Thanks for the suggestions, those are all good ideas. I have a lot more work to do on the front in general!

Any suggestions regarding how to modify the roof accents in particular would be hugely invaluable, I feel like the decision we make there needs to tie in/influence the other choices that come later.

Thanks!

I definitely think you should consider an exterior render to update the look of your house, it would be a good contrast to the dark features. Later on you can add spot lighting to highlight certain features of your house, like the entry way for example.

Here is an example below of what i was talking about. Let me know what you think?

Exterior · More Info

Are you hoping to minimise the look of the gable altogether?

What colour are the roof tiles? I cant tell from my monitor. They look grey in the first photo and grey-brown in the second.

Hi, thanks very much for the feedback and suggestions, I appreciate it! The roof tiles are black, although they're faded and a bit dirty, they need to be pressure washed...another thing on the to-do list :-) I'm hoping to minimise the gable altogether, since it seems like it dates the house quite a bit. I was thinking something like louvres or tongue and groove, http://pad1.whstatic.com/images/2/23/Louverpic.JPG but I'm not sure if that would do the trick! Rendering might also be an option, I just can't seem to find photos of other homes that have been updated in the same way (and none of my neighbours seem to have taken this step!)

Again, the feedback is much appreciated!

Yes, I was thinking similarly, if it was cladded in something and colour matched to roof tile. Try photoshop if you can, as all dark gable may go one way or the other.

Or you could be really daring and whack a mirror on there. Lol! It will virtually disappear.

That's very true! All white made it look like a lighthouse, it just stood out so much (or felt like it at the time), which is why I then painted the trim to match the garage etc. All dark might be better, or even a lighter shade of grey instead of white... I wasn't even sure what to call this 'feature' or how to describe it, so my thanks to everyone for helping

If you do render, you could paint front of gable same colour as rendered portions of house.

I'm seeing modern homes with more brick and rendered portions as a feature. The combo looks good. image 1a image 1b

Depending on your budget, you could add brick portico at entrance (like in image 1a) getting rid of round post. This could be rendered along with sides of garage door, or left as brick.

Or just add singular brick column where post is. image 2

The gables in a lot of these homes are cladded just as a feature. image 3

image 4 (gable screen)

Thank you very much for the feedback on the brick, and the option to render. I've had mixed advice about this from friends, so it's great to get wider perspectives! I love the photos, those give me a lot to think about. Overall I love our house, it just needs some tweaks here and there. It's nice to hear that it's not quite as bad as I think :-) thank you!

Wow, that's an amazing difference, I wouldn't have believed it's the same house!

Driveway a dominant feature - what about painting it grey? - the colours that work best on home exteriors are those of nature. In time, render will also date the house and your permanent material, no maintenance exterior will need regular painting - some say you can colour your render to avoid that but it's bollocks - eventually coloured rendered surfaces need painting - also be aware terminates like to get in between bricks and render.

I would first of all get rid of the finials - they date the gable more than anything.

The colour that it is now also makes it stand out. Blend it in rather than accent it.

You have cream windows so unless you intend replacing them you are going to have to select a colour palette that includes this. I actually preferred the colour of the first garage door with the windows and bricks - I'm sorry. So either a full or partial render will bring it together. Your budget will make the decision for you

Thanks, but the windows are all trimmed in dulux vivid white. I know because I picked the paint colour myself, unfortunately. I'd probably choose something different now but such is life.

I did not realize the windows are in white - quite obvious when you open the photos up and read your blurb properly!! That is good though - you just need a render colour that goes with the bricks and the black and white and I agree with what was suggested above re the partial render of the garage front and change the pole to match. The screen door has to go or have one of those very plain ones - no grilles on the front. Good luck!

I agree with changing the screen door, as the style is wrong. Never been a fan of very dark garage doors as they tend to look like a black hole. A bagged finish is much cheaper and easier to maintain than render so worthwhile looking into that. And definitely remove the finials. Your concrete roof tiles will be nearing the end of their useful life - consider re-roofing in Colorbond - it will update the look wonderfully!

ensimpson,

Please do not render that brick. It is quite a nice brick and render can look very cheap and often done poorly cracks and looks even worse.

If you don't like the dutch cables, you can go about removing them. These are not primary roof structure typically, but there will be a little work in making good the roof where they were.

Alternatively, give these gables a function, place a fixed louvre, like you have shown in the attached image and allow the roof to vent through them. This will also impact the comfort of the home as there will be less heat buildup in the roof cavity.

I agree with the comment above, the driveway is very prominent. This is partly the perspective of this image, but you could consider options for the driveway paving. I do not think painting grey is a good one. Repaving with a natural grey material could be as there would be more life and texture to it, but it is an expensive one.