Beautiful view Jane, gosh you're on the side of a mountain no? Yes if left natural the cedar will weather to grey but to me that looks weathered & dry & possibly not in keeping with your house style. I still like the red door & think the cedar weatherboards look to be in good condition. I would start by painting the gutter & fascia in the graphite, then the pergola as well & lose the cinder if that is the light colour. Funny thing, I live in a pole home too but without your amazing views!

Yes, you can still achieve a retro look with modern products. There are a lot of wall panels for bathrooms on the market. And wood or wood veneer wall lining for other rooms. For example, Bunnings have lining boards in a variety of wood looks. Both in a gloss or matt. They are around 9-10mm thickness. http://www.bunnings.com.au/cedar-gloss-lining-board-90-x-9mm-x-3-6m-glosswood-10-pack_p0071387 I believe the board you're thinking of was wood veneer that was quite popular in the 70's and was thinner. I think it still can be found but not sure if in the quantity you would need.

Your new home looks fabulous! Congratulations from the Team at North! I am a visual person so I hope you don't mind me adding some photos to help explain colours. Your home has more yellow brick then red like these homes. However the dark grey, light grey and white framing works well with the brick creating a modern clean look. Darker grey for roof, light grey timber/cladding on top level and light grey down stairs around the smaller square windows. You could add a window frame, to frame the windows in light grey/white around the yellow windows or just leave them as they are. Painting aluminum is not recommend unless you get the professionals in. If you wanted to use panels instead of timber have a look at James Hardie cladding - 13 11 03 is the contact number - They have a fabulous products that give you cladding with a paint finish that will outlast any timber you put on your home and is low maintenance. Need to check with the local council as to what roof colours are aloud some don't allow to dark because of cooling costs. Its suggested you pick 3 colours to keep it unified. Its a personal preference what colours you like? Below the white and blue grey looks amazing! Please let us know what you choose. A project is always exciting.

Not that it overly matters , but I just looked on Google Maps Street View , and our old beach place looks like the cedar shingles are still original -- theres none that look modern or replaced , they appear to have all aged evenly , and getting close on 50 years ! A couple of interesting things to me though -- it has been split into 3 flats -- well , there are 3 slots of the letterbox ( No idea how the doors , kitchens , plumbing , etc work , pretty sure it only had an entrance and a back door , both at ground level , and one stairs , when we had it ) -- and it was officially 3 bedrooms , and only 2 showers , 2 toilets from memory , although there was a 3 door garage downstairs and we'd have up to 20 people in total -- those camp beds and the like spread on the floor , cars and boats parked outside when busy . The garage has been converted into one flat , cars park in front and to the left side now , but I'd say its now 3 relatively compact places . And I was wrong about the roof -- it is a flat silver on Google Maps ( so almost certainly galvanised iron ) , with several skylight windows . I remember the skylights -- I always assumed the roof was cedar though .