how about a gray color to cover the siding and a bright yellow door?

I vote a cementy-taupe like color (sort of matching the brick grout), then a hunter green door with the taupe storm door. And power wash the brick, especially the chimney.

To add some interest you could do something fun with the front door, like paint it red, yellow, black or any other colour you like. If you're going to stay away from bold colours, I would suggest you repaint the house white to stay consistent with the window frames. White looks nice and crisp with red brick.

Put up some new address numbers, give that chimney a good scrub and you've got a fresh curb appeal.

Paint the brick! Ha ha just kidding :)

I love natural brick, glad you're keeping it! On our old brick house we painted the wood a light beige, kept all the trim a bright white, and replaced the door with a white one with little window panels up top. That's my boring suggestion, I'm sure everyone else will have better!

I agree about pressure washing that brick! that will make all the difference.

And not to be rude, but if your house is 90% brick, and you aren't painting the brick, why stress over the 10% non brick surface? Any bright color will clash with the brick so you're pretty limited to earth tones anyway.

I think I would leave the siding white, paint the house trim and the window trim black and then get new door that was either a bright-ish color or black with really great hardware.

I like classic cream with brick and a black or deep red door.

green, green, green. Moss green, or a dusty gray green.

Is that a light fixture on the front of the chimney? If so, replace it with a bigger, geometric one that echoes the lines of the house.

Definitely keep the gutters white or gray to match the roof. You don't want a horizontal line cutting straight across the house. I like the taupe idea for the windowsills, etc. I think the main thing is to find a "bridge" color(s) to better tie the roof in with the brick.

I would do a dark grey for the house and trim, and then a fun color for the door - green, blue, or yellow ochre?

Blue. Even a blue-grey would be interesting. It would compliment the grey roof. The trim might have to match.

Our 50's ranch has long, red brick and we painted the trim slate grey and the majority wood a lighter shade: http://www.flickr.com/photos/savery70/4385423419/

I'm totally on board with the green. There's a house in my neighborhood with similar brick, and they painted the trim a kind of medium, almost minty green (think 50s kitchen colors) with darker green accents and it looks awesome!

I'd paint the clapboards and soffits a nice Hunter Green - which would contrast nicely w/ the Red Brick and the grey roof.

For the door I'd choose a Brick Red again - but leave the trim around the door white so you won't have to paint all the windowcasings

Are you getting a new roof? Because don't even think about going with a dark paint color on the siding when you've got that white-ish roof.

I'm glad that your not going to paint the brick. I actually think that your house has loads of curb appeal. I'm from UK and I love US houses.

If you are going to paint it I'd go for a light gray, and paint the door either orange or a teal blue. I recently saw the gray and orange combo and was surprised how good it looked. I'd also add some trellis and a climber plant to the chimney or some kind of hanging basket.

It really is a sweet house.

I like Furpants' suggestion of a gray shade of green.
I'm uninformed, so I'm asking: Is it possible to paint the vinyl at all? Not something I know anything about, but wouldn't it be great if you could, as then you wouldn't have to work with it. As it stands, you've got already got a three-color palette (brick, gray, and white) and it's going to be hard to add more colors and not have things fighting each other.
Maybe you could try painting everything that is paintable the same shade as the roof and let the white stand out. Then you could add some plantings with deep green leaves and white flowers (magnolias, camellias, gardenias, moonflower vine, stephanotis - so fragrant!) and mix in plants with silvery gray foliage as accents (artemisia, lambs-ear, lavender, et al) to subtly repeat the gray/white pallette.

Sorry, confusing armor/armour with pallet/pallette, and don't get me started with pallette/paillette, because we'll be here all day talkin' Creole.

You've probably done this already, but it may be helpful to seek out other houses with a combination of siding & brick to see what looks good to you. :) There's one in my neighborhood w/faded green siding which looks very cottage-like and sweet.

also agree with dark dusty green. Also like dark dusty red, (think barn red) or even Frank Lloyd Wright's favorite cherokee red. Whatever color you go with, would be best to do windows/doors and the front area all the same. Eaves in white with a bit of whatever color you used mixed in. Good luck -- house looks like it has nice bones.

I just wanted to say bless you for not painting the brick :)

Post pictures post-landscaping. Attention to details like shrubs and flowers can really make a home go from OK to "OMG its adorable and I wish I lived there!" super quick.

Can't wait to see the final results!!

I know you don't want to paint the brick, but what about doing something just with that gigantic chimney on the front of the house? It's so big that the eye is automatically drawn to it anyways, why not make it something that is more of a feature than just this.... thing.

So, I played with Photoshop for a couple of minutes and came up with this: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_O2KVxepJNDo/S4XExZPsDNI/AAAAAAAAAsE/ulN_KBWY9WU/at-house.jpg

It's hard to tell in the picture, but I think the roof is actually green-grey? I think that works well with the tones of the brick. A slightly darker shade in those tones would be nice, and then a lighter version of the same color where the siding is. I'd keep all the trim white, but I do like the idea of a different color door. I think black would be too stark a contrast though and would lean more towards a darkish charcoal color instead. This color could then be added to details on the chimney also. A band of it around the top it could help camouflage the area where the worst of the soot accumulates. It looks like there's already some destinction up there and that size looks just right. Then, to make it not just a giant green thing on the front instead of a brick one, I think adding some some decoration to it would be a nice idea. I just quickly googled "wrought iron" and picked a design I liked, but it could be anything... and doesn't really have to be metal either. A similar geometric design to that could be made out of wood pretty easily.

(Oh yeah, and if it wasn't clear from my picture, I'd replace that half-light storm door with a full light one. the door on my house only has about 2 inches of metal trim around the edges instead of all the white and scallops.. allows the inner door to be more visible)

Sorry to go off topic, but.... The front of your house is totally dominated by the chimney, and it needs some attention. A new chimney cap for starters -- something sculptural, more to scale with it's massiveness. Maybe something echoeing the lines of the roof? I'd also consider getting big modern stainless steel numbers and putting them on the chimney, horizontally at the roofline. And replace the scallopy-edged screen door with something sleeker, more to scale with the windows. Then a cool moderne porch light....

i'm not sure the house needs painting. the white is fine, but the chimney could use a little makeover. maybe a modern trellis of some type to break up all of that brick. i'd also put some type of tall, very architectual tree or evergreen next to the door to help frame out the front entrance. it seems that landscaping is more of an issue than paint color.

Does an aged white wash count as painting the brick?

Look at this link:

http://www.askthebuilder.com/366_Whitewashing_Brick.shtml

and I would still go with grey accents.

A nice spruce gray-green would look very nice against the brick. With the barest touches of black for accent. Please show us an "after" when you are done.

You have three things to consider as you choose a colour - the grey roof, the terra cotta brick, and the green plants. Whatever colour you choose has to complement these three tones.

Choosing another green, grey or terra cotta might be a little too much. I'd recommend a warm blue. You'll find that the effect has more subtlety and depth if you use two shades of warm blue for siding and trim.

I'd stick to the classic exposed brick and white detailing plus a deep red door. If your budget allows for it, think about updating the colour of your roof? It may be the most interesting change of all.

Check out http://www.atomic-ranch.com/ for ideas.

Best of luck!

o' yes, please post pictures once you are done!

Maybe I lived in Austin, TX for too long, but I think a little pop of color would work nicely! This house is a good example of mixing neutrals with bright colors: http://www.penick.net/digging/images/2009_12_29/Cute%20house%201.JPG

New Bright door, new large modern numbers and a cool light!

I agree with green! It always looks great with brick. I especially think with your landscaping bringing in so many shades of green, you will like the way the green becomes a neutral. I would go with a very dark, shiny, reptilian kind of shade for the door, and a little lighter tone for the window casings. I would keep the little bit of siding white just for the contrast.

I wouldn't go with taupey colours because your roof colour is on the cool side of the spectrum, and it is a major design element. I would go with a cool dark grey taken from your roof shingles (darker, but in the same family) for the shingles. The eaves, if they are wood and thus paintable, would be nice as a light grey.

The brick is a good neutral colour and would work well with more grey.

It will be very handsome when you are done with it.

I think a sage green would be a little Martha Stewart, but if that's your style -- by all means go for it. It might even work with a swingy MCM vibe.

A deep chocolate brown would make the brick pop in my opinion though.

If you go with chocolate brown, I actually think a white bordered storm door might work since that would match the windows.

Have you thought about not painting and actually going with natural wood instead? It could look really nice paired with a brown/black or dark gray trim. Here's a mockup.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r147/shofnerd/house-paint-front-01_rect540.jpg

I have a similar brick and at first I stuck with whites, moved to creams, did a dark green trim for a while, had a black door for a time and finally this year got happy (It's only taken me over 10 years of trying) with a very dark gray trim, which is also on the siding in the back of the house (that area was an add on) - almost charcoal, and a bold red door - there is still some cream paint under the eves, which just kind of works - I am finally happy with it. You can see some of the photos of the exterior of my house at the home tour that was here on apt. therapy http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/house-tours/lezlees-beverly-modern-manor-house-tour-100505

I think you should stick with cool colors since the roof is blue-grey. If you can paint the eaves, a very dull sky-blue would be nice, or a mid-light grey. For the rest, if it's paintable, I'd go with something dark: navy, eggplant or charcoal. But if you're forced to work with white vinyl you can't paint, then definitely try cool grey tones with it. For some great color combinations involving brick red, you might try looking at art nouveau style, old posters, etc.

I think having the chimney brick cleaned could look nice, but personally--and this might be weird-- I like it dirty-looking. It's a chimney. And please do replace the screen door.

Wow, that was wonderfully painless for my first good question.

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to post your suggestions. It is so helpful to get this objective constructive criticism for the things I have gotten used to, such as the chimney.

I have lots of food for thought now. I am still at a loss for the door color, but green and gray are the front runners for the trim/siding color, with a white full glass door to complement the window frames.

A special thanks to those who posted pics and even did photoshop! I have played around with some of the paint websites but unfortunately my technical skills are not up to the task.

It was much easier picking the five colors inside the house! Too many options and variables outside. The plants complicate matters, too. I don't love the established plantings--red/purple nandina, holly, and yellow cypress--but I don't want to rip them out since they are healthy.

The painting is tentatively scheduled for May, weather permitting, so I will post my after pics. Hopefully my new plantings will be in by then. Plenty of time to convince the husband that we need a brightly colored door!

Sage green -- we painted our early 60's frame house a sage green and love it -- is a nice, modern color that goes with everything. Great backdrop for any landscape. Many compliments. Would even work with your roof, and definitely your brick.

By the way, if you decide to replace your door, we found a company in Austin that makes mid-century replica replacement doors -- ours looks great -- www.crestviewdoors.com

Good luck--

my home has the same colored brick and ive found that the grey-green shades work very well with it. my roof is about the same shade too. only difference is that i have dark window frames. a deep forest green would look nice paired with grey-green, and brick.

I'd go with a three tone system. On the huge brick chimney fronting, go flat black with that. Then, go three tone with your other brick by using stains in colors of black, grey, and deep red. Then go pale grey or green with the wooden part. Post pics, would like to see the results when finished.