Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. Kate, I think you'll find it will be great with the kids. A friend has kids and a couple of dogs running around on hers and it looks great - very sturdy. I do agree the step definitely needs redoing. I'm going to walk him around the house and point out anything I think doesn't look professional. And I do agree, mistakes can happen and as long as they are rectified I can accept that. The guy we're dealing with is part owner of the business and was a layer for 10 years before going into the sales side. He has offered to come and do the fix up himself so I'm happy with that. Re the colour, I originally thought that we'd end up with a timber shade of some sort, but the house is small and I like the white washed, light beige look of the Ashland. I'll be interested to see what you choose. Very exciting times ahead, lots of work but it will be lovely to have a new house! Best of luck, Trish

I think if you replace front door and glass panels as well as the old fashioned lights with something more contemporary it will make a huge improvement. I'd also remove the ironwork and as you cannot re-glaze place some pots and plants on the sides of the large windows to draw the eye away from all the green cross pieces on the windows. Eventually paint the gutters fascia in a light grey/green.

That sounds like a good idea bigreader. The frame is a bronze with a greenish tone and painting the bit between the windows the same colour would make the window look more cohesive. I also want to repaint the concrete verandah that runs around the house (semi-rural with water tanks underneath so don't want to pave etc). Thinking Berger paving paint Jasper which is a darker tone? Thanks...exterior colours are so difficult. .

Semi gloss for the trims. Do two samples of white - Natural White and White on White. Both Dulux. Only do two and then decide if they aren’t right and why. We can then advise cooler or brighter etc. Because you’re working with the existing cream you don’t want grey undertones or anything too cool. You’ll need to do the samples and move them around the house. You can’t pick off a screen.