Hi Katrine, The renovation went really well - thanks! It's been finished for more than a year now - hard to believe!! I could only find one pic of the cladding that was easy for me to upload - here it is. We've been really happy with the FC cladding and how it looks. We replaced all the existing exterior weatherboards (which ran on an angle parallel to the roof) with the same Duragroove FC cladding that we covered the new extension in. Our builders said it is very easy to work with and it certainly went up very quickly. Their only comment was that you can end up with a fair bit of wastage as it often gets damaged in transit. The supplier they used said this is pretty common, however, and so they actually allow for it and oversupply somewhat to allow a proportion of damaged sheets - sorry I can't quantify this aspect for you. The cladding was very easy and quick to paint and we're very happy with how it has come up. If you're interested in details, it's painted in a new Colourbond colour called Gully. The darker trim (fascias, gutters, downpipes etc) is Woodland Grey. Good luck with your decision making. If you'd like more photos, let me know and I'll try to take and upload a few more. Cheers, Kate

You have quite a few option's but budget will decide the option's. You could render and paint the front wall's of both bedroom's a charcoal like the garage door's and sandstone clad the garage area's. You could render and paint the existing facade and use a charcoal brick on the new upper area with render again on the new lower wall. You can get bricks painted to match the existing. They are a tad expensive but maybe the only option. The problem I personally have with render is that it can end up bland. This is due to majority take the easy way out with deciding colour's and just paint it all the same colour. Using a couple different colours and using them as feature walls with other materials can look superb. The original brick looks like a great coloured brick but the issue is theres just too much brickwork so a bit of render or even some painted walls can really look great. Painting isn't expensive and the new paints are very good. The key is getting a quality render job first and not overdoing the amount of area's rendered.

The silver will look quite good with your colour scheme. I would probably change some weatherboard for Scyon Axon just to change it up a bit. Also use Scyon Axent for architraves and wall corners. Don't forget eaves and veranda ceilings, etc. as a really nice looking feature use HardieGroove or maybe even some timber to break up the acres of painted surfaces.

I was going to suggest a nice horizontal timber design -- and then I see the Deco-Clad post , which looks similar . Personally , I'd want samples , to see how 'real' it looked , and also do a cost comparison with actual timber . Depending on budget and how long you are wanting to live there , I'd also look at a light to mid-coloured stonework , or some of the veneers are very realistic too , but more expensive than nicely stained wood . Or for a real Wow factor -- how about some stonework , some timber , and even a water feature , possibly water rippling down the wall around 1.2 metre wide , maybe with a 300-400 wide vertical fern and herb garden either side -- takes advantage of any 'spray' , and adds life and vibrancy , as well as looks and variety ? No disrespect to Dr Retro and Julie Herbert , but my personal thoughts on Sycon and similar cladding is that it looks too modern for the existing brick ( what I'd term an 'old style' brick ) , but that's just me -- to implement successfully you'd want to work your way around the house and update quite a bit more , or it would look too obvious IMO .