The brick is trending slightly darker than what I would term a mid-way point . I only mention that because I would keep the white panels white , otherwise the whole place will start lookibg darker .

But the grey I would change to a dark charoal -- that includes the barge boards around the top . Yes , it will look darker because of that , but not 'sinister' dark IMO .

The garage door could be left as is , but with the dark charcoal surround . The entrance door could get the same treatment ( paint it all white , including painting over those picture frames . But two othger options -- with that tone of brick , a bright red door will give the whole place an instant boost , but also I think it would look fine with a nice wooden cedar or 'rich tone' looking timber door , and I suspect you want at least some change , rather than just a white paint job on that door -- bright red or classy wood would achieve that .

My thoughts. The panels brighten up the facade and add interest. Step 1, after a wash, tackle the left window and paint the panel and its trim in a white undercoat, and paint the door features while you are at it . Step back and see if this helps. A sample pot or two and you can experiments with colour perhaps a soft green. Even red on door as Pottsy suggests The purple shades on gutters should go charcoal which will work with any colours.

Always interesting to get different views. I’d absolutely paint out the panels. I’d paint absolutely everything that can be painted the one colour. I’d use a colour matched to the dark fleck in the brick - a brown based grey leaning towards charcoal. You can paint the aluminium windows but they would need upkeep. Paint the rest and you can probably live with the windows. I’d update the landscaping with refreshed plantings and remove the river rock edging - it’s a dated look.

I would also go a colour tone from your bricks for all the window panels. But I would look at a dark charcoal/black for the trim, garage door and front door and chunk up the front porch support and also paint the support post charcoal/black.

Yes definitely a dark trim on everything, woodland grey or even darker would look beautiful, paint out the white using the dark colour also, update the path with a mixture of pavers and dark stones for interest, use plants instead of edging, this will give a soft beautiful look, add a water feature amongst planting in a colour to compliment the house, add bold planters for a stylish new look.. gorgeous.
We painted our aluminium windows over 10 years ago using Dulux weathershield paint, they still look good . Also did the outdoor canvas pull down blinds. Saved lots of money.

Another alternative is to clad your white parts around the windows. I would suggest vertical cladding. Your home is a quite “squat”, so vertical may make it look taller. Cladding in either stained timber or black. Still with the black trim for all other areas, including garage door. But your front door could be vertical stained timber or black vertical timber, depending on what you may choose for windows.

,

Love that dreamer.

Thank you all for your comments and new eyes, apologies for not responding - been a busy couple of days.
I’ve taken another pic of the bricks as I realised after pottsy’s comment that I’d taken the photos in the morning when the house is very much in the shade at the front so looks quite dark.Not sure if that makes a difference to any opinions on the colour suggestions. Love the idea of a bright front door but can’t imagine it fitting in. We definitely need a new door, maybe I can play with a sample pot and see what it looks like on the current door.
I was leaning towards Woodland grey as a choice, so pleased to see that sort of colour is getting a thumbs up. One of the men that came to measure up for a garage door suggested a lighter colour, which did go well with the bricks (he had some sample chips with him) but just seemed bland to me.
Julie - glad to hear you’ve had no issues with painting your window frames. I think it’d be worth a shot as I really do want to replace them at some point so even if it doesn’t look great or doesn’t last it won’t be forever. Also, the light is way overdue changing, the one we have is awful and hasn’t worked for ages so I agree with you there.
Dreamer - I hadn’t thought of vertical timber and really like the look of it. Because I had in my mind to get a timber look garage door, which has a horizontal grain, I was only thinking of horizontal timber for the door and to cover the boards, as they would then all tie in together. Much prefer the vertical door and cladding.
I gather no-one is feeling the love for a timber garage door! My SO has gone off the idea and I wasn’t sure anyway so I think we’ll be going with colorbond.
I’m seeing a trip to Bunnings coming up and a few paint samples coming home with me. Thank you all again.

Beautiful bricks, they will look wonderful with a dark trim, and with dreamers door.. wow!!
Exciting times.. can’t wait to see what you do… it is a lovely home.

Going dark is trendy right now , but I'm not convinced .

On sunny days , it will look dark for half the day . But on rainy days , cloudy days , middle of winter -- yep 2/3rds of the year haha -- it will look dark the whole day .

Same with the entrance door , and even the garage door -- basically , someone driving past won't even see it , while someone walking onto your property for the first time will probably have to stop and look . Just my opinion . So a bright red entrance door , for example , and a white garage door , will stand out , but still tie in with the bricks on sunny days , and give it a lift when its cloudy .

Keeping the white panels but doing the trim darker is regarded as dated , but I'd sooner call it classic . The bricks are nice enough that , when seen , they will lift it , and the contrast will be good . Again , just what I'd do , but you do you .

I just looked at you house on bigger screen and realised the panels are textured. You could replace them with a new panel flat or patterned.

Typically the infill panels would be weatherboard. I’d go a James Hardie product of some sort rather than real wood for ease of maintenance . You can also go the timber look garage door to tie it in.

Just a few garage door ideas that would look great, timber or colourbond.

With your path, I would just add plants to spill over the edging to soften the entrance . Now we have completely re designed your house , lol. Whatever you do it’s going to look beautiful.

Something like this rough sketch would make a big difference, perhaps match it to the garage.

More ideas to think about, thanks. I had a quick trip to Bunnings but only came back with a sample pot of Woodland Grey, it's stuck in my head so I think I need to see what it looks like before I think of other possibilities.

I definitely want a move away from the white that we have now, it's been various shades of white and cream for over 20 years and needs changing.

Yes Kate - hideous textured stuff! There's a lot of it about this suburb, obviously something the builder liked back in the day. The boards around the bay window are rotting a bit as they have no protection like the other windows, so time for change with them too.

Pottsy - I'm in Adelaide, I don't think of it as a gloomy cloudy place! But I do get where you're coming from.

Re the garden - awkward block, low side of the street and on a hill, so it slopes every which way and has some very solid rock not far under the surface in parts. We redid it all about three years ago and it's very much a cottage style as that worked best for the plants we can grow, and it's what I like! The path suits it, though we have thought about some stepping stones in the gravel. It had some rosemary bushes growing along the edges but they got too big so I pulled them up and have replanted, just waiting for things to grow. And also for the weather to cool so I can give everything a good haircut.

BTW, does anyone have trouble posting from an ipad? I've had to get the laptop out to post this as I couldn't post a new comment with my ipad - it kept wanting to attach it to my last post. Which in itself looked very odd today with no paragraphs as I'd written it. Looks fine on here, weird.

Houzz has been having a few problems over the past couple of days

Your paneling can be timber or other and in whatever colour you like it could also just be timber look

I don’t think it will look too dark either, I think it will look fabulous, changing the white for a dark shade will look instantly modern, our house is dark and I love it and you will love yours too.

something like this

Beautiful siriuskey.

The cladding from siriuskey photo painted in Colorbond Wooland Grey would be wonderful. Woodland Grey has a green undertone, and it appears from your latest photo of your bricks, there are shades of green undertones in the bricks. I say go for it. Paint your white out, see if you like it, then invest in new cladding. How exciting.

I'am not a fan of woodland Grey and would look to use something like Julie has suggested a family member used it and was very disappointed. But it's your house and you must decide, good luck