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HERE Design and Architecture Change the garage doors to wood siding and remove the clipped corners. Use a very dark brown stain. Paint the windows and entrance door a medium-value stony color: warm grey, reddish, ochre? I think that this will simplify it visually.

charnarose If your in the country which it looks like you are with mountain view to the right. What about a river rock slate color. That would go with the roof and would blend in with the mountain or sky in the back ground. It's going to be a pain to paint all the white which are your windows and garage doors. There isn't any thing else I can see that us white. Probably leave those white and on the bottom right you could apply the larger River Rocks which adhere with cement. I would pull the colors into your home from the surrounding area which I can't see to much of.

charnarose Also I would Beef up your pillars so they are more Present if you can.

charnarose Ok now I know what's throwing my eye off. On the front over hang the pillars are not over to the edge far enough. What you could do is when or if you do the river rock thing on the bottom make river rock pillars to match and beef them up. Make sure they are at the edge of the over hang. Right now I think they are in to far. But I could be wrong. But putting to the edge is how I would like them. Ok I think I'm done. Lol

hockey456 I heard you... For now all you can do is paint. Bold color.
The windows above the left garage door need to be trimmed in white like the rest of the house. Also paint the front door cover trim and pillars white. Paint the entire house a gray/green. I will search for a color swatch photo and post it next.
Consider taming the strip of trees between the driveway and lawn.
Paint the entire mailbox white.
Move your recycling can out if view... Into garage or side if house.
Lots of red flowers to complement with the green color I proposed. Flowers should go in three large pots: one at each pillar and one in the big empty space between the garage doors.

hockey456 The tags say the paint is Weekend Getaway by Benjamin Moore

ASVInteriors I feel that you need to break up the horizontality of your house. Can you get away with planting some tall Italian cypresses on either side of your garage entrance to frame the window with the two vertical panes. Automatically this will cut the length of your house by transversing it with greenery and "divide" your home into two sections (A vertical) and then a horizontal. The horizontal won't seem so long.

You could then echo the verticals by planting some smaller but still tall and thin pines/cypresses at about 2 or 3 points further down on the "horizontal" side of the house to echo the others

misecretary I believe that trimming and/or replacing the overgrown plants should be the first thing to happen. It can give you a fresh perspective. The basement area is white with gray beneath the windows. That area should match whatever color you choosefor the house. The fence should not be painted to match the house as that would only add to the length.

carolins I don't think that your house is ugly. The current colour doesn't do anything for it, that's true. And I'd remove the greenery on the drive that divides the house in two. An attractive front yard makes all the difference for your house. Consider redesigning that.

To make the house more modern I'd paint it in a very dark grey, trims, porch and stucco (?) underside white. You could do the front door and the letterbox in a pop of colour.
I know you said you wanted to keep some of the Cedar details, but... hmm... I'd consider painting it all. And removing the clipped corners around the garage doors.

Jennifer Brokman Thank you all for your suggestions! I love them! Totally agree to reduce or get rid of the hedge in the front. I am so glad so many of you were on board with a grey toned colour! Everything I read online was "brown roof houses need yellows or whites for the house colour"....blah!! Will post a follow up picture to this thread in a few months! :D

carolins Some examples of brown roofs, grey siding (Okay, the third one is actually blue, but it looks similar to a cool dark grey. The other greys are warmer. See what you like.)

Jayme Hobbs Maybe paint/stain similarly..with a color on the bottom vs. the brick

carolins Did you a very (very!) rough mock-up:

Debra-Debbie Gilliland-Walters I love the picture that Jayme Hobbs posted. I like how the cedar could be darker and then the part that's white now could be a lighter shade and you could leave your porch the natural color that it already is. You could stain your white doors to match the porch. Seems this would pull it all together. The white seems to chop it up even more in my opinion. The house Jayme posted also has an earthy look to it as if it could work in your surroundings. Please post when you get it done. Paint works miracles.

Jayme Hobbs @Debra-Bebbie Gilliland-Walters, thank you..My family favored homes like these and I love the rustic, warm look. Tried to keep the color of the roof in mind so it doesn't look goofy...

Debra-Debbie Gilliland-Walters You are welcome Jayme. I love the rustic look too. I really think it would make this house look fab.

Jennifer Brokman Jayme Hobbs - I really like that pic too! Thank you. And the house is similar to ours....just much more appealing. lol. It makes it easy to visualize!

diyher I would leave the wood and not paint it. Looks like your surroundings.. mountains etc go well with a cedar style house. Look around your neighborhood and notice the styles of those houses. Guessing they are not far off from the style you have now?

diyher I like what Jayme did, but I don't think the bright red door goes well with dark brown. What color is your front door now? Can't tell if it's black, or dark green

handymam I would go for a darker stain if you want to keep the cedar look. How about adding some stone to the front by the entryway? Heavier colums at the front are a must, search the ideabooks for the stone and the columns. Jayme? You are great at finding things!! The foundation and the garage doors need something to ground them to the house, paint something darker... The door could use a color too, maybe a medium green or a deep burnt sienna. I agree, the row of hedges is cutting your yard in two.

Jennifer Brokman Got it. Hedges are taking a beating soon. I have a rather nice garden planted on the other side of that hedge, so maybe it will look even better on its own :)

Columns need upgrading. And we were also thinking of doing those fake pergola type thingys over the garages. And still giving them some colour. Too plain.

carolins - thank you so much for the mock up! You are awesome! Now that I see it like that though it reminds me incredibly of the house we owned and painted 2 moves ago! So, I should steer in a different direction. New house new style :)

The door is currently black, diyher. And although you see mountains around me we are technically in a suburb of a city. I am in BC, Canada. And there are mountains everywhere! lol. The previous owner had a love affair with wood. All in its natural state. Inside and out. Wood. And paint that was the colour of wood too! The neighbours around us either have 80's white style siding or colour treated cedar siding. And directly to my left is all new construction. Our siding is actually an upgrade to give it this look! And maybe it would be much nicer if the two additions to either end of the house didn't make it so long and so much wood.

Jennifer Brokman sorry for the poor grammar - sheesh! I should really proof read before I post! lol

Jennifer Brokman I should mention that the windows are white vinyl............should we take the time to try to paint for a short term result or work with the white that is there?

Jayme Hobbs @handymam...thanks, I am a nurse and a mother..both had assisted me in developing my detective skills!! LOL

mk69 I'm wondering if you have a black-top surface on that driveway-I can't really tell. Because I wonder if one possibility that would be budget wise yet pleasing to the eye would be tiny rounded gravel , on the driveway surface. There are different grades and some look like very small river rock. Then you might tie that in to some surfacing with rock face under the window on the right of the pix. When I cover the hedge line, the house looks automatically better. I'm sure you know what kind of outside landscaping you like and that could be tidied up there. The pillars to the front door could be beefed up with white post and then stone halfway down. You could, as others have noted, clip the garage door corners. Then you could pop the front door with color. Some interesting symmetrical pots of shrubs that work with your location could flank the bottom of the pillars. Maybe stain the garage doors a dark natural stain that complements the front door color. This might be an alternative to painting the whole house if you are thinking of extensive work in the future.

Jennifer Brokman The drive is ooollllddddd blacktop on one side and pretty well bare earth on the other side. And thank you, this is the first time I actyually even thought of doing rocks (at least on the bare half)...that would save us a TON of money for repaving! And it would look nice on our more utility side of the drive. Will work on some spring pots for the front (which unfortunately lives mostly in shade) but I am sure I can come up with some hardy, colourful pot combos.

carolins You're welcome ;-) It does help to visualize what your house would look like in a different colour. Have to say that I prefer Jayme's find, but if your windows are white vinyl... I'm not sure if you can paint them. But perhaps not the 'bright white' on the garage doors?
If I have time I'll mock up yours with Jayme's colours or something similar.

carolins Hi,
I've tried the softer greys for a mock up, but didn't like any of them on your property. So erased them and did something entirely different.
Just for you to see...
If you like a mock up of specific colours, just say so and I'll try if I can make you something :-) With the emphasis on try, because I don't do this sort of thing very often.