Your roof looks like tin. I don't think I'd paint it; especially black in Qld. Leave roof as is and work around that. Qlders need 3 colours only. House / windows & trim / gutters I'd go windows and trim white - always, regardless of what other colours you choose. So then you just need to choose the main colour of your house; grey is popular at the moment. I did mine grey and a bit sorry I did that cause it's everywhere now. But it does look good. Then the gutters (and other horizontals like handrails, windowsills) in a contrast. I quite like terracotta colours against the grey. Decking and stairs can be a contrast colour as in susiemorgan79 pic; or a deeper shade of the house-grey. Good luck. I agonised for months over colours and ended up having to choose colours in a rush cause of my indecision! Drive around Qlder neighbourhoods for inspiration.

Thanks so much for the response Julie. Love the picture of the stairs you put up, definitely the style we had in mind and also similar paint colour we thought of going for. We will be getting rid of the fruit trees at the front of the house and will certainly be doing some sort of low maintenance garden, so thanks for the ideas. We might reconsider painting the aluminium windows maybe?? We aren't in there yet, so just throwing around some ideas until we can get in there!!

The characteristics of the Queenslander house makes it the most iconic domestic building type constructed as well as being one of the signature's of Australian architecture. The sub-tropical residential architecture of Brisbane is acknowledged as the most original and distinctive of all the Australia cities. Owning an old Queenslander is a challenging task to meet our modern living requirements. Old houses have to be dealt with a sensitive & intelligent skill to adapt to today’s living. Our client owns a 1920’s Queenslander on a hill at Brisbane’s bayside. The land size is a standard double lot at 810sq.m, facing West. The original house was one level house with two bedrooms, one bathroom, T-shape living room and kitchen. The lower section of the house was semi enclosed for laundry and storage. Around 1930 the previous owner enlarged the house foot print by enclosing the south side verandah and building a new full length north side verandah. This alteration had created an odd room in the middle of the house which also acted as the passage to the north side new verandah. The house was tired, rundown and overall foot print of the house is not sufficient for the couple for living and home office. Our client decided to reconfigure the interior layout, and to open up the back of the house. How did we restore the original house facade? (*Note that it was important for the client to restore & correctly detail the front facade as the house is in a character streetscape recognised by the council) *Restoration of the front facade involved the removal of all casement windows and awnings for complete stripping and painting & reinstating. *Ugly plastic drainpipes and guttering were replaced with new charcoal colorbond gutters and pipes. Attention to detail involved the relocation of down pipes to be set back from the front facade to ensure the clean look of the entrance. *Verandah bat wing doors were installed at the top of the stair to emphasise the entrance and provide security. *Removal of 1970’s external window screens to unveil all windows to their original beauty of the house *Replacement of the rusted TL-5 square rib old profile roof with the new S-Rib corrugated roof *Repaint the entire house in a clean cut monotone colour scheme. FRONT FACADE: BEFORE AFTER: BACK FACADE: BEFORE DURING CONSTRUCTION framework of the addition section AFTER SIDE FACADE BEFORE DURING CONSTRUCTION The framework of the addition section at the far end of this photo AFTER How did we plan the addition at the back yard seamless joining the original section -Why we created the seamless new open plan extension? The existing old house had no connection or view to the large back garden. The sea breezes were blocked with fixed glazing & one single door led to a low roofed deck. -Why we did not raise the house to double storey on the original foot print? The site is on a double sloping low hill which would have required extensive excavation, retaining walls & drainage. Compromised excavated outside zones leading from the side elevations would have created poorly naturally lit rooms along with inefficient air flow. This house does not require air conditioning. The double storey would have required repeat height new internal and back deck staircases. -Why we did not clear and bulldoze the back yard for new landscaping? After a 50 year old feature tree fell over, the back yard was planted with native indigenous SE Queensland trees 10 years ago. This has now formed a back drop of native greenery which is now being enhanced with further planting to create the best coastal eco-system. A double front colorbond shed was recycled & is now repositioned in a happy neighbours backyard. We will share the interior part in next post. Keep watching. www.8designlab.com.au

Im getting head around it all now, its like putting a puzzle together and realising you’re missing pieces. i agree a deep charcoal/grey would be the best colour with the brick. Unfortunately my husband does not want to paint the aluminium gutters and windows which are brown. . His argument is that if we attempt to do it ourselves it may look worse as it is fiddly and time consuming painting aluminium and not really a job for a first time DIY, especially as it is a two story house. My solution was to match the windows and gutters with a rich grey with a brownish undertone like namadji. It is classified as a grey but looks brown to me. What i am afraid of is doing what your neighbour has done and making the whole house oppressively brown. Do you think I could get away with a deep grey that doesnt quite match the aluminium and then just paint the wooden trims? I would also paint the white brick in the entrance the same colour and the fence and studio. Im afraid of doing all this work only for it to be half arsed. We need to replace the balconies as they are unsafe but unfortunately my husband and i have had a difficult year financially and we don’t want to sink money into the front of house at the moment. The back will need a complete overhaul and we need to preserve funds for that. I suspect ultimately there may not be a solution unless we commit to doing the whole job. Alternatively we could stage it. I am clearly thinking aloud and appreciate all the input and patience!