Sorry, the photos above posted in the wrong order, the last photo is actually the photo of our house. Then the order is right starting from the top....and I didn't post the last photo of the exterior colour scheme that I love right now. Here it is!

My ideas · More Info

My ideas · More Info

Go with your very first photo. It seems to have similar bricks. Your bricks are your main colour. Then add a mid and a darker grey for accents

Thank you Kate. I think I like the 1st photo too. I keep coming back to it.

The windows in yiour house I am guessing are bronze , but the windows themselves look modern enough in design that I think they would still look okay if you 'modern' up the rest of the place , so thats good news .

Yje tiles I'm not so sure of though -- if yiou did the gutters and eves etc in monument or similar , youd' still have the 80's showing both above and below -- like I said , the windows are modern looking so the below would look smart , but if you have both , its then going to be obvious it is a tarted up 80's . But if you sprayed the tiles darker , will it then make the house too hot -- are you in a warm climate ( looking at the house picture , its hard to tell , as the trees are green , but what season was that taken ?

Lets clarify with the carport -- are you retaining gthe existing one ? Adding a double in front of it and the garage ? Demo'in it an doing a double between the garage and house ? Have you enquired about council regulations ? In front may be too close to the street . You'll probably need more concrete driveway ( and the fun of matching that colour ) . You may even need council permission ( and cost ) to redo the kerb etc to allow a double entrance . How much undercover do you want/need ?

Heres my cheap temporary ( or maybe fulltime ) update -- do the gutters , eves , the carport , and the garage eves and gutters in a monument or similar , do the garage door in a lighter grey ( or mid orange ! ) , waterblast the driveway , do your dark fence , and a nice garden with a good variety of modern plants and heights , maybe a metre wide , just in front of the house , and the width of the house . And add a nice letterbox on your dark front fence .

Thank you potsy999 for your thoughts. I appreciate them all. The house is in Toowoomba in SE Qld, so a little milder than Brisbane. The house faces the road to the East.

Yes the roof tiles have been another question. I have wondered if painting them a terracotta colour (instead of a darker one like monument) might provide contrast & avoid the darker & hotter colour issue. I am concerned though that it will still look like a "tarted up" 80's house! I have wondered if cladding the front alone might solve that issue?

Re carport. I want to put a double carport in front of the single (very tiny) detached garage & the carport to the side of it. It would make access so much easier for our two cars & also free up the detached garage to convert to a home office for hubby.

I haven't yet gone down the path of getting council approval for the double carport. That might be the biggest hiccup as I think it would be tight. I know it would need earthworks & extra concrete etc...could be very expensive...! I appreciate your thoughts about the front yard too. I was thinking that eastern facing garden would look lovely with lots of lovely native plants.

III

Hi again potsy999,

If I painted the roof tiles, gutters, fascia & carport garage door in monument for a cohesive look, had lighter white eaves, painted the bronze windows in black and then painted the cladded carport in either a mid grey like basalt or a light grey like shale grey, then had the black vertical fencing, do you think that it would be cohesive & a big improvement?

Hi again potsy999,

If I painted the roof tiles, gutters, fascia & carport garage door in monument for a cohesive look, had lighter white eaves, painted the bronze windows in black and then painted the cladded carport in either a mid grey like basalt or a light grey like shale grey, then had the black vertical fencing, do you think that it would be cohesive & a big improvement?

I'd tend to go 'all dark' to get that more modern look , especially with the modern dark aluminium 'spear' fence

Adding white may keep it rooted in the 80's ?

Agree with pottsy, go all dark on your trims, could look beautiful with your bricks, would go a black modern fence, love the colours in your first photo, structural planting and grasses would look good, adding a dark trim always looks great with multi colour bricks, your ideas sound really good.

Thank you so much Julie Herbert- for your thoughts & the lovely photos you shared too! They are very much in line with what I have in my minds eye!