Great article posted yesterday on houzz for south facing walls interior and exterior essentially go warm greeny white eg whisper white not whites you suggest or grand piano quarter - beautiful

The white provides a beautiful canvas for landscaping, especially if you go for a particular theme, eg dramatic, sculptural, Japanese or what ever takes your fantasy. Think about the plants, and select trim colours that either compliment or add to the canvas. I would talk to your designer and see what is in mind. What is goal of the shape, Dutch colonial? It looks like a South African Dutch Colonial in its base shape. You are seeking landscaping that heroes the shape eg in Japanese design the white exterior has trims in black or wood and landscaping the soften and draws the eyes to the line of the building.

I saw these today and they seem to match well with our wall bricks and roof colour and well priced too. Now I think I'll consider retaining wall options and compare to brick. https://tilemarket.com.au/product/trevi-grey-external-300x300/ Edit: definitely going with brick I think

A large part of our carbon footprint comes from the building and construction industry so we should always look for opportunities to Retain, Recycle and Regrow. Last year we worked on a house extension of a classic Victorian single facade terrace house on a narrow black. The owners had a tight budget and were also conscious of the environmental impact their build may have. They asked us to consider this when designing their home, and to look for opportunities to reuse and recycle materials where possible. Instead of pouring a new concrete slab to accommodate the extension we retained the original and added new sections to increase the footprint. This was then lightly polished to create a natural finish in keeping with the other natural materials used in the interior - including recycled bricks and locally sourced Blackbutt timber. The ground floor eaves were extended to maximise summer shading while allowing direct sunlight ingress in winter. This optimises the thermal mass value of the concrete and reduces heating costs. Has anyone else done something similar on a project? Would love to see other examples.