Hi Molloy15, have you thought about buying an old Queenslander or two, cannibalizing them to form your ideal home, that way you'll get inherent period elements and easily be able to incorporate new modern elements? If you're going to go from new, then perhaps it'd be wiser to present tributes rather than trying to produce a true facsimile - for instance rather than use fancy lace ironwork in the balconies as railings - use one piece as wall art etc. Ideally, an interior and exterior should work together - any home should be a reflection of it's owners tastes and if you love period elements then incorporate them - it's your home. One of the things that I love is showing the demarcation lines between an older building and a newer section of the home as sstop has done. Good luck - we'd love to see how you get on.

Q7) Louise - I live in a small federation single fronted cottage in an inner west suburb of Sydney and would like to freshen the façade to modernise it and improve on the street appeal. Within the next month I am planning on replacing the bullnose awning to one that is flat but angled, paint the exterior of the house and lay tiles in the porch and step areas (carport and planting to soften the façade will come later). The tiles that will be laid in the porch are artisan style ones shown in the pics below, steps will be marble. The house is north facing and I am going for the Hamptons look. I would like to know (a) if you think this colour scheme will work and if there is a better colour scheme that you can please recommend - Dulux tranquil retreat for the exterior, trims will be crisp white, surfmist for the awning and momentum for gutters, (b) should the awning have a corrugated or trimdek profile and (c) the tradie will be removing the timber post and replacing this will aluminium ones white in colour - is aluminium a terrible idea? The houses on the street are a mix of federation, bungalows and modern ones. Some are as-is in pretty much original condition and others freshened up with render and paint in pretty neutral colours.

adding some extra living space at the side will take away from the lovely courtyard and would not create the occasional guest bedroom that's already available with Siriusky's sliding door partitions in the living area but a loft over the kitchen could add an additional bedroom overlooking the garden and you haven't mentioned if there is rear car access into the yard and if so the option for a carport and or "studio bedroom" at th rear could also be a very cost effective means of adding extra space.....always subject to council regulations and dimensions btw if the kitchen cabinets are in good condition they can be reconfigured with sections having a deeper counter (with void at the back ) to allow for extra depth needed for DW etc and the shallow cabinets can still be a useful space savers in smaller kitchen with a new counter to suit the new arrangements

It is going to look really bitsy. If you are committed to doing the end gable wall in Colorbond in Deep Ocean (which is a great colour), then I would repaint the weatherboards in the same Deep Ocean. It is a small house so the wall treatment should be cohesive, rather than visually dividing different walls up. In this photo, the Colorbond Blue Ocean is on four sides and the stained timber window frames work nicely against the wall colour. This would give me the confidence with using a similar orange for the window frames. You are lucky to have a client who wants more than the over used greys. Best of luck, Dr Retro Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits