Unless you have the money to update everything else to better complement the bricks, painting them will give you a much more updated look. Over the past 18mths I’ve been working on the front and landscape of my current house, including painting the bricks and it has made the world of difference! I’ve attached a before and after photo! Good luck.

At this stage I would just keep attacking on the path your on. I think that right now the brick is too much but when you start to add detail, like plants, furniture, you will be happy you did nothing. You can always decide later.

Love the photo posted by Dr Retro of brick house with dark joinery. I would paint the boards on second level above front door, say Resene Ironsand as well as downpipes that sit in front of the brick around the house. Also paint the barge board in Ironsand on the roof line and also around the top of the square roof above the front door. Under the eaves, and front door paint a light taupe colour like Resene Quarter or Eighth Pravda. Paint the pillars (if that's not a stain on them) the Ironsand again. The garage door also back to Ironsand if possible. Ok, that's all very dark.. paint your front door a super vibrant colour! Turquoise, fire engine red or bright orange. Remember to ask about cool colour technology at Resene with the dark colours as you live in a hot climate. We all have different ideas but that's the vision I see. Good luck.

Hi Emma, in response to your two questions 1) You can paint aluminium window frames with the right preparation, however, it gets tricky where the windows open and are in contact with another part of the frame. Your windows look like they are sliding windows, so they will be hard to paint, where they slide in the track. Even if you can paint all of the window frames the new paint is likely to chip where it slides. Being old aluminium frame windows they will be very poor at controlling heat loss and gain (as the window frame conducts the heat) so I would suggest that you save your dollars and replace them with something more energy-efficient. Many windows are made to standard sizes based on brick opening dimensions so keep an eye out for new/old stock, and wrongly ordered window sizes that are for sale on eBay and Gumtree to match your window opening sizes. 2) Your sill bricks are probably cored (with holes running through them) or have recessed "frogs" on the top face. These holes or recesses are concealed in the way that they are laid. If you slice your sill brick diagonally to flatten out the front in line with the wall then they will be exposed and look really bad. There are lots of other more cost-effective ways to work with what you have and improve the look of your home. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits