Speaking of the gate, what do you think would be the best colour for the side gate we're putting here? It will be a double swing aluminium slat gate, and I'd imagined using timber-look slats because I love timber and we'll be using a lot of it inside the house. But now I'm not so sure whether it would look unbalanced, and what colour would work here. This is a battleaxe block so this gate will be the first thing you see as you're coming down the driveway. I'm planning to have a magnolia in a pot between the garage door and the gate. And thanks so much to everyone for the help, btw!

I probably wouldn't paint your new timber fence but let it weather naturally to soft grey. Once a fence is painted it will need repainting down the track, and this can be tricky if there is vegetation close to it. A fence that needs repainting always look worse than an unpainted fence. You have lots of options with your exterior colours, but with 1960's cream brick houses I always start with Dulux Vivid White for window frames, fascias, door frames, then introduce colours that complement the brickwork for shutters, gutters and front door.. Your variety of brick seems to have a subtle pink/orange vibe rather the more common yellow/cream tones, but it may just be the photo. If you want colours that are sympathetic to the existing house (the current colours have got a very 1980's feel to them) rather trying to "modernise" it then you should find somebody who specializes in houses of this period who understand the style, and has the original colour resources to draw on. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

There are so many variables , but I'll just throw a few ideas . Really , you'd need to know yojur personalities and tastes , the houses in your suburb , your budget and what you want to achieve , whether you want to live there for 20 years or sell in 8 , and 1000 other questions . To me , the roof looks great , and it looks like the fences are stained charcoal . So thats a great starting point , but it also means its difficult to go mid-century or beach chic . I'd keep away from greys or beiges , but keep it light -- I just looked at Dulux Australia , and if you want to go 'interesting' , something like Lexicon Half or My Chincilla are subtle but not too shy -- My Chincilla looks like a grey with a slight purple tinge ! Either of those two I'd do stark white window surrounds , and probably white aluminium windows , but then charcoal powdercoating would actually be great IMO , and add a bit of Wow . Obviously whites and offwhites are more logical , but then you'd pretty much have to go with black or charcoal windows , and white or off-white surrounds . BUT if you did that , heres what I would do -- that front eve and the 3 'tall' windows ( yes I know the glass is only about 1/3rd of the frame ) I would do in a light teal , and then continue that to the wrought iron , and then a really bright but not fluro teal for the front door . Now , you may continue the light teal onto other window surrounds ( personally , I'd do the ones on the veranda in stark white , and the 'rear side' one in light teal ) , and all the 'other lower stuff' you can see , like the terrace boards , the bottom 100-150mm across the front , etc ) in charcoal to visually 'ground' the house . From there , a narrow , low stone and rock garden across the front of your house would make it look a lot better , with a few grasses and cactuses and low leafy bushes and red leaved bushes etc . One other idea -- those front windows aren't too bad ( although you say high maintanence ) so if replacing them , maybe cover them with 12-15 vertical wooden battens -- I'd do nicely varnished natural timber 50mm square and around 2 1/2 metres tall each . They will add a natural wood look , add a bit of privacy , a bit of interest , without cutting out all the light . Obviously , that is a pretty budget once-over-lightly idea , but it will change the whole look and feel of your place for maybe $5k materials , whatever labour costs ( $10k ? ) and whatever windows cost .

this is my home. It was built in the early 90s. We are going to update the exterior paint work which is cream and green. Im leaning towards a very dark charcoal to replace the green but I’m at a loss of what to do about the cream. The roof is steel. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated