Gosh this is an old thread, lucky I'm still attached to it. Sorry Susan, can't help you, the Houzzer is in the US and they have different brands to us and I've also learned even if the brands are the same, the colours aren't necessarily the same. Did you check out the brand Luke posted? I believe Luke is no longer with Houzz unfortuantely. Personally, I would never touch brick, it is a timeless product and usually messing with it only results in more maintenance over time, where natural brick is pretty much maintenance free. I also read the other day red bricks are coming back in again - there is always a cycle if you wait long enough. My old house was red brick and I had the green guttering, roof tiles and such but over the years the roof tiles lost their colour and went grey. When I sold the house the new owners painted all the guttering and outside trims charcoal grey. As much as I hate grey and am over the constant use of it, I have to say it really looks great and gives new life to the bricks. Maybe this is the way to go with updating facades, just change trims to the current fad colours, they need painting regularly anyway, and leave bricks to the natural cycle of trends.

Hello Fianou, Congratulations on your charming home. I think it has so much potential. I love the idea of teal, it is fresh and welcoming. I was thinking to give the home some street appeal and to also make it extremely functional. I would see if you could afford to put a wonderful wooden deck out the front, and then I would have window shutters painted teal placed on either side of the windows to give it street appeal, if you could afford to paint the brick I would paint it in a happier white tone with the blue accessory trim on the shutters on each window and also on the roof trim to tie it all in. On the deck I would have flower boxes painted in the same teal colour or whatever colour you choose to link in the whole story. I can see it can be so sweet and charming and a real place to call home. The timber fence at the side would also link in with the decking at the front. Good luck and congratulations on buying your own home ! Woo hoo !

Thanks. So, you could have access to a external tap garden near by? You could put some small irrigated vertical gardens in this space and plant out some grasses or low growing or cascading plants. This option will require some thought to the wall structure and allow the water to drain away and keep the wall space relatively dry. The other could be (the photo is not good to see) run horizontal wires internally in a set spacing you desire on the timber cladded wall. Then, plant outside in that corner (in ground or in a large pot) and grow a climbing plant (star jasmine or similar) and train it to grow on the wires you set inside that space. This will tone down some of the hard materials and add some softness... Just a thought!

Hi Lorraine, sorry I missed your question. I only bought this house a few months back and the glue has deteriorated anyway so I used the steam mop to test it out before I get new flooring. Because many animals lived in this house I was hoping the steam would help kill germs. I've read so many opinions on the use of steam on both vinyl and laminate so I'm at a bit of a loss now. One of my joeys has laminate and has been using a steam mop on it for 12 years now with no ill effects at all, despite that supposedly being a big no-no, but she found it so quick and efficient when the kids were toddlers particularly and the floor needed doing almost daily. I just have to wonder these days how much manufacturers are protecting themselves and not giving consumers honest information. How often do you buy an item of cotton clothing and then find the label says "dry clean only". This does not mean the item can't be washed, it is to protect the manufacturer from someone doing something like washing in boiling water. We need more transparency in care instructions, only then can consumers make informed decisions on the right product for them. If steam is going to affect the glue, then it follows water will too so then it comes down to just how do you clean your floors. Manufacturers' special products that are always ridiculously expensive are not the answer and having access to these products is not always possible for country people either. I believe there are two types of vinyl planks too - one type are glued down, the others are a floating floor which would not require glue, but I was told in the event of damage, a glued plank is much easier to replace than one in a floating floor. There are so many glues on the market now too, there must be one that could be used to reglue a plank that has come adrift.