I'd ask them which one they're leaning toward and hope you could say something nice about their choice. If not, I'd ask if they'd considered whatever color you personally think would be nice. For me, I asked my neighbors, bluntly. I wanted their very biased opinion as I will be inside looking out and they will be across the street and next to me looking at my house ALL the time! I definitely steered clear of colors the DIDN'T want to see on my house. Ultimately I went for a color that at the time was not used on our street at all but blended with and complimented the houses next to me. I love it and most of the neighbors have approached me and told me what an improvement it was over the prior owner's color choice. (buttercup yellow with a bright blue door and white trim in case you're wondering.)

You have spent a ton of someone else's money and wound up with a house with no style reference. It was already looking bitsy with the half hearted car port and you have emphasized the gables and made that worse. The car port has no gable. There is no point saying "oh, but the orange is only for the big bits of the house, because, you have used the same timber on something so insubstantial as bannisters. If horizontal bands of wood ever looked good in gables, it would have been done by now. It has never been done before, and is not part of any tradition. That will be for a reason. But you have done that to a house that used to be brick and is now rendered. In other words, the house used to be traditional mid century but was not that any more. And then you added another layer. See the problem? Too many ingredients in the cake. White and cream can go together. But not a muted bluish cream with big slabs of orange wood. It makes the walls look insipid and dirty. Talking of insipid, with the old window treatment, there was some character with the sloping bricks. Now, there are shallow ripples in the wood, and shallow ripples in the windows, and shallow, too-small lights on the outside. If it was a woman, she would be wearing two brooches, each 2 mm by 1 mm. And what are those mismatched pimples at shin height. Moral of the story: if you want the viewer to enjoy the subtle textures, don't mess them up. If you want to wear a white suite, that's fine - but please make it clean and with no defects at all. If you want to go for subtle variations in texture, be my guest. But don't have the top of the middle two windows on the right 100 mm lower. The eye says, "what is that for?" Is that supposed to be like that, or were they saving money? When is the top of the middle windows 100 lower? Never. That will be for a reason. You have probably just discovered it. You know how you're really design sensitive? Well, the pitch of the roof on the gables and the pitch of the rails for the front steps is close enough to ask the eye if they match and different enough for the eye to say: nope. You might have had a rail the same colour as the gutter and the angles the same. That might have worked. Actually, the biggest problem is knowing which is the positive and which is the negative space. The gables and rails say "I'm the hero! I'm a loud colour!" And the walls say, "Nope, you are not the important bit of the house, and those who see you know that I am the physically solid one. And there is more of me". And the gables say back "Nope, dope, you are the most insipid colour on the whole house, remember?" If you were alive in the early 80's you might remember Colour Me Beautiful by ? Jackson. Pop cultural phenomenon. Before the "makeover", the house's roof and walls belonged to the same pallet (Summer, as it happens). The fence was there, but able to be ignored. Now, the bright orange fights with the dark brown. (The orange is an Autumn colour.) (The white windows are winter.) The orange and the muted brown are similar darknesses, esp if the top of the gable is in shade. They clash, in other words. Also: how often do you think the owners will go out onto the master bedroom / attic / office patio that overlooks the street? Let me answer that: n e v e r. A bit like Volvo making ugly cars all those years ago: they still cost just as much to make. Disclaimer: I am not a competitor or a design professional. You might take comfort from that. P.S. Just back from looking at the interior. It looks really good. It is uniformly modern. I would have gone with less orange floors. But, blame the clients for that. Now the outside just looks like you were trying to save money. You might ask, why does the angle of the roof have to match the angle of the bannister? The answer is: because you made them the same loud colour and the same material. The edge of the loud orange gable is at a particular angle (actually three angles, but I digress). Also, the ONLY place where the loud orange wood is angled is on the steps: the place where it is least important. You are begging the view to ask if the banister to settle into the rest of the house by being the same angle. About the three angles: if the roof only had one angle, and if the angle was the same as the angle of the bannister, that would look MUCH better. There would be horizontal and vertical (all houses have these), and one diagonal angle. Emphasising one diagonal would have been coherent.

Hi oklouise, thank you again so much for your suggestions to help me reflect on my choices! The great thing about this whole process is that it has really helped me clarify my must haves/dealbreakers and nice to haves. Key elements that I don't want to forego are: 1) a "master suite" with large WIR + private ensuite+ direct private garden access/views. The current northern bedrooms are elevated and do not allow these elements and better suited to small kids as no external doors and can be eyeballed from the kitchen. 2)The kitchen must be the heart of the home and connected to all living spaces so the host never feels disconnected from guests & can watch kids from almost any living space.I attended a party last weekend which had the kitchen blocking the living room from the outdoor space and the host commented they regretted it after renovating. 3)The dining room must be an end destination vs a corridor so it does not become a dumping grounds for bags, mail & everything else as the nearest flat surface to the entry point. 4) All new bedrooms must also be min 3 -3.2M wide on the narrowest side for me to justify them. 5) I reviewed all my lookbooks and tear sheets pulled to date and its a clear pattern that I want my 'adult' living and dining/entertaining spaces connected to the rear garden preferably wrapping l-shape round a deck or courtyard garden. In a sense 'broken' vs open plan but still visible through glass etc. 6) I would not be prepared sacrifice the prime N/NE aspect with utility rooms. 7) I don't wish to place a verandah at the front as it will never be used except extra maintenance and can create shading in summer via other methods. 8) capacity to rent out room with private living quarters. There are many splitter blocks in my area and I don't need it to operate as legal dual occupancy. 9) single level living -no second story bedrooms etc. 10) separation of main bedrooms when renting out section of house Phew....I think thats most of the checklist criteria I have been working to. Still think tanking the street appeal/front facade style but its probably leaning toward lux byron bay beach cottage meets modern coastal with some retro elements to hint at the history of this 1950s house!

I like the interior , but I think the exterior could have been a lot better , with a bit of imagination . There is nothing to draw your attention IMO . Removing the carport will certainly help get more natural light into the ( presumably ) front bedroom , but why leave the concrete driveway there ? The deck , again just my opinion , is a good idea but a bit lacking . The 2 planter boxes are nicely stained -- maybe the deck will be too in time ? I would have done that as part of the reno , AND done the planter boxes in charcoal/black stain instead of the nice brown -- in other words , as a contrast and also to visually tie it in with the black of the house itself . Now I don't like those 50's fibrolite houses anyway , but this seems to have nothing except a nice paint job . Even then , I would have done the front guttering in the black ( or charcoal ) too , as well as the front door . But I still think you missed some opportunities . Imagine a single , slightly bigger front window ( depending on load bearing walls etc ) -- even the same size but a single piece of glass would look better IMO , and let more light in . Obviously , still have the horizontal black 'window sill' ( yes , I know it isn't really ) jutting out , to keep that look . But , what about a French door onto the new terrace ? Again , depends on your budget and also the original build style , but at least worth considering IMO . AND how about adding 3 faux "Art Deco' uneven length style lines ( similar to the 'window sills' ) above the window on the left hand side of the house ( what I assume is the front bedroom ? ) -- would have been very easy to do at the time ( before paint ) . The owner spent several thousands , plus labour , altering the exterior , when for minimal extra $$$$ , it could have been a lot more stand-out , even classier , IMO . Sorry to be picky -- just what I would have considered as an amateur who has owned a few properties over the last 30 years .