@fianou, Thank you for your kind words, I agree it's coming along, although not everyone knows that we've been building this home for 8 years now, using only our own money as humble farmers!!! We live in a tiny but comfortable7 square, (roughly) relocatable home and I personally can't wait to get into my new home with all the room and room to put everything in it's place!!! Right now all my posessions are boxed or wraped and in storage in various locations here on the property like our woolshed and an old caravan, as well as things stored in my mother's home a few kms away and with the home having just been sold, means I will have to move this furniture here and add to the mountain of things already in storage!! I'm sorry to say and hope I don't offend, that I don't have an affinity with hanging pots and plants and hubby would literally "cringe" at the thought of growing a vine up our new posts ha-ha I have got a pair of large pots either side of the front door , visible in the photo, housing Wisteria's that I hope to be able to keep tamed and they shoud look lovely when in flower. I originally planned to have about 20 standard roses along the front of the home but they are too much work I've decided and more often than not look quite shabby at certain times, especially when they are dormant, so instead, I have decided to plant several standard grevilleas in a nice stone mulch with a brick border as is the rest of my garden for easy mowing. I actually have quite a large garden but mulch is definitely the way to go and I have used a few different types of stone mulch, as well as tree mulch and woodchips and this reduces my weeding workload, the bain of all gardeners. I'm almost 60 and want to enjoy my home and garden but do not want it to become a burden but should I ever consider a hanging basket, perhaps indoors, I will be reminded of you!!! ha-ha Cheers, Barbara

I think garage doors shouldn't be feature and as they will be quite prominent I'd also go basalt so doors recede and lovely brick stands out For same reason I'd have a lighter coloured front door not black so front door stands out and attracts one to the entrance to your home really interesting bricks!

if the original asbestos walls are in good condition then they can re-be painted but if the walls are too damaged to be saved the asbestos needs to be removed by professionals and the cladding replaced, no reason you can't have different profiles on the front and sides as long as joints and corners are sealed properly but if you plan to install new windows it could be better to wait to repair sections of wall as the windows are replaced (i'd prefer to have all the roof and external walls in good condition and then do the internal work at leisure)... .modern fibrous cements are excellent ...we've just used flat fibrous cement with curved battens over joints and very happy with the results for our 50's house (there are several different brands available through the big hardware stores and research on line is much easier than trying to work out the variations in store) the gabled portico can be made as a separate structure or as a extension to the roof with valley gutters depending on placement of the solar panels (and/or solar panels can be moved)

We're renovating a beautiful old homestead on our farm and I need some exterior colour advice! We've built a new section on and have reroofed the entire house. It was impossible to match the lovely red/brown bricks used on the original part of the house so we have decided to render the new section (as well as another part of the house that was added on some years ago). Roof, bullnose verandah and gutters are Zincalume. Fascia / windows / french doors are all Colorbond Surfmist. We're replacing all of the verandah posts with new timber posts, and the front and back entrance doors will be a matching timber. Now I need help choosing a render colour!! We'll be building a garage near the house and thought we'd try to pick a Colorbond render colour so that we can tie the garage in with the house - perhaps Wallaby or Jasper?? I'm concern they'll be too dark though. Someone suggested that we do a half tint for the render and then the full tint for the garage... thoughts anyone?? All suggestions or advice most welcome!! Thanks