@ambulastar1985 - The lack of insulation in Australian homes is indeed appalling. Coming from a European background where insulation standards are very strict (although they differ from one country to another), I fail to understand why Australia is so behind on that matter. We may not have much cold weather compared to Europe but our summers can be extremely hot and it's silly to rely solely on air-con to regulate temperature. So much energy (and money!) could be saved by just planning the house and insulating it properly to start with, without affecting much the initial cost or construction time frame. In France - which is definitely not a leader in environmental matters! - these days, when selling a house, you have to get an expert to estimate how energy efficient your home is and to indicate the energy rating on the ad and sale documents. Houses that are not energy efficient sell for less and can also be taxed at higher rates by councils. It's been a great incentive to get people to think twice when building and/or renovating.

I have painted houses light grey, white (twice) and black. Each time I have used semi-gloss vivid white for my window and door trim. The semi gloss does draw ones eye more and makes it a feature (so good if thats what you like - looks fabulous when the house is matt white) but what I enjoy the most is that it is much easier to keep clean.. Hope this helps

There are tonnes of colours to choose. Take a sample pot of Woodland Grey and a sample pot of Surfmist and mix up your own custom colour guaranteed to work with your chosen roof and trims.

Thank you Julie.i do love the look of the dark coloured homes with timber windows. We were thinking that we might like to have some lightness in colour hence a lighter green paint on the cladding. We are still feeling unsure about the fasia colour. A colour cosultation is a great idea, we should have considered this, unfortuately we now dont have time poor planning on our side. happy to hear any other ideas!