Here is the old house..lower cedar undergoing clean and is now all oiled. Window trims on right painted in dune. Ok. So had heart attack yesterday. Roof painter came out. I am at work. He and my son decided to ‘colormatch’ my already woodland grey painted posts and decide ....yes it’s armour grey....I had told both days earlier woodland grey...now have an armour grey roof which is same as windspray...don’t know whether to laugh or cry..more cry actually. Heart was set on woodland grey and dune trims. But I did really like your windspray..so confused now what to do....any help would be appreciated.

Hi Erika, First up I will proclaim my disdain for render. This is not because it is inherently bad finish, but there is some much poor render and render look products that crack and an look so cheap it has now colour my view of it as a finish. Make it brick if you want masonry or make it weatherboards if you want it to feel lighter. Depending of the form a mix of both can work well also, but be careful how this is done. Masonry to the external skin is inherently wrong in a hot climate (that is most australian how get it wrong with brick veneer). By place the masonry to the external skin, means it heats up all day and the can keep the building warm all night. Handy for a cold cold climate, but you will need insulation on the internal side to avoid heat loss, thus never really benefiting in a big way from this anyway. Try placing the brick skin to the internal face and you will get the true value from the masonry for its thermal qualities and cladding this with a lightweight material to the external face, shading it from the heat. You will also need to insulate between the cladding and the masonry to avoid heat loss as masonry is not a good insulator. Not even a double brick wall with that has the internal face exposed will meet the minimum BASIX requirements for heat loss in NSW, not with out additional insulation in the cavity. OK, stepping of the soap box for a moment to actually answer your question more directly. Weatherboards - Can look great, you will need insulation in the walls anyway. If not put it there anyway, It's a cheap product and make allot of difference to the comfort of the home in hot and cool climates. There will be maintenance that comes with weatherboards, paint them properly with a quality paint system and you will not have to do much for a long time, skimp on this and you will be back regularly. Render - also can look good, if you spend the dollars and get it done well. This will cost more. You will still need insulation and the masonry will warm you home through the night in the summer. It will also require a level of maintenance, but depending on the finish this can be very minimal. Weatherboard will be cheaper, unless you a building a project home and the scale of economies they get can skew things big time, particularly if you are only looking at a bagged brick rather than full render finish.

The issue is not so much the cladding material, but rather the articulation of the extended building form. This could be a simultaneously exciting, interesting and sympathetic extension utilising shingle cladding that wouldn't necessarily reference Hampton's. If there's anything too Hamptons going on here it's the small proportioned windows with the external shutters that give it a bit of a "dollhouse"popped on the top look. You've got a stunning beautiful home frontage, but the extension form is kind of sticking out/up the back and the fenestration looks out of balance by being perfectly symmetrical. Federation architecture is not symmetrical like the Victorian era predecessors, rather it is an asymmetric compositional balance that in your case should be recognised and countered appropriately with the design of the extension. When selecting appropriate extended cladding material it should be working towards texturally balancing the building and being complimentary overall. Professional recommendation you revisit the articulation of the upper extension, at the very least loosening up the fenestration with more glazing and potentially a more complex roof form with a smaller projecting gable (offset) as a reference to the frontage. The cladding choice becomes less critical, and shingle texture that ties in the roofing texture could work well. Weatherboard is bringing something new in, and if you go flush panel without a more contemporary design and articulation it will look wrong Good luck PD :) www.pauldistefanodesign.com

Progress report…have gone against general consensus and opted for moving away from the traditional colours. The painting is not yet completed but am personally loving the transformation.