To minimise costs, frame your windows, I would place a canopy above the front door (if this is the front door near the garage - if it isn't don't do) to draw your eye and paint the front door with strong wow colour - even if it is a few shades darker or lighter to what you have chosen for your window trims/roof line. Maybe large number near door also will drawn your eye to the door. Landscaping around the front will also add punch/wow - you don't have to do everywhere - but at least at the front and then you can work your way to the rest of the garden, but keep the rest of the lawn mowed (even if they are weeds) and edges trimmed. Look at a couple of other houses and pretend you might buy and note what your eye is instantly drawn to... go back to your house and note what you are instantly drawn to.... do you want to be drawn to those features? If not, make them blend and highlight the areas you want. I have just had another look at your photos - is the front door near the garage door or it is the one on the left hand...... if left hand don't place canopy at the garage end but would place some large planters (large plants too) to accentuate the front door entrance - you would have the space - but again do some landscaping in that area (the large pots can be placed in the garden beds (on a large paver) and smaller plantings around them, make the front door pop and place something i.e. large number on the wall next to the door. If the door next to garage is garage entrance not front door, then blend that door with the exterior (unlike what I had initially said when I first thought it was the front door). Tip - Just cause something is colourbond - you CAN paint it - don't think you are stuck with that initial colour thought when installed. i.e. paint your facia and gutter same colour and that will make it wider. (I have personally painted cutters and downpipes many times (when I want to change colouring). Just cause downpipes are connected to your guttering doesn't mean they need to be the same colour - I would colour them the same as the wall colour to make them blend - downpipes are not a feature. Good thing about paint, you can paint it again. A lot of paint shops will have colour consultants.

Hi, I like the overall concept of the darkish grey, it suits the home. I am a colour consultant and have been working with the Dulux range for 17 years and you are on the right track with the Guild Grey. The Dulux Signature will give you a dark blue house. Another option if Simone Weil which is just a bit lighter than the Guild Grey, if you find that one too dark. Sample pots and A4 brush outs onto white cardboard are the best way to decide, because computer programs give an overall impression of the "look" but are not accurate with colour choices, you can't beat the human eye. All the best, it's going to look great.

Oh boy oklouise, this is dangerous territory when you ask about the perfect reno! We thought we did have the perfect Reno we could afford in stages but we got just about ready to lodge with council and our architect surprised us with the costings going over by $200K and giving us a lovely flat roof and new cladding for our first stage budget. We now have about $10K less after this process and are really feeling vulnerable I suppose. So we are back to square one but the essentials are: repair the deck on the steep slope at the back, remove internal walls to open the space downstairs, reposition the staircase, new flooring, new kitchen and provide an aesthetically pleasing but functional entrance. Wish list would be garage/carport & driveway, flat roof, new bathroom upstairs, new laundry & WC downstairs and landscaping. $100K for the first stage (which probably means just deck repairs and removing walls?!) then we would be looking at refinancing and seeing what we can do next. The architect designs were beautiful but unattainable unfortunately. Anyway, I advertised our job about a week ago and I think someone is interested in meeting with us and I've also left a message for Dr Retro so I don't want you all to spend too much time on this although I really really appreciate and welcome your advice. Thank you again oklouise, Lisa

Hi all, have been trolling though the forum looking for ideas and thought I would ask for advice. Basically we have a heat issue in our house, have done a lot of things to address is (multiple solar vents, window tinting, increase insulation and a new a/c). A lot of the problem is the current dark blue (I think it is Dulux Sharp Blue but we haven't been able to match it correctly). The paint is also breaking down on the N and W sides so the UV protection has basically gone all together. So we have decided to go a lighter colour and gray seem to be the logical choice. In preparation we organised to have the roof cleaned but was told the paint had also broken down, it was chalky and super-faded in areas. So we had the roof restored and sprayed with heat reflective paint (surfmist). We have all cathedral ceilings upstairs and the insulation between the ceiling and the tin is minimal. So we are planning on using the same heat reflective paint upstairs and then a dulux weathershield downstairs (not a lot of direct sun). We had a dulux colour consultant come in and we ended up with either Techno Gray or Spirit. We did large boards and after a few weeks I think we decided the Spirit is too blue (we're over it) and the Techno Gray is just too 'dirty'. We saw a house on the weekend that was lovely, was done in Shale Gray half. I went in for a sample pot and decided to also get Tranquil Retreat. The difference between the two was one drop of black (from memory). I'm also trying Miller Mood and Milton Moon (confusing). What I am most concerned about is the Tranquil Retreat looks stunning when there is a darker contrast with the roof. Given we are pretty much surfmist everywhere I'm a bit worried that it will all end up looking too pale. I don't want to go dark on the walls given the heat issue. Also have a driveway to play with, that will also be resurfaced so I can bring a colour element in there (hopefully) to tie it all together. Any suggestions greatly appreciated! Cheers Sean