My friend moved into her house a year ago (in Toronto) and is ready to tackle a mini-makeover on the front facade.
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“The outside of our house is butt ugly – previous owners covered the red brick with a concrete brick pattern façade (WHO DOES THAT??) and chose the most delightful shade of dusty salmon red for the siding. Puke. This summer I plan on painting as much of it as I can reach – but I can’t afford to cover up the red siding on the second floor this year. This means I need the paint the front “brick” and trim/ deck something that matches Dusty Salmon until I can paint it (which may not happen for a long time or ever if I can find something that doesn’t look awful). All the houses on the block are really drab shades of white/yellow and we’re really open to bold colours or accents (or vintage Mad Men shades that go with the era of the house). Light grey with white trim was my first instinct but it kind of looks like concrete again… I would love your two cents on a good colour pallet for the front. Any ideas would be soooo welcome!
- I love that I get asked for house design advice… it is so fun!
- Dusty Salmon – Throw back to my condo in Montreal… I lived with it for way too long! My friend said it was the token Montreal colour. Perhaps it is the token central Canadian colour?
- I’d paint over the Salmon before tackling a makeover on the “brick”. Painting siding is doable and not too difficult or expensive.
- Easy fixes to make the exterior a bit more modern – house numbers, mail box and nice planters.
- You could whitewash the “brick” – here is a good how-to link. An allover whitewash would make the dusty salmon less offensive (see below).
She sent me a pic and I played around in Photoshop to see what she’d look like in a different colour.
Here is the now: 
Here is what I tweaked: 
And here are some options. The landscaping and door are long-term add-ons.
A. Dark. Too dark? 
B. Chocolate brown.
C. Teal 
D. Green 
E. Blue 
F. Grey
G. Dusty blue
H, Dusty teal
I. Medium green
J. Creamy purple
K. Whitewash
haha I know I am not a Photoshop whizkid – no need to tell me!
BTW, the owners of this house did some awesome interior renos this year – maybe she’ll share a sneak peak.
psst. If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe and share. xomeg
Hello Sunshine 
For short term, I’d go with the white wash and paint the door a dark slate grey colour. It would be fairly inexpensive and would make a big difference!
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I too like the white wash!
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i like the dusty teal makeover!
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Hi – lots of great options here! what is the address of this house? It looks like a house a friend of mine used to own…
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