I came across your post and I think we have the same house! I was just pondering whether to paint or not. What was your verdict on painting the beams? I was leaning toward preserving the mission brown.

We have an even better match now. Took my sample of frame to another paint shop and they were brilliant! Kept working on the mix until it was right. And even better the lady was an interior decorator and advisor and gave me some great advice on colour choosing. Thinking of going quite a bit lighter for the walls and adding some pops of colour in verandah posts and/or fret work. Feeling so much better about the choices now. The samples on the cards are all the colours I originally had, we’ve just pulled in Haymes Overcast as the overall colour rather than Charcoal Grey. Will use the Charcoal in the features. Really excited to get weatherboards on and start painting!! It pays to shop around!!

Thanks Tracy, that looks great. I'm confused a little. I don't quite understand the "don't paint the bricks" sentiment. I understand that there is maintenance involved, potentially needing to re-paint the house every few years. Not sure how that is different to having to repaint inside every so often or if we had weatherboard, etc. As to the shutters, more than happy to change that. We are thinking we remove them and also replace the windows as well. They are the same brown aluminium frames. Perhaps going a thicker, modern black frame, with double glazed windows as well. We like the shutters in that they provide some safety as well block out the light. But we hate the look of them. Otherwise it is painting the shutters, which seems like quite a difficult process as they are powder coated, and lots of nooks and what not to get in and paint.

You have a really gorgeous home - beautiful details! A lighter rug or perhaps even a pattern would help to lift the room. A great place to start for inspiration would be the details themselves - this project by Ann King (http://annking.com.au) actually took the ceiling pattern and created a custom rug, which creates a really striking traditional pattern. Camilla Molders (https://camillamolders.com.au) is also a wonderful designer who designs custom rugs that fit perfectly with traditional features, you may find some inspiration here! A few other colour and design suggestions - in terms of colour, working with all that lovely warm toned wood would be lovely, choosing cream and warm white hues. Or a subtle blue would be a great contrast! https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/designer-collaborations/catherine-martin/black-pearl/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/designer-collaborations/catherine-martin/feathers/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/designer-collaborations/catherine-martin/garden-party/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/designer-collaborations/kingdom-home-nouveau-collection/lily-nouveau-2/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/designer-collaborations/kingdom-home-nouveau-collection/metropolitan/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/designer-collaborations/house-of-heras/waratah-wonderland/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/designer-collaborations/catherine-martin/westchester/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/in-house-collections/saffron/istanbul-azure/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/in-house-collections/saffron/othello-latte/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/in-house-collections/saffron/peacock-feather-latte/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/in-house-collections/saffron/samson-dark-knight/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/in-house-collections/saffron/shadow-cream/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/handknot-collections/classic-handknots/lexicon/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/handknot-collections/classic-handknots/vision/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/handknot-collections/mystique/hudson-stone/ https://www.designerrugs.com.au/rug-collections/handknot-collections/classic-handknots/kensington-light-grey/