Post some pics for the best responses.

Thank you. I am trying to upload them just having technical issues!

I realise its a fairly modern build , but I'd embrace the olden tributes , and do the 2 gutters and the gabley beam bits , and probably the front door , in a brighter tone of maroon . Leave the rest -- it has ( semi contrived ) character , so go with it .

Is the roof new, it's a different colour green to the gutters? Or would you have it painted along with the cream windows and trims I would also keep the barge board on the verandah, the stone and brick work is lovely. The colour of the roof spoils it for me

The roof and fascia and trim are all the same colour. The house was built in 2004, The colour of the roof makes it very difficult for me to choose any other colours other than what we have. We bought the house for the block and the area. We wouldn't have chosen to build it.

It could be a lot worse. You are stuck with the existing shape which is cottage-shaped. No point trying to tart this up to resemble something else. The worse parts for me are the faux colonial windows in a modern opening size and the front door with a side light. RIvergum isn't a roofing colour that really lends itself to tarting up. It's purposefully bland.

Here's what I'd do...

• Replace the entire front door. Put a nice wide solid door in that space. No faux leadlights and side lights - too 90's. Just plain with maybe a bit of traditional moulding. That will help the home look more solid and less dolls house-like.
• If I were changing the roof colour I'd go either Terrain or Manor Red. You've got warm coloured bricks they'll look great with a warm roof. Or if you want a light roof then Paperbark would work.
• Unless you're changing the windows out, you're stuck with whatever will go with cream. I would give traditional heritage colours a wide berth. It just amps up the fact it's faux heritage. For the trims I would choose a nice stone colour that goes with both the brick and the cream windows. Pick out one of the darker tones in your lighter brick. It will tie everything in.

Otherwise it's one of the nicer federation repro homes of the era. Enjoy, is this in South Australia by any chance?

The biggest make over would be to paint the roof, gutters, barge boards and posts monument, windows could stay cream or paint as well

Hi Black Bamboo, yes it's in SA. Thanks so much for your detailed reply. I really appreciate it. I will get an updated photo but yes the front door is soon to be history as well as the fake glass sidelight. Thank you for your comments about the house being a nicer reproduction that makes me feel better :-)

It is a lovely SA house and could look amazing, this very rough and include the carport

Search painting aluminium windows in stories here on Houzz and you’ll see a makeover of a similar house.

@bigreader are you referring to the Hamptons upgrade of the red brick home?

Adelaide Hills was difficult to buy into when I tried over 6yrs ago I'm sure the housing stock hasn't suddenly ballooned since. You take the house that's available and to be honest, it's the land that matters more. You can always change a house, bit harder to buy a better block in a tight market.

Have you thought of repainting all trims and windows in white, or black. I think both would look good.

I still think the roof colour lets it down, change that and you go from boring to look at me

@siriuskey we are only on rain water here and I don’t think painting the roof will be safe enough but I agree about the colour. Sadly I have to either replace the colourbond or live with it.

I like what you’ve done so far. I wouldn’t be in a hurry to change anything else. Live with it for a while. I would suggest some large pots either side of the front door and plenty more greenery planted in the front yard.

This is the view looking from the house to the front. Thanks for your comments @bigreader ☺️

I like what you have done so far. The fascia board under the porch gutter might look better painted the same colour as the posts. At the moment it makes the roof look low.

Thanks. We discussed this very fact today. I’ll clean it and paint it and see what it looks like. Once I’ve finished I’ll post a pic. I’ve also got some big pots and topiary to go near the front door too ☺️ I agonised on what pots to get and ended up going for a lightish terracotta. I can always paint them if need be.

Love the idea of a dark door, this a mock up I did earlier and the second working with your green roof and adding sandstone pavers on the verandah and pathway

I'am not a painter but perhaps it would depend on what type of paint you used on the roof, I wonder if 16 yr old paint is stable for rainwater,

Thanks so much for the comments so far. I’ve taken a photo of the brown bricks that have dark grey colours. I have a grey blind that looks ok I think and then on the door frame I’ve painted the left of the window in paperbark. Thoughts on grey for verandah posts and barge boards?

Don’t have the funds to paint the roof unfortunately.

The front door will be replaced when I can get a carpenter. Or I might have a crack myself! 😂

Look at the pic of the surround that you have done in colourbark , and it isn't all that much of a difference to the existing beige .

Look at the pic of the grey blind against the brick , and it looks okay , BUT hold the blind up to the roof and gutter , and it will look drab .

Look at the original pic you posted , and look how clean and fresh your two Cape Cod chairs look in crisp white .

So you are keeping the green roof , and the essentially red brick . That is your base .

Look up at Dreamers pics -- there is one with white details , one with dark . Personally , I would go light . White or a derivative on the posts , the door and surround , the gable . Personally , I'd do the gutters and the lower panels on the door and the sidelight in a burgundy , but you seem to want to change the door and surround , and presumably leave the gutters a different looking green to the roof -- I'd embrace and almost double-down on the style , rather than trying to change it , but you seem sick of it , its your place , your choice -- I'm just stating mine .

You mention changing the door which will be expensive even if you do it, I like your front door with side light which throws light into the entrance.passageway, it would look better without the screen door, do you need it? If so you could find a simple screen door and paint it and the door the same colour. The white chairs could be repainted if they are timber or used elsewhere as they compete with the cream windows good luck

Thank you potsy99 and siriuskey for your comments.
Re the roof and gutters. I have the original specs for the build from Rossdale and the roof and gutters are the same I think the roof has faded.
I do like the idea of either black or white posts and trim. They are all really good ideas. I agree that the grey will make it look drab now that I look at it. I’ll get a sample pot of white and black and take a look what they look like today. Thanks again.

If you want to play up the cottage look you could think about having some simple veranda brackets.

White trims have my vote and a new door .

Just as a tip, those dark colours in your light brick arent' grey, they are a deep purple/brown also known as Burnt Umber. The midtone colour in that brick is also a purple brown in a natural mineral, in artists land that colour is called Indian Red, other similar hues are perylene maroon and piemontite. I'm an artist so very used to seeing different colours and their undertones.

Colours that will go with that will be blacks that are actually red or purple based. So NOT monument which is a blue based charcoal. Blacks come in many different tones and it's important to match the undertone to your brick for colour harmony. Blacks which are complementary or blue based will stand out more but may not go as well. Which is why the grey blind seems uninspiring, it's a blue based grey. I'll name some colours in the Taubmans brand. I didn't pick Dulux because it has an abyssmal colour selection atm.

Phantom Myst and Fable would both be good blacks to use on your home.

Ruby Rose and Redwood and Russet stone would all go with the brick colours.

Unless you train your eye to see hues and undertones it's very difficult to spot them which is why a colour consultants have a job. If you're interested learning colour mixing is fascinating there are even hues like red-blues which sounds paradoxical but ultramarine is actually a red based blue'

A hack for creating colour palettes super easy. If you have Photoshop you can show it a photo and it will automatically create a perfectly co-ordinated colour palette for you of 6 or so colours which are exact matches to the colours in the photos. Any photo at all, and it will spit out pantone colour codes for you that you can take to paint shop and have them mix up. It picks up some dark, mid and light tones and you can have it create monochromatic, complementary, split coplementary etc palettes that work beautifully.

@Black Bamboo thank you for commenting in so much detail about the brick colours. I can see now with your suggestions that the colours would be less jarring. I don't have photoshop but I do like the fact that it is that clever it can match colours like that. I am not an artist and as you can see have an untrained eye :-) I do like the colours you suggested though and will show my husband. At the end of the day it's the style of the house facade I don't like and so changing the colour isn't going to change that but it will make it more appealing I hope? Happy New Year to you and thanks once again.

This Adelaide/South Aust original stone house might help you visualize things, just by changing the garden will help. I grew up with these beautiful houses