A client has asked me to replace some brick in the front of his house which over the years has become eroded from water action at the base of the wall over the porch.  The brick is what we call common brick and originally was red but is now a dark brown over the entire home with the exception of the front which stands out because the first four or five courses is a bright red with some deterioration of the face of the bricks.  Removing the discolored brick is pretty much out of the question since there would be nothing to support the brick above.  I have thought about removing about 2″ of the face and using thinset replace it with some brick taken from the porch after of course cutting them to fit.  I had also thought about matching the existing color with a masonry paint and simply paint over the discolored brick.  Anyone have any experience in this problem and would you have any suggestions as to how I should attack the problem?