Easy Exterior Color (with or without Painted Brick)
This house is adorable. In fact, it’s the kind of house that almost makes me wish I lived in a house. It’s neat and compact, with an interesting brick chimney and a yard that’s not at all intimidating. And, with just a small amount of color love, this house will practically be yelling, “Come in in!”
Apartment Therapy discusses the dilemma of painted brick.
An exterior like this always begs the question – should you paint the brick? I’m not a purist, nor am I modernist. I think painting brick is a personal choice based on what you like. You can make this facade work either way.
First, here is the classic unpainted brick. A blue, black and red scheme compliments both the brick and the red/gray roof tiles. I added shutters for some interest on the facade. Although if your budget is tight, you can paint a double trim using both white and black. Also, a red door always makes a house pop.
The following options show a white painted brick. I do think that painted brick can look very fresh. If you favor fresh over traditional, go with the white brick. Here, a muted warm gray tone-on-tone makes for a very sophisticated little bungalow.
This is a cooler variation of the sophisticated look. I think this goes well with the roof. I also some added some accent lights. The look is inspired by the amazing exterior renovation at Fly Through Our Window (scroll down to the last few photos to see the gorgeous painted brick.)
Lastly, a little french style inspiration via Lindsay Christensen Design (and Flickr.) This is obviously not a French country house, but we can certainly borrow the color scheme. The easy part of this palette is that the house remains white and only the brick is painted white. That should leave some money to slap on some contrasting shutters, add a sweet yellow door and throw down a couple of very distinguished mini-topiary at the front walk. Mini French-country bungalow, anyone?
This lovely house is an easy update and nearly any palette will make it distinctive and just like “home.”
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I have actually decided to go with “Hanover Pewter” which is a gray-green color; however, I never thought of white-washing the brick. That is a great idea to break it up a little in the front. I had decided to paint the brick on the front the same color as the rest of the house so you would see the whole house and not just a large chimney/brick area on the front. Now I just have to decide to paint the chimney part above the roof line or leave it as is.
Thank you so much for your help. You have a great website and were able to do way more on the computer with this house than I’ve been able to do in a year!
p.s. The roof has slightly more of a brown tint to it than red. My pics never come out exact.
Gray-green sounds lovely! I am always pre-disposed to like anything with the word “pewter.” I’m sure it will be tasteful and interesting. My instinct says that if you are going to paint any of the brick, then you should probably paint the chimney as well.
Here’s one painted chimney: http://tudorstoneandbrick.com/images/brickfireplaces/3m.jpg
And another: http://flowergardengirl.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/100_8413.jpg?w=640&h=480
This half-painted chimney seems odd to me. Even though you have the roofline to break the body of the house from the chimney, it could feel like this: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlscant/images/37deestreet2005a.JPG
Good luck with the paint job. We’d love to see a photo when it’s finished!
Painting bricks require skills that I learned from this site. Getting a nice exterior on bricks is more challenging than it seems. You need to show some skills.