Love domino, but the proportions here are creating an uncomfortable blocky-ness to it. Definitely paint your fascias and barge boards in the eave colour. I think by highlighting this overshadowed proportion will help draw your eye to the architectural outline, rather than the infill colour. Don't paint your window trims light, as they will only highlight the contrast and make the domini look darker and less complimentary. White windows with dark boards for example are better suited to wider trims, like architraves or timber framed windows, yours are a slim aluminium? And they should blend seamlessly into the cladding. I would however, repaint the protruding section,right in front of your entry, perhaps the stairwell, both on ground floor, and top level, so the entire elevation that sticks out is perhaps a lighter grey, mid range colour like urban grey. It will refocus the attention to the entry, drawing your eyes upward and the domino will simply help to minimise the heaviness upstairs, by almost. Disappearing. Domino is a strong architectural colour, it works to define or delete areas of elevation quite well. go with your gut instinct, just re- paint your front focus, and the domino will do its job. But it shouldn't be the element that steals the show, in this case, it doing so is causing doubt.

Hi all, Wow - hard to believe it was 7 months ago I posted this! We are getting there, but now having window dilemma. We decided to retain brick and use cladding for extensions. A few questions: 1. should existing windows in brick part of house (which are like a cottage window) be retained or replaced to match new ones? any advice regarding new bedroom windows - currently louvres - air flow appeals but does it look odd? 2. Opinions on the rear doors - we want this dining area to open as much as possible in summer. The current solution is to have 2 sliding doors on each side, and bi-folds across the rear, with corner glass in both corners - any opinions? 3. Rear paved area - we currently have odd shaped concrete at rear (the grey shaded area). Architect has suggested paving to fill in what is currently grass and make a better square line - but, is it just going to be too much paving?? Would love to hear your thoughts. thanks in advance!

Hi I Lesslie, What a lovely place to make your own (and bring up your kids, work, garden…). The best way forward for you and your family is to jot down what you love and what you don’t love about your existing home and land (site). This can vary between individuals. Your list should include aspects like the leaky bathroom, as well as particular rooms being ‘too dark’. Don’t forget the wonderful features such as a particular view to the garden (or hills beyond), enough lawn to kick a footy, and so on. Now transform these into two ordered lists: the first list being the things you love about your home and your site (list in priority order); the other list is for the items that need changing for functional or aesthetic reasons (also in priority order). Next, write down what your short term and long term needs are for your home: do you intend to live there until the day you die, or just while the kids are at school?; are you intending to continue to work from home?. Now, to think about how you imagine you’d like to live, work and exist as a family. Forget for the moment your current home scenario. Write down the types of rooms/space you need (as distinct from ‘want’). List the aspects of living you enjoy, such as family gatherings, friends visiting overnight, and son on. What about your work from home requirements: do you need a space separate from the living (kids zone) to make telephone calls, concentrate? And how big should this space be (occasional staff)? After much soul searching, you will have what we call a “Functional Brief”, bringing together the pro’s and con’s of your project, your long term plan and your wish list. This should now become your ‘go to’ document that sets the agenda for your renovation project. If an idea is not on your list, don’t go there! There is another benefit of creating your Functional Brief. Whilst creating and editing these documents you will become more attuned with the worth (benefits) of each component. For every project there needs to be a budget – and your budget will assist in prioritising what is most important to you (the tighter the budget, the greater the need to prioritise). Your next step is to take your Functional Brief and your budget to a suitably qualified architect. An experienced architect should be able to transform your Functional Brief and your budget into a project – a renovation project that is specific to you, your family, your site, your budget and your future. Best of luck, Cathi

Sorry to have to say this but I don't think a new paint colour and some faux stone is going to make this house appear any more warm and inviting. It is typical of many McMansions and has been built to look grand and imposing from the front, so it is overscaled to dwarf visitors. I would be making some structural changes to bring the scale down to a more human context. The parapet at the front looks over-scaled, out of proportion and top heavy with all of those mouldings. I would be removing the parapet down to the roof line and adding a new eave and gutter, which will probably reduce the height by about 1.2metres. You may want to consider the same with the garages to reduce the height of the parapets, but these are less important. The new eave will also make maintenance easier as you probably have a problematic box gutter behind the parapet which is prone to clogging and overflowing rainwater into your upstairs rooms. The eave will also offer some protection to the summer sun. This style of McMansion should is so unsuitable to our Australian climate and is so wasteful of resources. Unfortunately a coat of paint is not going to fix the basic design issues. Have a look at some of Susan Susanka's work and writing to understand the importance of human scale and good design in residential architecture. https://www.houzz.com.au/pro/sarah-susanka-faia/sarah-susanka-faia?irs=US Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls