I have miles of decking at two houses. All timber when put in the Australian sun will suffer. When building our beach house we decided to go for Spotted Gum and let it grey. Why fight it? We applied Cutek, and will on a regular basis. At our main house we have lots of Merabu or Quilla. Will not grey the same, and leaches lots of red stain. Cheap, but would not use again. What ever you use, use a good quality oil that seeps deep into the wood not a traditional stain/or top finishing product.

I think painting the walls lighter and brighter is the right move but don't be restricted to white necessarily - although that would be the safe option and you know for sure it would work! You could introduce a contrasting colour on the ceiling if the walls were white obviously dependent on your furnishings and other colour choices. How about a soft grey or "greige" as an alternative to the white? Finally, you could introduce a dado rail at approx 1m from the floor - painted white the same as cornice and ceiling and then paint the upper and lower sections in contrasting colours of say charcoal on the base and white above or 2 shades of the same colour.

Firstly congrats on new deck. Second I hope that it is no more than 1 m above the garden below as the railing doesn’t look compliant to building regs to stop a toddler falling off. I would be looking at a light coloured seat cushion and some bright colours. Could do bright cushions, mosaic table top, or a glass table with a bold pot plant. A plant in corners. Again liven up space with the pot too. A glass table if not colourful. A hanging chair can be an alternative to a lounge.

We are turning an old modified colonial with deep wrap around verandas into a modern farmhouse. We love the recent colour scheme we've seen emerging on old colonials and queenslanders of fresh white exteriors and interiors which really contrast stained honey coloured timber doors and windows and let them stand out and sing. But we're trying to nail down specific paints for walls and trims that do it. Has anyone done a similar colour and got advice? Cheers, hive-mind!