Agree wiuth Barbara and anyone thinking iof putting a paint-loaded brush or roller anywhere near a vintage timber piece of furniture..."it would be a... SIN! Seems the compulsion of the mass renovcators is to paint everything....and its the easiest solution. Don't think happy renovators and DIY-ers have changed much over the years either. I have just finished stripping five coats of enamel from the most beautiful set of silky oak french doors with etched frosted glass...how many SINS there!!! Silky oak is an open grain timber so the last coats had to be done by the funny little man out in his bush shack restoration shed...and Oh what a beautiful job! I am over the moon and do not care what it cost...although it was not a lot compared to what I'd have paid in Sydney. Here a tip for any appreciators...(.if there are any left) of fine timbers. All you need is an old enamel bath tub and gallons of metholated spirits....just give it a bath and save yourself hours of scraping and fumes and burns. SORRY about the deviatiuon but this is my latest Soap Box...don't paint vintage timber! About your problem Wendi, I think, with Barbara, wait until you have your whole dining set and then stain the piece to fit in with the timber in that...( unless you are going to get a white one...( tongue in cheek). I've seen some really nice dining sets with the best of both ...legs and table frame in a (cringe) painted colour and table top in timber...saw a really desirable inlaid table top at my favourite little man's shed last week..the rest was painted and had a drawer for each place....with old metal handles. Legs were on castors.. The chair seats were upholstered...but needed recovering and the frames were metal...could have been an alloy of sorts. The combination of unpainted- stained timber..especially in inlay, with the painted parts, the metal frames and upholstered chairs just fitted together perfectly...so best of both. You migh be lucky enough to find the perfect table with a natural timber top...( and I wish you to find one with an inlaid design featurting timbers of different hues....) then your lovely little cabinet/sideboard might fit perfectly! There are some lovely timber stains around today...timber can be stained any colour...as long as its a transparent dye. A wonderful product is FEZLAC...that's the base and it is a shellac. To this you add the stain -colour you want. I've used it to put designs (fake inlay) on the backs of some really lovely old chairs...imitating the different natural timber hues in real inlay....So above are a few words, tales and suggestions that I hope will inspire you NOT to paint that cabinet.

If you want to make the house hotter, then painting the roof charcoal will certainly achieve that. Repointing the brickwork is the most sensible from a maintenance perspective. Once you render and paint, then you have to keep painting (and it's likely to be out of fashion sooner or later). Try to keep passive cooling in mind (i.e. light colours & permeable landscaping) with any of your renovations, and I think it always pays to try and embrace and compliment the original architecture and be unique, rather than trying to look like the latest project home. In my opinion the arch window is actually quite cool, and the excellent mock-ups provided by Geo Toria are along the right track.

Looks good. Before I read through discussion, I had these thoughts. You could look at painting on the front of the wall only, not in the porch/entranceway area underneath, double strength of main colour. So you could as an option get a test pot of Dulux double Self Destruct or even triple. I would not use Monument, or similar to the roof color as it will disappear into the roof. I also think the front fence would look better painted a stronger colour from your existing but as it seems it has just been painted perhaps you could do that, when and if you liked, to cut down expense. On the Dulux website they also give you colours that look good with Self Destruct. (Picture below). Another option is look towards going bold like a strong blue or blue green. Something like in the picture. That's my feature wall, Resene Billabong. ...or a dirty purple or a blood red. It's starting to get really personal of what your tastes are. Perhaps you could Half or Quarter the main house colour in the entranceway so it still flows but gives you more light. Exciting stuff!

Hi Gwen, I would keep the shutters facing the front of the house looking the same. It would look weird if there was one window at the front that had a different coloured window.