I live in a townhouse complex and the gutters, garage door etc, will need repainting soon. The body corporate has a wide range of colours - based on colourbond - which we can choose from. I grabbed swatches of possible colours and tested them against the yellowy gold bricks. The colours I liked best didn't look right and one I'd discounted did. So try and see what seems to work to you; squint if necessary but stand back a bit and see The two biggest colours are the brick and the roof, so see what works with them. I suspect black will be too stark a contrast.

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.

I reckon that going dark will make it slightly more modern , but lets talk about the elephants -- the roof will still be brown so that is always going to show what era it is ; the garage door is always going to be bland unless you go red , yellow or orange , but then that will reinforce the era of the bricks and roof , and I don't want to be too insensitive , but what is that front appartatus ? It may be for a wheelchair , but it doesn't look like it drops ; it looks to be a different era again and similar to say steel stockyards . Painted the same as your trim etc will soften and tie in the look , but if it isn't neccessary , I'd look at removing it , or somehow 'hide' it . And I guess I'd also add that the red oxide coloursteel fence doesn't help either , its a bit less of a worry but still an issue IMO . Personally , I'd go lighter -- all the trim in surfmist or similar ( an offwhite with a blue tinge ) , and if leaving that front apparatus , paint it the same and plant some 1 metre or taller evergreens around it . BUT so that it isn't 'just' brown and white , I'd ideally change the garage door and entrance door to maybe a red cedar ( both with surfmist 'surrounds' ) , or paint the two doors in charcoal or similar ( monument etc ) , again with the lighter surrounds , if budget is tight . And the fence -- ideally , change it , but even painted monument will help quite a bit . IF you do go dark , then what about a bluey/black Japanese black -- just paint everything , including the 'cattleyard' ? The entrance door looks to be wood , so if going dark , you could paint/stain it ( and the sidelight windows etc ) the Japanese Black -- the garage door personally I'd change to wood or even a fake woodgrain panelled door , again in Japanese Black . With that , I guess the fence you'd go a mid charoal -- sort of greyer lighter tones than monument , but you don't want lighter fences for several reasons , both looks and practicality wide . The other option I guess , if you are brave , would be to not only embrace the era , but even go back a bit , and do everything but the brick in apricot or even mint -- personally I wouldn't do buttery yellow or blues or even sherwood green , but basically add a pastel fun tone that will work with the brick and roof , but doesn't look like a bumble bee haha .

I think everyones on a similar thought process about the house colours , and I'd go dark too . The garden is alright , and is actually more modern than the house IMO -- it all suits . You could go maybe some lancewood and flax and more modern , but I'd keep the older base . Some things I would look at though -- the driveway looks a bit wonky , and the left side a lot older than the rest . I'd be tempted to dig the left side up ( it looks to be panels so a bit easier ) and redo that side in one pour , and maybe see if you could 'fill' any wiggles up the other side . I'd probably paint the garage door , monument would be the logical choice but it may be too much / too dark then ? Light tones won't suit , who wants greys , browns are yuck , and even my go-to of an orange or yellow or even red might look too try-hard with your brick . And one last touch -- I'd add a dark ( charcoal probably ) cap or even 100 x 100 square brick laid horizontally along the top of your front fence , to tie in with the cap on the left side post , but also your house . Just a little feature that will add a finishing touch IMO .