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.

The colour scheme and amount of paint coats you need depend on the paint brand and what you're trying to do.

Hi there, has anyone painted clinker brick before? We are looking to update the bricks by painting them white and recladding the second story in cedar. Advice welcome

Personally , I think that to give advice , you'd need to supply more information -- what the neighbourhood is like , your favourite colours , the plants in your garden , and the likes . I quite like the colours there , but I'd do the front door , the gutters , the window sills and those cap pieces up the pillar supports in an orange or teal or red or similar to add some Wow and excitement , but thats just me .