I would either go a dark grey/stone look or very pale. We have some massive pale ones against our existing red bricks with large agaves in them and they're a nice feature either side of the garage.

thanks How2girl and siriuskey for comments. I've since found out the shellac underneath the lead paint is more easily removed with metho, but the timber is still uneven - bleached in parts, and then when I tried to wash the metho off with water, it's left grey stains and water marks! What a learning curve. Siriuskey, getting painted items professionally dipped seems sensible with hindsight, given the total chore of safely removing lead paint, then the shellac.... then the resulting stains I note also there are two types of timber, one for the framing and another for the infill panels....glad to hear these came up well for you SK Looks like I may have to stain the bleached timber to get some warmth back, but then will try polyurethane you both suggest.

You say this is a 1990's house . Its made to look like a 1930's house at present . To make it look 'modern' would take a lot of work , and IMO destroy the character of the house . Embrace what it is , tidy it and change the focus slightly , but personally I wouldn't take off the scrolls and those little posts , or even the walkway roof . Just my opinion , but if you want modern , you sell what you have and buy a modern place in grey on grey on grey , with charcoal -- there are more than enough unique points on this house that you either embrace it or you sell it .

I'd go Monument or similar for the gutters , the barge boards around the roof , the timber above the front door , AND the fence to the left ( okay , charcoal stain for that , but most people would guess that ) . I guess I should say that yes , I'd do the roof in surfmist or a light silvery grey -- well , I wouldn't , but I'm guessing you wouldn't like my choice of terracota , so I'll assume you are going surfmist . That existing garage door colour is roughly halfway between surfmist and monument , and I actually think it suits , so I'd keep that , but do the 3 window sills across the front in it as well . The windows I assume are powdercoated ali , and look to have a greenish tinge -- I'd keep that , or is they are easily paintable , maybe go the 'garage door' tone for the part that is recessed . I'd do big street numbers in stainless on the letterbox , maybe even get a signwriter to do a 'shadow' in the 'garage door colour' behind the stainless -- you could try and do it yourself , but I'm a bit OCD haha , and prefer to pay a professional $150 or so and get the lines really tight and accurate , but maybe thats just me . That leaves just one thing -- the entrance door . Me , I'd go Sunshine Yellow , but I guess most people would go an apricot , a mid red , even a light spearmint green if leaving the windows as they are . Add something that ISN'T any way related to grey .