Are the dormers and bay window going to stay white? Because the almond against the white concerns me. The current black storm door kind of blends against the green front door, but an almond one will really jump out.

I don't understand the almond storm door -- I would want it to be the same color (black) as the regular door, so visually it fades into the main door. Storm doors are rarely worth highlighting, unless they are old, hand-made ones.

Bench seats and pots don't need to match each other, and I would take the opportunity of using the seats for a splash of contrasting color.

Here's my opinion, for what it's worth: If the dormers, etc are staying white, the storm door should be black or white along with the shutters and the inside front door should be red or a bold rust color. Then add all of the brass/gold detailing and it should look great! Throw a couple of Japanese Maples on each side, leave the shrubs and go from there.

The storm door should not be your focal point and by painting it almond you are highlighting it rather than blending it in. Your main door should be the focal point.
:)

those shutters around the door need to go...

I concur with thecabin.

I agree that the shutters should be removed. I would also consider avoiding gold for the accessories. You might want to try to make the gutters blend in with the brick.

I agree with terra maria about the almond color.
Moreover brass with gold don't fit together.

But I'd paint the door and shutters black with mailbox, door handles, knocker and porch light all brass.

For the landscaping, I agree with you but without information on where you live, exposition and proper pictures or plan, it's impossible do give any sound advice.

The almond also stood out for me as odd.

I like the splash of color idea for the benches.

For landscaping:

- those rectangular planters seemed to be positioned to block off the stairs, i would prefer rounded pots that take up less space and are more inviting.
- Ripping out the bushes would be good, afterwards I would build up the space with soil that drains away from the house and gives a more interesting line.
- Then maybe plant a tall, slender evergreen on either side of the doorway, or just a nice japanese maple to the left of the door. Also mix in some plants that have an interesting structure in the winter, like tall grasses or something.
- at the base of your roof drain, put in a little area of rounded river stones to infiltrate your roof runoff.
- if you use the river stones for the drain, you can also use them as a border around the raised bed.

One more thing, the benches need to go away entirely. Does anyone ever sit on these? Probably not...and if they did, they'd be locking knees and staring face to face on them! They're in the way along with the planters. Open up the entrance way and leave it nice and clean with just one planter on the left side under the mailbox.

I think that removing the shutters would be a bad idea as they add visual interest in the particular area. I agree with losing the chairs and perhaps downsizing the planters to open up the entrance more. I like the idea of a black front door, as this would tie in with the roof. As mentioned above, almond on the screen door would draw too much attention to it. I would paint it the same black as the front door so it looks more like one cohesive unit.

It sounds like you're leaning towards gold as your overall theme for the metal items (mailbox, light, etc.). If you add any more metal items, make sure they are gold as well so that it looks coordinated.

I would also suggest painting the dryer vent black to detract attention from it while you're at it.

So your overall look is classic-- Got it!

Beyond sticking to one metal only (gold or brass) and ditching the benches, have you considered a rich color for your front door? A front door is the perfect place to give the outside world a hint of what you're all about.

Traditional/Sophisticated: Heritage Red- a very popular red for front doors
Mysterious/Deep: Grappa 1393- A plum-black that's surprising
Creative/Stylish: Mexicana 2172-30- a terra inspired color that can accent the brick fashionably
See these and other colors for front doors here: http://bit.ly/1a7W1Y

I agree with the above posters. Do not highlight the storm door. Almond is a horrible color for anything! Definitely edit the benches and planter boxes. Way too heavy. Add some color by painting the bench something that isn't so neutral and bring in some vibrant shades of green into the landscaping - shade of chartreuse!

I am of the school of thought that storm doors should match the color of the door behind it. And it seems I have quite a few classmates!

Also never a big fan of painting stone or cement planters at all. I'd leave the ones you have as you have them.

I'd move the planters up to the main landing, turn them 90 degrees, and use them for spiral topiaries, to build up to the height of the shutters framing the doors. Underplant with ivies and seasonal color.

If you still need/want benches, I'd go with a classic weathered teak garden bench.

Love an almost-black green for door and storm door, and a deep taupe for the framing shutters, to relate to the brick mortar and the roof color.

If you go with reds, pick them carefully. Some reds just don't work with brick, which seems odd but often proves true.

And if you go with Almond, watch that it is not too yellow.

Tame the shrubs on either side of the door, and I'd remove the bush in front of the dormer.

And if you are in the right part of the country, no front yard is complete without a Japanese maple. :)

ditto everything thecabin said. sounds spot on.

Am I crazy, or is this new color scheme almost not a change? Until I read the comments, I thought I was looking at the after. Basically, the door and shutters will be darker, right? Doesn't seem like something to worry much about.

I'd paint the brick a Quaker grey - there isn't much of it. Keep the white trim and either make the door charcoal, or use a cool color, maybe sharp olive green.
Lose the benches, shutters and square planters, no gold!!! Shades of green for the planting, charcoal round pots. Paint the dryer vent like the man said.

your plan is fine... but I'm seeing something else. I'm feeling radical, so hang in there with me,

The prettiest thing about your house is the brick. It is alovely fresh color. so working from that, and your desire to make the house much prettier ( a colorful flower garden, with blossoming fruit trees... lots of work but so nice, or a really wide variation of leaf shapes and colors in the planting if you go for lower maintenance... who knows, you may WORK!)) I would love to see your doors and trim and shutters a really bright fresh green, not a dark one, more like an apple green.

the house is really a small cute house and your proposed color scheme would be like making a young girl wear matronly clothes, like an unfortunate princess at a royal function... lighten her up, give her a Roman Holiday Audrey Hepburn moment.

I don't like the sound of almond against the black.

I'd lose the benches and pots. And I'd replace those pots with some with a smaller footprint. They're hogging too much space on your stairs.

I would also lose the shutters. Shutters on doors strike me as obviously decorative and unnecessary. Regardless though, shutters should always be wide enough that if you actually did use them, they would cover the window completely when closed. If you do remove them, you'll likely want to move your mailbox and house number closer to the door.

I also agree with the suggestion to go all brass or all gold for your hardware, mailbox, and light fixture.

There is the approval of the Homeowner's Association involved here, so I'm guessing the intended palette is muted for a reason other than mere personal preference...

*sigh* I just want to paint all brick houses white or dark charcoal.

http://www.mylittleapartment.blogspot.com/

The first thing I thought when looking at this picture is that the door should be black, so good future color choice there.

The chairs either side of the door need to go. They don't look like they add value and make it look cluttered. I'd put planters either side of the door with box toparies, bay trees or olive trees either side. You could then plant seasonal plants around the tree base.

I'd cut all the existing shrubs back and plant a japanese maple under the bay window. Place the trough planters the other side of the door and plant them with season plants.

Lose the benches AND the planters (or reposition them). Your front door appears to be baricaded. It should be more welcoming.

No almond storm door! Paint it black like the door as to not draw attention to it.

I would however paint the shutters white to match the other trim on the house, and paint the window framing and pane trims black. I'd leave the white bench, and paint the pots black and fill them with bright green potato plants and flowers. =D

Actually I would get rid of the chairs on the porch and get much smaller round pots.

go for stainless steal over brass anyday. what you have now isn't that bad, that is the good news, but by changing it you are being risky.... I suggest you walk around some areas you admire very much where the houses may have victorian elements but are well maintained and updated, and just copy them. There is no better way to research than what other people in your locale have done - so you can see different schemes and ideas in reality not just your imagination.

When I was a professional stager, I had a lot of clients who repainted their old white items to almond, because to them it looked fresher and cleaner. However, to someone who has never seen the before, the "after" color of almond almost always looks dingy and dirty, even if it isn't. It's just something to think about for resale value for you later. Also, with the white trim work on the rest of the house, you're looking at two competing white tones, and that's going to make one of them look out of place. Obviously, you're in a townhouse row, so you'll need to stay consistent with the rest of the homes (probably all white, I'm assuming) for both resale value and for HOA guidelines. I'd just freshen all the white with fresh white paint, but I wouldn't add the almond into the mix for the above reasons.

I'm wondering if perhaps the gold/brass combo is competing too much with the earthier tones of the house. Perhaps a bronze, black wrought iron, or copper would be a better compliment to the warm colors of the brick and a nice contrast with the dutch top? For resale, if you are going to be replacing things, you probably don't want to replace them twice, so get a color to start with that will work for resale (even if you don't think you'll be moving for a while, it's a good idea just in case something happens) that you can also live with comfortably. Gold and brass are officially outdated when it comes to resale, no matter the age of the home, unless you're in a historic home. (Doesn't appear to be historic--looks to me like early 1980s dutch colonial townhouse?)

Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but it looks pretty crowded on the porch with planters and the benches. Are the benches really necessary? They don't appear to be focused on a nice focal point or anything--do they serve some other function? I can't imagine they are particularly comfortable to sit in, especially given that if you are sitting with someone, you have to face them head on, and I'm guessing your knees might bump into each other like that. The bench in the yard will block any view of the new landscaping, and also the bench shrinks the visual square footage of the yard. It's a townhouse, so it's already a small yard--I don't think it is necessary to cut it off more with unnecessary furniture. Perhaps two smaller scaled, contrasting colored flower pots on the steps would be just enough? Maybe a warm, deep red/burgundy or something in the plum family? It seems as though you like a traditional look, so those would be two traditional colors that would work well with the scheme but also give a little visual interest without going outside of the style.

I would do as others have suggested, and paint the storm door the same color as your interior door, so that they blend into each other seamlessly. Black is certainly a great neutral backdrop, and widely used in traditional schemes. Seems fine by me.

Good luck and have fun!

Why black? There are so many beautiful shades out there. Look at Farrow and Ball for inspirational traditional colors and maybe think about painting the first floor window and pannelling to match.
Please ditch those shutters, they're so pointless, and clear the front entrance/steps of all those distracting bits and pieces.
I agree stainless steel fixtures are preferable to gold and brass. Don't be afraid of mixing traditional with contemporary like the Europeans do.

I love love love bright lacquer-red doors on colonial houses. To me, it's a great way to bring life and personality to a house without getting too far out there for your HOA. Just my 2 cents. =)

P.S. If you don't go with red, I highly recommend a deep mallard green rather than black. It will give you that dark contrast but with more depth.

Listen to Patrick's good advice.

And... if you want to "liven up" the black without getting too strange... how about a very deep blue-black? I think it would be interesting yet still within the bounds required by your HOA.

I agree; the benches and planters should go altogether. patrick (the other one), as usual, has offered a simple, brilliant suggestion: definitely put a graceful small tree to the left of the doorway (i.e., not the bay window side.) Japanese maple trees are lovely, but not fragrant. The house I lived in as a child had a Sweet Olive tree (osmanthus fragrans at the nursery) which bloomed every spring and smelled heavenly. It's nice to have something fragrant as you enter or leave your house. Other suggestions include citrus trees, a climbing fragrant rose (none better than a Climbing Peace), Stephanotis (slow-growing but heavenly), or whatever the best nursery in your area suggests for your climate. Good luck!

I forgot: Yes, lose the shutters, too. Let your landscaping highlight the door instead.

I agree. Lose the shutters. The house will look bigger.

If you are keeping white dormers, ditch the almond. Almond is a horrible color anyway. Why not just call it beige? YUCK

I would also ditch the planters and the benches. You are making a small porch and small stairs even smaller. You are cluttering the front of house. The less clutter, the bigger the entrance to the house will stand out. If you have to keep the benches, paint them black. Then they will look like proper wrought iron. I don't see keeping the planters. It's just too much clutter, and blocking the stairs.

I agree the door and storm door should be the same. The storm door needs to disappear for all practical purposes, except for a brass kick plate if you want one.

The door should be black or red. Red is a symbol that the house is free and clear, so if you have a mortgage, go with a black door and a black storm door with brass plate kicker.

You have a beautiful brick house. The brick should be the star, not all the stuff blocking the view.

IMHO

PS Sorry, but the bushes are horrible. I will remove those, and plant a flowering tree to the left of the door to balance the bay.

You have WAY too much stuff going on in front of this TH. The this case, almost nothing in front is much better.

I'll just post on the plants (although I like Sonu's recommendation on the front door colors).

I like a small dwarf tree in front of the bay window: Japanese maple, flowering almond, or a tree viburnum (great little flowers, nice compact growth with a beautiful red color in the fall).

White/green euonymous is nice and could be planted in the bed with the tree - lower growing with controllable spread. Stays ok in colder months.

Clean up around the front door - bye bye to the metal chairs and planters. You can do better in the chair dept if you like sitting out front. A bistro chair to compliment the colors that you pick. You could even do an area in front of the window for seating if that is the case.

Don't jam the plants upon each other or the house. Consider that they need room to spread (reason why your current bushes look too much) and will in short order. You can often find a nursery that will do a quick drawing for you for little cost if you purchase your plants there.

Many thanks to all who responded to my request for help on our townhouse project. I visited The Apartment Therapy website for the first time a few days ago and didn't expect anything to come from it when I sent a picture and details about the townhouse. I was pleasantly surprised with the overwhelming response.

I should have mentioned that we are renting the house and we live in the Mid Atlantic Region. We need to deal with the H.O.A. with any slight change. We are lucky that our landlord is fairly reasonable about us making minor changes in the townhouse.

It is interesting for me to look at the picture of our townhouse and see what all of you see, and read your comments on what potential there is in it's future design.

1.)Because, there is a lot of roof to this house it is hard to ignore it. The roof will need to be replaced, (I hope) in the next year because of leaks, so color will not be so much of an issue once it matches the brick. Until then I think I will have to go with the black door, shutters and as suggested, the white storm door.

2.)On the storm doors, they only sell them in white or almond around here and the President of H.O.A. kind of told me that I was to get white. I think once the door is installed I might have to go back to bat with H.O.A. and paint it black as suggested.

3.)I planned to move the mail box to the left of the door. Didn't want to spend money on a brass mailbox until I decided weather I liked the look or not. It was black originally.

4.)The bench seats on the porch are for putting the groceries, purse, etc., down to unlock the front door. I may keep one for that purpose.

5.)The pots will go. I can see the point about crowding the porch.

Gardening is one of my passions. I am looking forward to ripping out the front bushes, placing a small retaining wall around the front of the house, and planting some bright, beautiful flowers. I hope the black will not look so, matronly, with splashes of natures colors.

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you giving of your time and valued opinions on our project. Once I have finished,(which may take a couple of months), I will send you a picture. I hope each of you will be proud of the work we have done together.

M