Critique my house - Paint coloursfor exterior please!

[CookieDoughKid]

Wanting to paint a 1920s extended detached bungalow. It is a hideous red brick with mix matching of dirty old and new brick.

What Dulux colour do you think would go for my exterior? Should I go for a white? Magnolia? You can view it here!
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-27881364.html

I'm desperate to get the house sold and I have only had 3 viewings in 8 weeks :( Any ideas what I can do to encourage viewings? Thanks for looking!

I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if going over old ground. I don't think your house should be painted. The bricks are fine.

What I definitely would do, though, is either change or paint the fence on the roadside - it's destroying your curb appeal.

You'll also need a better photo of the front of the house. The rest of the house should sell itself once you get people in through the front door.

Good luck.

I'd also make the gate line up with the front door - it'll give the house a sense of an entrance and allow you to show the house's 'face' .

The first picture of the house is the one that should be the strongest, but unfortunately the one your EA took looks as though they shot it during a drive-by... quarter of the house is missing!

Oh no, dont paint the outside.
Inside looks lovely, other than pics are bit dark.

Please do not paint the brick, I would never look at a house with painted brick. Cherry Menlove is currently ruining her lovely edwardian house doing this. I think the fence needs painted and the decking tarted up and a better front exterior picture. You will alienate more people with the painted brick. Inside it's gorgeous.

dotn repaint it - you do need to invest in the gardens and landscaping though - its rather municipal and totally at odds with the rest of your beautiful house. i suspect you are trying to get away from 1970s bungalow look but painting it will only reinforce that look....

Just had a look on street view, you house is lovely from the outside. To take the exterior picture I think, rather than standing directly opposite on the other side of the road, the picture needs to be taken right at the fence looking down the road - I love the bay type windows and arched entry at the front.

DON'T PAINT THE BRICK!!! Unless rendered it doesn't look good on an external wall.
Paint the fence a nice , soft sage green, hanging baskets, plants growing up trellis etc

You can buy a special dye for bricks so that they all blend in
www.dyebrick.com/

Our house is painted brick.

While it looks good, I do wish that whoever did it in the 1960s, hadn't. Maintenance is a pain. All the edwardian houses in my row are painted, but some have brick at the rear, but the damn fools painted the whole of our house. the others look lovely.

We have white walls and white sash windows. I don't think it matters with lack of contrast. But when we next paint I'm thinking of going for slight change - neutral still. With freshly painted white window frames I would look better.

Painting the brick exterior of your house may not be your best move. There are lots of people living happily in painted brick houses, true. But there also are lots of people out there wondering how the heck to get paint off their brick walls. Buyers might love the house, but hate the fact that it's painted or hate the colour you've picked.
Another reason to think twice about painting a brick house is that you are creating, in perpetuity, a maintenance headache for someone else. You'll be living safely elsewhere but the buyer can look forward to repainting the exterior of the house every three to five years.

God no - please don't! - having to paint ours every few years is a pain in the arse, and I would never look, let alone buy a house that needs that doing again.

1. Paint fence
2. Show the garden, very important too most people
3. New photos showing front door/better angle
4. Do the patio thing

Good luck

Painted brickwork would put me off. It needs to be regularly redone and can't be jet washed when dirty. I would see as a definite negative.

Why don't you at least price it up for having it rendered. It wouldn't be a big job and may add to the value.

I like the dye-brick suggestion made earlier.

Get your agent to put the phots in order please.

I would not be interested in a painted brick house, coloured render yes, paint no. That front photo as it is would not put me off.

I would be wondering about how noisy the house is as it seems to be sandwiched between a possibly busy road and rail line. If it isn't noisy can the blurb address this?

I'll definitely think about the painting - thanks folks and I'm going to do more research in my area. I definitely take your point on the maintenance too.

From my For sale photos, you can't see my brick work up close but they really are really dirty and some graffiti marked. Structurally the house is fine though. Pointing was done some years ago but badly by previous owners and lots of mix matching bricks. I just don't think it adds to my property. There are many painted 'white /cream' brick houses and white rendered bungalows on my road so it's not uncommon - I think it's because of the extensions done back in the 70s and 80s and the need for today's preference to 'unify' the exterior of the house.

Take a look at this - and let me know what you think?
houseandhome.com/blogs/house-home-daily/design-dilemmas/yay-or-nay-painting-brick-fa-ade

It's pretty awesome don't you think how they transformed the brick house with the grey paint?

I will look into brick tinting too and spruce garden and fence up!!

houseandhome.com/blogs/house-home-daily/design-dilemmas/yay-or-nay-painting-brick-fa-ade

Thanks mummaemma

I think if there are lots of other similar houses that have been painted then it is not such a bad plan, especially as it would be so much cheaper than rendering.

The grey house looks a million times better, but it would have looked even better rendered

I love your house. Where are your sofas from?

Nothing constructive to add but agree that the first picture needs to be stronger.

yes but in the link they changed the windows and the front so it all tied in to a grand plan. no offence but i think your house is pretty ordinary (gorgeous inside though) and i just dont think it will have the same impact other than put people off. try washing with pressure washer first before you do anything.

"From my For sale photos, you can't see my brick work up close but they really are really dirty and some graffiti marked."

But if you aren't getting viewings in the first place, no-one will notice the bricks up close. The damaged bricks aren't the problem - the problem is getting people to come and look at your house in the first place. Now I don't know what you would pay to get the house painted by a decorator - £300-£400? (wild guess). That would pay for some paint for the fence and a few filled planters and even some cheap garden furniture. I think this would be a better way of spending your money.

And the grey house also has a nicer, tidier garden, a new driveway, new front door, no bins, no weeds.... It isn't simply a case of painting some brickwork.

(In my above post, the comparison is with the grey house "before", not with your house, just to be clear.)

I'm not sure about the outside paintwork but if you do do it I wouldn't go for white, it loses it's colour and overall smartness too quickly, but I'd definitely stick with a pale colour.

Your decking could be utilised so much better. I know it's winter (ish) now but have you got outside furniture? Some lanterns and pots with colourful planting.

The link is to an American house. Painting brick is more popular in America as they are more used to painted "siding". The modern style of the house probably looks better painted but I don't think that can be extrapolated to an older house in the UK.