Hi Rachael, Your asymmetrical house form is a very strong visual element and sits very well in this bold and rugged landscape. On the other side of the house from the entry door, the windows and doors are grouped and aligned to create a secondary relationship between them, which pleases the eye and works within the strong form. On the side with the entrance door, this doesn't happen. The scattered size and positioning of the woodstore, windows and doors do not work together to lead the eye to any particular place, nor do they relate to the form of the house. As a starting point, something to draw the eye to the entrance to invite people in will create a secondary focus. Because the house is a very strong form, you want to work with it or complement it, not try to create something that tries to outdo it. You also want something large enough to provide shelter both to keep people from the weather and to make it seem visually welcoming. You have a few materials already in this building, timber and stone, that you can use that will provide a contrast to the corrugate wall but will also make connections with the other parts of the building, and make the shelter become part of the whole rather than look like an afterthought. I would look at creating a porch form with enough visual strength to draw the eye and also try to tie in a few other elements to reduce the scattered look.

Personally , I think the main colour is fine , the crisp white on the poles and most of the terrace is fine -- the two different 'sandy khahki' shades ( the window surrounds , and the planter ) looks out of date . I'd do both of them in charcoal , as well as the terrace base board and the upstairs downpipes . It looks like the barge board and the veranda are already a charcoal -- if not , then darken them up too . The mid grey on the steps etc is fine as is , it's hard to see in the photos but the front door looks like it might be a nice solid wooden one -- again , thats fine to me , but I'd do the door surround in a crisp white to make it more noticeable . The other brighter option would be to do the window surrounds , the door surround , the top barge board including the gables , the terrace base and probably the terrace top rail -- all in a bright sunshine yellow !

I want to paint the exterior of my ugly stucco beach house and garage . It’s on the shady side of a hill (damp, dark and gloomy in winter) so I want lovely warm colours. It was mostly built in the 1950s. I considered painting the upper level one colour and the lower level another colour so the eye is drawn to the horizontals. The joinery is mostly silver-grey aluminium. The roof is corrugated iron, currently unpainted. I’m inspired by some flower colour schemes, but I’m struggling. I usually use Resene paints. Suggestions from those who are good with colour would be most appreciated!

I want to paint the exterior of my ugly stucco beach house and garage . It’s on the shady side of a hill (damp, dark and gloomy in winter) so I want lovely warm colours. It was mostly built in the 1950s. I considered painting the upper level one colour and the lower level another colour so the eye is drawn to the horizontals. The joinery is mostly silver-grey aluminium. The roof is corrugated iron, currently unpainted. I’m inspired by some flower colour schemes, but I’m struggling. I usually use Resene paints. Suggestions from those who are good with colour would be most appreciated!