Your house is brand brand new and so yes it does look a bit stark, but don't rush to repaint! Once you have added shrubs and it has settled in it will look really lovely. Put a little money into landscaping and it will look lovely. It just needs time to settle into the landscape. Definately don't paint it grey! That is not a look that works north of sydney in my opinion! It will look grim in the qld sunshine I think. Be patient, it won't take long for new plants to grow up in QLD. What comes to mind is your house is like a bride in a white dress... its the bouquet of flowers that really make her look beautiful. Try looking at bridal magazines for some inspiration for what garden style you like. 2 approaches I would try. Tropical foliage and tropical colour with bright gingers, lipstick palms, cordylines etc.. There are plenty of species that will do fine in the subtropics. Or the second and perhaps what I would favour for myself is to create an avenue of colourful flowering trees along the driveway like jacaranda, frangipani, flame tree, or perhaps one spreading poinciana out front in the middle of the yard if there is space. If you want some real wow factor employ a landscape gardener to give you something really unique, a great feature design. Or for a simpler approach just go to the nursery and pick what you like the look of. The house will look great with any sort of garden to soften the edges.

Thanks Anne and I will look at pale grey given the maintenance considerations. I have already paid for a colour consultant who was great but the Reckless grey she suggested for the house render and basalt gutters/fascia and front wall were too grey when we had the render samples put on and while it had a modern look, it was not giving the beach/coastal feel. I will head back into our inspirations paint store this morning to see if I can find the warm grey colours that have the most similar colour make up to Dune, and go from there. Anne you don't happen to know the dulux colour most close in composition to Colorbond Dune so I know where to start? Thanks again and I would love to hear from anyone who has got a dune roof and hear if they tried light coloured gutters and what render colours they have used on their walls.

We used dune for our fascia, Windows and verandah posts with woodland grey gutter and roof. I have to say I have been a little disappointed with it as once it got a bit dusty it didn't seem to have enough contrast anymore. Our house is red brick and I wish now I had have gone more in the white direction.

Art-deco was popular in the first quarter of the twentieth century, whereas this home was probably built in the last quarter of the 20th century. I would not categorize it as art deco, even though it has some art deco influenced lines. Without seeing more of the home I would guess that it is more post-modern, and possibly built in the late 1980's, early 1990's. Post Modern architecture often "borrowed" elements from architectural history, and this home has borrowed some art-deco style. Houses from this period were commonly rendered, often with horizontal banding, made a feature of the entry, and incorporated quirky, playful, architectural features that today seem a little irrational. elements.