Tess, I hope I'm not too late with the following advice. Don't ever paint brick. Your house is a simple design, exterior wise. Paint wont fix it. What's missing is a designed garden. Even the simplest brick house can look like an inviting, lived in home when it has a structured garden surrounding it. For less than the price of paint, invest in a landscaper to design a garden that will soften and greatly enhance your homes street appeal ...and add many $ in value. Painted brick detracts from value and has to be repainted periodically, defeating the purpose of brick, which is, no maintenance. Besides, your house, painted white or cream as has been suggested here, would stand out in the street like a proverbial sore thumb. Trust me, landscape, starting at the street boundary and leave the bricks alone. Good luck.

Your deck will be amazing. It has fantastic form and plenty of architectural interest, it will add enormous benefit to the front facade and street appeal. I love your palette, it is simple and still has point sof interest. MY suggestion would be to use a combination of your exterior colours applied where best to highlight the deck structure and either tie in, or accent against it. Ding all of these things by painting the lower retaining section in the base grey the charcoal colour to continue and blend into the lower floor brickwork, also do this charcoal on the upper deck frame which is also the roof of that entry way. I am trying to say that thick timber which trims the deck. And the slatted section of the stair wall which acts as a breezeway in the light grey- why? Because the open sections of the slats will always appear black as you can see through them to under the satirs, and the light grey slats will stand out and feature that shadow line, perhaps even use liting to further enhance this detail. Lastly, the stair treads themselves left natural, like an architectural contemporRy stAtement, the natural timber tones will be rich and sophisticated and act as art inviting you to the home. These stairs would really pop and be commentedon at street level, also consider lights in each tread, perhaps the slatted wall side to highlight both this and the stirs for night practicality. What a stunning entrance. The natural character in rich timber tones will warm the grey, keep it contemporary and not introduce personalized colour, which can take away from street appeal. This on the other hand, appeals to everyone. And greenery, landscaping will only take this to the next level. Literally!

And I would be planting trees – real trees not dwarf versions of trees and no more palms (unless you want to have palm tree themed garden – in which case a lot more palms are needed). I am not advocating planting forest giants but there are trees that will provide shade, shelter and a sense of scale that you won't get from yuccas and buxus and mondo grass and succulents alone. But before you start buying those trees you have a few decisions to make and a bit of analysis to do. 1. Orientation – you need to understand the basics of winter sun and summer sun, how much westerly sun you welcome and how much you need to shelter from it; where your prevailing winds blow from and whether this changes with the season also. So, once you've worked out where you want the sun to penetrate and at what time of the year, how to allow for wind, frost, whatever... you need to 2. Decide if you want a predominantly native garden, a range of deciduous trees or a completely eclectic selection (like the best 'English' gardens – which are planted out with plants from all over the world – Indian subcontinent, Asia, Africa, The Americas etc. Even some from Australia!). 3. Now the tricky bit – what do you love, i.e. which trees and plants make your heart really sing – and hopefully for more than two or three weeks of the year? Once you have that list which of those are likely to be happy in your climate, in your soil and with the amount of gardening attention (watering, feeding, pruning etc) that you're likely to enjoy lavishing on them. Your long list will by now be a much shorter (and more manageable list) but trees are what make a house look bedded in and part of a landscape rather than just sitting out in the open in a way that is both self-conscious and a bit awkward. Although, again I guess you could embrace the suburban awkwardness and go all Howard Arkley in which case keep it all small and suburban... But it is your garden and your house – make it look like what you want your house and garden to look and feel like! Good luck!

I agree that you should take down the trellis but be aware that you'll probably need to extend your decking rail along that side in order to enclose the deck for building code purposes. If that's more of an expense than you're willing to incur right now, consider at least taking it down to the same height as the rest of your deck and putting a top railing across it. You could then put in some foundation plantings that would climb up and cover the fact that it runs in a different direction than the front of your deck. If I'm looking at it correctly, your gate gives you access to your front door from your drive way. Am I right? In that case, I think your gate should stay where it is. I agree with flair lighting that a new light is in order over your entry. If you like the idea of a motion light, they make decorative outdoor fixtures with motion lights built in. Your fence would definitely look nice painted a lighter color. Right now, as flair said, it's a bit unwelcoming. If you're painting your metal roof, take your house and trim colors from there to coordinate. You could definitely paint your scalloped trim a different color than the house. Matching it to whatever trim color you choose would look great. Do you use the steps from your deck to access your yard? If not, I would consider removing them and closing in that portion of the deck as well. If you do use them, I would add a hand rail for safety purposes. Congratulations on your new house and good luck with your project!