Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to respond. Your first photo siriuskey is the colour scheme I'd love to go with so good to hear that you'd think it would match with the blonde brick. I also like the shale grey roof idea butterflyroof and you're right that you don't see much of the roof at all (mainly when looking out the upstairs bedrooms). The olive green is definitely another possibility to look at oklouise and I've made a note to use 'mid-century' in search terms. Definitely plan to pressure clean bricks and a bit relieved to hear that leaving them is the better option. I'm still finding it hard to imagine a darker grey cladding like monument with the blonde brick debluc but it's certainly been suggested a few times so I'll keep searching for inspiration. Thanks again :) (attached is a photo of a house near us that I like and that has a brownish tinge to the cladding that would hopefully work with our bricks as it seems to work with their sandstone - maybe dune colourbond?)

I love that you have gone for a zinc roof on shed and house. With zinc there is no issues with fading and mould and the matching roofs are enough to match your house and shed. Also it is timeless and leaves more options if you change your mind down the track about wall colour. Like you I am also on a country block and had the same dillema when building my home a few years back. My shed is Jasper with zinc roof and guttering. I debated for ages about painting my house shades to match jasper. Someone said to me.....don't make your house an extension of your shed!! So glad I listened. I painted our house a green similar to coloubond mangrove and went for zinc roof and guttering. Everyone went berserk about the zinc roof and guttering (and the green) when I suggested it, but it looks wonderful!.... and very quality. The brown undertones in the green and jasper brown compliment well. The house also has zinc window frames. You want your house colours to look nice next to shed and also you want the house to catch your eye sooner, but not look too matchy. My suggestion is that you go for zinc guttering on the house to match roof, and introduce a different colour to your house that has grey undertones to look nice next to the shed. Hope this helps. I'm still loving my outside colour choices. (The inside ones are a different story and Im ready to get the beushes and rollers out again.) Good luck!

I recently completed my owner built house and shed. My shed has shale grey roof and walls and is very cool all year round in The Atherton Tablelands near Cairns. My neighbor used monument and has a very hot shed. My house has a shale grey roof and the walls are cement block painted with shale grey(Taubmans). The garage door and is surfmist which looks white. The window and door frames are white. I love the look and what ceiling space I have does not get overly hot. The shale grey roof appears lighter than the walls because of the reflected light. This gives a nice contrast. Another neighbor has a surmist roof which can be too glarey to look at. Bear in mind that monument being dark will also show more noticeable fading than shale grey.

I seem to focus on different things to everyone else , so I'll give my take . The red tiles suit -- they are period , and basically expected . It would be difficult to spray them a lighter shade ( Surfmist , silvery grey , silvery blue etc ) so I'd discard those as options . So you are left with charcoal , blue or brown -- the second 2 aren't an improvement IMO , and all 3 will add to the heat . Clean the existing tiles , assuming they are in good condition , and add a similar mid/dark red on the extension . White walls , black windows ( actually , I'd go a charcoal , looks similar but just toned down enough IMO ) , and the red roof is pleasant , if a little boring and predictable . Now the 'detail' parts that grate with me . The existing roof has overhangs , no overhangs , gutters , no gutters , barge boards , no barge boards -- it's no consistent . So here's you chance to make it flow better . AND the other thing -- the 'skirting' timber has warped enough to be annoying . I don't like it being white -- it makes it too bulky . Maybe , just maybe , doing this base in a charcoal or even silvery charcoal would make the gaps less obvious , and maybe I'm OCD , but I'd probably rip most or all of the 'lower' wood off , and replace , but $200-300 of paint may help hide it , so that may be worth a go . Assuming you are sticking with the roof colour too , I'd actually do the one 'top' rail ( around 600mm from the ground in the front ) in a similar colour to the roof -- maybe a bit brighter red . If I was really picky , I'd also suggest going for a darker colour grey on the steps too -- the existing one is fine , but it's dated , plus if you do the bottom 'skirt' in charcoal , this will look too light and too obvious .