Is there part of the house we can't see? Where is your front door? Just the double frontage like that is plain, but that was the style and not much you can do about it. The homes you are looking at do have a lot of features with opportunities to bring in other colours but there is nowhere with yours to do that and if you try it usually cheapens it. If you take the triple fronted house you posted, I would do the lighter green on the weatherboard and the deeper green like they have used on the window frames, I would do for the baseboards and the front door. I would keep the window frames and eaves white and paint the guttering to match the roof. Are you country? Are here any water issues for the garden? Instead of trying to do something with the house, I think I would be inclined to give it all a cottagy look with a picket front fence, nice entrance, a lush lawn and lots of plants for colour and lushness. The dark green baseboard will be a nice background for some small shrubs in front of the house. Weatherboards really lend themselves to that look. Don't forget the addition of old tyre swans - lol I notice you have small awnings over the windows - maybe replace them with some striped canvas ones in greens and terracotta - if you can get the combination. [houzz=]

Looks like the Spanish White is the way to go - thanks, VANESSA, for your suggestion, and to everyone else for your help and advice. Think I'll keep the fireplace bricks and timber as they are but am now excited about the new look of the white or shades thereof.

I too would avoid render. Render is expensive and if you can afford it you can afford to look at other options like quality landscaping. What you spend on render could be transferred to landscape and this would relocate your focus. At the moment it seems theres nothing else amazing to view so we look straight to the brickwork and think thats the problem area. You already have some retro cool chairs and the agave is great but takes too much effort to see... then bam the brick draws you in. New front fence and pathway, a cool new retro letter box, paint the front door a wicked orange or yellow... Way too many people have modernised old houses in the past and have ruined them. Federation houses had stained glass timber windows and doors replaced with aluminium, fretwork removed, fire placed knocked down, etc.. no one does that now, it gets re-instated at significant cost. These later homes are now copping modernising and yet again to the trained eye it rarely works out well. Post a picture of whats out the back or even just a plan, if construction has not yet kicked off. We can perhaps even save you money and improve your home, win win.

I probably wouldn't paint the garage door as it looks like it is already a colorbond type finish, so the colour you see is baked on during the manufacturing process. If you paint it then it is likely to flake with the movement and flexing of the panels when the door is opened and closed. If you must change the colour of the garage door I would look at getting a new garage door. Frankly I don't see why you would bother going from neutral white to neutral dune, I can't see what you are trying to achieve. I would give it a good clean, and spend some money on landscaping. Maybe some tall post in front of the rendered columns with some tall plants. You have a classic colour scheme, so I would keep with the classic. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls