Hi Louise.. I don't think it did at all. Hard to describe the end result, closest is a soft muted grey that seems to go with a lot of other shades. I did lots of white trim and charcoal floors throughout (exterior pathways and patio floors; and interior carpet). We loved it and so did the buyers, we sold in two weeks for a price we were happy with in a really tough market.

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.

I recently completed my owner built house and shed. My shed has shale grey roof and walls and is very cool all year round in The Atherton Tablelands near Cairns. My neighbor used monument and has a very hot shed. My house has a shale grey roof and the walls are cement block painted with shale grey(Taubmans). The garage door and is surfmist which looks white. The window and door frames are white. I love the look and what ceiling space I have does not get overly hot. The shale grey roof appears lighter than the walls because of the reflected light. This gives a nice contrast. Another neighbor has a surmist roof which can be too glarey to look at. Bear in mind that monument being dark will also show more noticeable fading than shale grey.

Hi Pottsy99, thanks so much for your thoughtful response! You are perfectly right about that infill panel and the original steps which had been removed - goodness knows what was going through people's heads to do this to an old house. I do intend to reinstate the stairs - and link to the front garden which is north-east facing so will be perfect for an informal edible garden. I'm thinking of finding some original encaustic tiles to do the porch floor. It's a good idea to reinstate the steps in concrete - I was thinking about timber on a steel frame (for costs) however concrete will give a more stable feeling . This old California Bungalow however has an perplexing design in that there appear to be two entrances - apparently this was not that unusual for California Bunglalows. The main hallway runs off the side entrance, whereas these steps which come from the front garden lead straight into the loungeroom, with no hallway. So I intend to keep the main entrance to the side, and make the front entrance relate directly to the front garden, using plants and lighting to direct people to the main entrance. anyhow, in regards to the colour pallette, I love your idea of a burgundy roof, however I'm going to tone it down a bit as there's a lean-to at the back where I can have some fun with colour. For street appeal I'm going to keep it toned down - the setting is an Australian bush garden, and I'm looking at a relaxing pallette of greys which I think will make the red bricks sing as well. I've had the red bricks and mortar colour-matched at the hardware store, and there are red/yellow/black tones in them. So the greys will be warm/ olive-greenish. The light colour will be a lighter hue of the mortar (very light beige). The front door will be bright red, with warm white/very light beige trim. thanks again for your thoughts :-)