All the suggestions above are perfectly good. However, when you have a house that is entirely painted, the options are so endless that it's easy to get stuck. I'd advise either finding photos of comparable homes in colors that you really love, and reproducing a similar palette on your home… or upload a picture of your house to a colorizing site, and play around with various combos. Sherwin Williams has a Color Visualizer that is decent. I don't mind a white house, but feel that the black trim is a bit harsh. On the railing especially- it feels like it is outlining itself too much. Reduce the contrast between the body and the rail and it will enhance the house rather than overwhelm it. You have a lot of choices, so just experiment and go with what resonates with you.

Hi anne, that's what I was originally thinking, my issue is what colour I use for the 'pop' :) I keep coming back to a teal/turquoise colour (it's one of my favourite colours!!), I love blues, purples, teal/turquoise - many on here have suggested yellow but I'm really not sure about it. Here in New Zealand we're in Autumn, nearing Winter so uncertain about the yellow. I found these cushions that I've fallen in love it, and wondering how I could make these work.. do I try teal and mustard together, as an interior designer suggested?

I would love the rocking chair too, but way too expensive for me, unfortunately!! Yellow could be good... hmmm, will have a look, thanks

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone and sorry I didn't explain the polycarbonate a bit better :) This is along the lines of what we'll be using... http://www.psp.co.nz/building-brands/corrugated-sheeting/suntuf-polycarbonate The area is an absolute sun trap and we're hoping to use it as an extension to our living space, especially on rainy days! I've just sent my husband out to get a few pots of different stains for is to try - darkest brown (cedar) and a lighter brown (rustic oak) both by Cabots + the black we already have. Hopefully we can decide between one of those! I probably should have mentioned we will have black aluminium pool fencing running along the top of the second retaining wall - so the real question is do we keep everything black (pool fencing, horizontal fence, retaining walls and pergola) or do we go with a dark (or even light) brown for the pergola and retaining walls.... We just keep going around in circles at the moment. Decisions, decisions! Thanks again :)