nice, but changing to something so drastic might not be the route to go. It's not like it would be paint and we could just change it in a few years.
Product? Have you heard of Hardie Board? One person I consulted who does interior design type work says that Hardie Board will fade and will need to be painted at some point. It's the most expensive product out there. It comes with a lifetime warranty, so can it really fade? Require painting?
*editing to add: I found an article stating that after 15 years Hardie board needs to be painted. Well, that's not ideal.
Open to suggestions. Oh, and for all of my LOVE-TO-PLANT-AND-GROW-STUFF friends, please try to ignore my lack of all things growing and flowering.
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| evening blue |
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| bothbay blue (with red? hmm?) |
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| night gray (maybe my favorite) - but can I handle the change? |
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| light gray (our last house was red brick and light gray) the gray one with no caption is aged pewter. My blog is getting sassy with me and won't let me label it. |
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| I grew up in a red brick house with blue siding and burgundy shutters. I always thought it didn't match. But I do LIKE blue. |
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| example of a dark color with red brick |
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| Maybe technically dark blue - looks nothing like my house, but makes me wonder what it would look like on my house. |
32 comments:
I wish you the best with your color decision. Is there any interior designer in your area who specializes in exteriors? People who are trained in color are extremely helpful because they know how the colors will *change* through the seasons.
I like the white and couldn't imagine brick with a dark color until I saw the examples you posted, I surprisingly really like the one from House and Home with the dark blue.
I LOVE the dark blues. Especially the two ranch/bungalow pictures you shared. Our home is white/beige and I would love to have a dark blue/gray siding.
My favorite is the night gray, followed by The evening blue. Hmmmm...sounds like I'm not a day person!
I love the traditional white siding with red brick look, but was totally surprised by how GREAT the brick looks with the dark grey! If you want a change, do that!!!
I wish I had any advice whatsoever on the brand of siding. Our house has vinyl siding that has never needed anything except the occasional power wash, but I don't know how to determine what the brand is.
Ally - You make a very good point. Hmm. I might reach out to my realtor and ask her if she knows someone who'd be good at working with our exterior color scheme.
Martha- The thing about white is that I know what it will look like. It's also hard to know if a color I like will be a color that I will like FOREVER. Since we are undecided about which manufacturer to go with, the color options are not always exactly the same between the companies - but I am also liking the darker colors.
Kari - I like those too. Looking around the area ALL the houses with our color brick have white siding. We are NOT trend setters, that might come as a shock to you - but it's true. So hard to decide is we're going to be 'those' neighbors.
Kate - I am digging the night gray also. There is a bit of black or gray in our brick, so it might tie in nicely. It also might make me think WHAT HAVE WE DONE? Yes, you night owl you - I assume bright, yellow houses make you cringe. ;)
Suzanne - See, I'm totally with you on that. It's just so dang drastic. And holy price tag. So hard to decide. With paint, you can always switch it up again in 6 or 7 years. Coach has a former patient, Ziggy, who he keeps in touch with who installs windows and does roofs. Coach reached out to him to ask what brand of siding he'd go with only to find out he also does siding. Now we feel a little awkward picking his brain and NOT hiring him to do the job, because we already have a guy who is giving us quotes, etc. The good news is that Ziggy informed Coach that he put Hardie Board on his house, but he is using something else currently and if he had to do it again, he'd put that on his house. He gave us a few addresses of houses we can drive by to see what the siding looks like. We trust him a ton.
I'm another vote for Night Gray. I think a dark green would be lovely too.
My house is stucco, because Arizona desert, and it's tan with green and white accents. The same color scheme repeated every 4th house or so. When we first moved into the neighborhood, I pulled into the wrong driveway more than once, because there is the same exact house, with the same paint, six doors down. We need to get it repainted every 8-10 years, or it looks terrible.
With us, I decided to think of our brick as a neutral but to also go for colors that are considered neutrals in clothing. We ended up with mainly a dark blue, similar to your evening blue, with dark brown gutters and trim. And then, because my husband was so happy to be living in non-HOA color freedom, we painted the front door bright orange. I think of it as being like the "pop of color" thing I used to hear on makeover shows. It lends the house some character, without making us look actually crazy.
Kara- I'm laughing at you pulling into the wrong driveway. Hee hee. I do like the dark. Have I mentioned that I have yet to convince Coach aka 'Mr. By the Book' that we might need to change up the color? That might prove more challenging than actually choosing a color.
Anonymous - That sounds like a good approach. The pop of orange is definitely a statement color. It honestly sounds very cool. My front door story: designed a beautiful front door for our last house with a Celtic glass insert. Sadly, we left it when we moved and our current door is possibly the ugliest I've ever seen. Maybe we should leave that giant bush right where it is.
We have a similar decision to make and for the life of me I cannot decide. One thing I realized, if we paint the house a dark color.... what about gutters, down spouts, soffits, and all the trim (window trim, corner boards, etc). Even the color of the roof. All these things are coordinated with our light colored wood siding but will they play nicely with a medium gray? a dark gray? More colors to coordinate! Argh! :)
So no real advice just empathy. I think change would be fun but ohmygosh it is a big decision.
We’re also looking at the fiber cement board siding - like Hardie - but there are so many options. I’m dying to know what Ziggy would install instead of Hardie Board.
I like the dark grey with the red brick. Night grey looks nice, I think. We are putting Hardie Board on our retirement home! I like darker colours with the brick, and that photo of dark blue and brick is also nice. I can't tell what colour your roof is, but that's something to keep in mind when coordinating as well.
I love the Evening blue or night gray. GO FOR SOME COLOR! You are a colorful family, why shouldn't your house be as well? I can't tell what your front door looks like, but it would be awesome in the same color as the siding.
We have hardie plank on our place in GA. I honestly, don't know what it is, but I think it gets painted just like wood. Right? Maybe it lasts longer?
We are contemplating painting our house and I start to sweat a little bit thinking about it.
Hey, can you ask Maryann which color she despises and go with that one?
We had Hardie Board on our last house - and yes, eventually it will need to be re-painted. Ever the traditionalist, I would probably choose white. But I do like the gray and dark blue options.
Maddie - https://www.alside.com/product-catalog/composite-cladding/ascend-composite-cladding/
Not sure the link will work but you can google: Ascend composite plank from Alside and find it. This is what Ziggy uses/recommends.
We are getting all new gutters, etc. Our roof is ancient so not worried about its color because it's on its way out. Hmm, the windows are white though. You raise some good points. I think once we pick a product (and I am leaning towards Ziggy's product), then we need to meet with someone who can help us with the color choices. You're right - big decision. Good luck to you too.
Nicole - Thanks for the vote. I'm really leaning towards dark. I guess I will just need to show Coach all the votes it got in my comments if he struggles with it. ;)
Our roof is going to be replaced soon. Right now it is black, but I'm not too worried about it since it will be all new . . . soon. Yes, we've won the lottery in case you were wondering. Hee hee. Only in my dreams, but we've been saving for awhile. Coach is fixated on replacing the roof. What's that about college tuition being expensive? Oh, I hadn't heard.
Suz - I love the way you think with the go for some color since we're a colorful family thought process. We aren't vanilla, damn it.
And, I did die at the Mary Ann suggestion. I bumped into her at the grocery store yesterday. She and daughter were deciding about yogurts as if yogurt had just been introduced to the world. It was odd, but at least they were busy enough that I could grab my preferred yogurt and just give a passing HI YA. I must do some digging and find out if a dark colored house would frustrate her. This could be a win win.
Gigi - I agree, I can't go wrong with white. I'm in a living-on-the-edge kind of mood of late. So many people are moving to different houses and buying lake houses. Things that are not options for us. So, if I can get Coach on board - I might just go for it and jazz things up. What can I say, I've always been the black sheep.
I definitely agree with the majority and like the darker colours, the blue and the grey. I couldn’t picture anything other than white, but love the pics with the dark colours. We’ll need a follow up post to this, when you’ve finished
Charlie - Everyone can't be wrong. Right? I will definitely keep you all in the loop as we move forward. Yikes though, we need to replace the Great White (van) soon, put on a roof, and do siding? My palms are sweating. I think I need to go lay down. ;)
Another vote for evening blue or night gray! I do like the other blue also.
-AM
AM - Adding your vote to my tally. Thanks. Would love to get this figured out and settled.
I like the white the best. What can I say, I'm a traditional gal! Or maybe just boring...🙂
Beth - We definitely can't go wrong with white, which is why trying something new is the challenge. Yikes.
I misread the post title as NO OPINIONS NEEDED and then read the first line and was like, make up your damn mind woman. My brain is so broken.
I think brick red is more neutral than any painted red would be, and any of the colours you posted would be fine - I do like the dark blue, and if it faded it would just be lighter blue and it would be like a house facelift with no work! I am so helpful.
Ali- Ha. You raise a good point with the fading being an automatic facelift.
I am leaning towards a darker color if for no other reason than I don't like to always do what is anticipated. Plus I do like the darker colors.
Nice house! I really like the gray tones with the red. While I don't have hardie board siding, my gables and under roof front and back porches have hardie board instead of stucco. It was much cheaper! And yep, it's been 18 years since we built our house and they have faded and need to be painted badly.
Mellie - Thanks. I pinched myself many, many times after we bought this house. Of course I didn't know I had a few rotten neighbors to look forward to, but what're ya gonna do?
Ziggy - the guy who works with a composite material that he likes better than Hardie Board is coming over tomorrow night to discuss. I hope I can convince Coach to go with a darker color, because I'm now leaning that way.
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