Hi Tyrone_Topsecret. I think the dark at top with the light colour under works very well - let's the upper floor disengage and float above everything, which makes it so stunning. Your render picture shows a texture effect on the matrix which is nice - if you go for a solid colour there that'll appear very different to what you see at the moment - would still work of course, but I'd probably try and do a 'marble' texture effect like that (if within budget). If it was me, I would blend the bessa in with the render colour at the bottom, so either paint the blocks to match the render, or why don't you do it the other way around and match the render colour to the natural block colour? That could work well. I don't know the Resene colour you mention, attached is a picture with a Monument colorbond roof, and the little link building we've done in a Dulux colour matched to Monument - so it works quite well as a contrast without being too stark against an (off-)white. I wouldn't go the night sky, it is quite stark (and cold) as a colour, where as with a softer/warmer dark grey it all becomes more harmonious. Not sure about the garage door : You are currently drawing attention to it by matching it to the colour of the upstairs - I would recommend to try and guide the view to upstairs instead, and therefore blend the garage door in with the surrounding surfaces. So Bessa natural, render to match, garage door in a warm white, and then the dark grey upstairs - will be a stunner :-) Good Luck !

Wish i found this Q &A before. So many beautiful people advising and sharing here! I am Repainting Tropical Queenslander with dark red and orangy timber floors and this thread is so helpful. I painted Whisper white and it is throwing so much Green it makes me so sad I am going to repaint. I get loads of tropical sun in the north facing - with eastern morning sunlight. Was just about to go and buy Natural White just to cover it. Do you think it will be too dull/warm a colour. I do like a fresh feel and contrasting with vivid white decorative trims. The whisper white looks nice For a while in the morning while the morning sunlight throws read up onto it but then it returns to a green

Unless you have the money to update everything else to better complement the bricks, painting them will give you a much more updated look. Over the past 18mths I’ve been working on the front and landscape of my current house, including painting the bricks and it has made the world of difference! I’ve attached a before and after photo! Good luck.

Definitely agree with Amber Tiles above. Natural stone will require continuous sealing over their lifetime but it is an easy process and well worth it. The efflorescence are unfortunately unavoidable if the salt is in your paver/concrete. Get on to the sealer straight away and it actually prevents it from coming out all over the place. Are you concreting in the pavers? There is different trains of thought on efflorescence. You can wait for it to come out or you can seal it straight up. If you wait you will have to acid wash them down and let them dry prior to sealing. You may end up doing this anyway. Efflorescence take elbow grease to get off. 1 part hydrochloric acid to 10 parts water usually, with a scrubbing brush. As it's acid make sure you follow the instructions to clean stone down. I had to increase the acid proportion 1/5 to get the efflorescence off. *** It can etch the paver so trial it first. If you have a heated gurney wash it down using that. Tip: get the acid off straight away and dont do it in full sun. The acid if left to dry can stain your limestone a rust colour. Do a meter at a time. Use a good penetrating sealer and make sure you keep the name for future sake. Depending on the look you like get the appropriate sealer ie natural, wet look etc. Again, trial it first to see if its what you like. As for fence, monument is an awesome colour. Will bring the look of space in. Will be a big job. Are you doing this? Monument is a Colorbond colour. Nearly all brands of paint do it but each brand has a slightly different pigment base. If you do go this way, see if you can find out what brand your builders used and use the appropriate outdoor wood fence monument paint so the base pigment is the same. I hope this helped. Anneke