Thanks so much for the advice everyone! i will talk to my parents about adding a fence, trimming the greenery and doing something about that red brick! me me - they brought the house off the builder in the 90's - its like a weird light grey with the green paint trims - the inside was worse, apricot as far as the eye could eye!

The back of the house you've nailed it -- all windows in the charcoal . Do the pergoda in a similar stain , and it's done . The front though -- you say the roof is Manor Red -- it looks like a fading brown to me ? Might be the photo , but I would go redder there -- it looks in that picture that it will need doing soon ? The one area I would concentrate on though is that gable ! I'd do all the upright boards and the surrounding boards in a really crisp white , and leave the infill in primrose or beige . Subtle but it will lift it . You then have the option of leaving the windows as they are , or going all black / charcoal / monument -- the latter would look more modern , but i don't think that would be the best look for the house -- I'd leave them as they are and embrace the period .

If you dont want a cream or white colour but want to keep it neutral you could pick out the taupe colour that is also in your tile and paint this colour on the wall. Alternatively if you want to add a bit more colour to the bathroom then a blue/green colour such as light teal or a softer tone such as Duck Egg or Eau De Nil would really compliment the beige tiles.

Hi I would normally use a Matt paint for walls and gloss on skirting,doorframe and any other mouldings, my dilemma is that I’m going to put mouldings on a wall to give a faux wainscotting effect. The top part will be 1 colour in a Matt finish as no mouldings there, the bottom however has the mouldings. Should I paint these gloss or Matt finish the same colour as the lower part of wall. If I use Matt would it look weird when I use gloss for door frames and skirting in the rest of the house.