Your house is going to blend in very well with it's surrounds once the timber has silvered off, if you choose to use colours like Colorbond Woodland Grey, Dulux "Pavings Stone" (left hand side of colour swatch in the image far below) and/or Dulux "Grey Mountain". Other darker colours that will work well in this setting include Dulux "Cambridge Hall" and Dulux "Nomadji" (mentioned before). These greys don't necessarily blend in with the fresh timber but look fantastic as the timber ages and the building is seen as a whole (see image far below). "Paving Stone" is a versatile medium, warm grey that looks really good as a render. It also works well as a neutral internal wall colour in rooms with lots of natural light. In the following image, Dulux "Grey Mountain" was used near the timber work and "Woodland Grey" on the garage walls to help the garage door become less noticeable. Remember that colours generally appear lighter than the sample when applied to external walls and darker when applied to internal walls.

Appreciate the feedback guys! Decided to complete the render on the brick walls and ended up getting rid of the brick rangehood (seen on the left hand side of the previous photo). This allowed more light into the dark kitchen. Painting the cupboard doors has also lightened up the space. The kitchen feels light and breezy now... though it's not completely finished, as we still have more painting and rendering to do, including the additional cabinetry and a rangehood to install. Because of the festive season, we decided to put the project on hold; putting the doors back on for Christmas lunch. Future plans include installing cabinetry (below) - where the plant is -which will house the stovetop, and also cabinetry above where the brick can be seen (top LHS). We'll install a rangehood above the stove top and cut a whole in the cabinetry (on the RHS) for the fridge. Where the fridge was previously, we'll put up a wall which will hold wooden shelves for tea, coffee, mugs etc.

To be honest - they are both pretty dominant for a 2.7 m stud - I like the idea of multiple hanging of similar lights. You could also purchase something less expensive and think about it until you find the perfect piece - sometimes we need to live in the zone before we see what it needs. One tip re budget - if someone walked towards you with $7000 in one hand and the light fitting in the other - which would you choose - a good temptation tester !

If you want to make the house hotter, then painting the roof charcoal will certainly achieve that. Repointing the brickwork is the most sensible from a maintenance perspective. Once you render and paint, then you have to keep painting (and it's likely to be out of fashion sooner or later). Try to keep passive cooling in mind (i.e. light colours & permeable landscaping) with any of your renovations, and I think it always pays to try and embrace and compliment the original architecture and be unique, rather than trying to look like the latest project home. In my opinion the arch window is actually quite cool, and the excellent mock-ups provided by Geo Toria are along the right track.