We're building too this year and our exterior colours are light & dark grey... couldn't afford the timber cladding :( ... and we are having black alum windows, so I say go for black! :) Black windows suit most facades, from the contemporary to the more traditional... Plus what's your alternative, the alum silver? That would look even more blend against the grey exterior colours... whereas black will make the windows a stand out feature of the house... If you're concerned the facade may look a bit drab and if you're game enough, then be bold with a pop of colour in the front entry door... Internally, the black windows (against white/light walls?) will frame the outdoors looking almost like a picture... And no, you are not stuck with a monochrome look inside... you can easily introduce timber (floors, furniture, etc) to create warmth, or any colour you want as black goes with everything... Good luck :)

Hi Filfy, some great ideas from everyone, mine will probably be quite similar. Firstly, depends how much you want to spend and what look you are after, modernise or modern? Anyway, here are some of my ideas. Take out the Yuccas from front area - they really close in the house there and make it look depressing, replant them, maybe along the front side of house. Repaint the brown timber cladding to something like, Dulux Malay grey or similar. Repaint the Fascias in same Dulux colour as well as the triangular piece on the roof. Take out lattice, do not replace - old and tacky now, very popular years ago though : ) Extend deck along front of house and also bring it forward(if you have the cash), stairs to come forwards (straight out) to meet with path. Decks make a big difference to a house and re-sale IMO. New railing in... Timber posts near Yucca's, are these painted or oiled and stained? See if you could sand these back (I hate sanding-takes time) and stain and oil them, possibly teak? You could re-paint them in Malay grey but stain and oil would make the property look more expensive. Or if you want to render, just do the front of the house and say a metre coming around the side of the house from the front. Could use a grey on the render, paint the slats either a light colour (something that goes with the brick and grey, close to white) or a very dark colour like domino….. Hope this helps.. : )) Below is a link to a big renovation I just finished on the Gold Coast. (Signed M) http://www.kwikclicks.com.au/viewproperty.php?id=3045 Michelle..

What ever colour you like is what you should go with - I have a black roof and a white house and white down pipes and guttering - the plastic type. All I notice is how dirty is looks when the winter has set in and been and gone and you are left with green mildew on the guttering and down pipes. If I have a choice and it suited my house I would go for a dark colour - however if you are going to tin you will want colour steel as the sun will just bake black or dark paint. Also look at the life time warranty of both the plastic and steel to determine which may last longer and be cheaper to fix longer term.

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?)