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How to pick the right exterior colour for your home

September 6, 2017 Leave a Comment

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By Naomi Findlay

Have you ever walked past a house and thought, “what were they thinking when they chose that colour?!”.

Your design taste is on show before anyone even steps foot inside your house; it begins on the kerbside. Inside, you have the freedom to express your personality and creativity in each and every room, but your outside colours should highlight the most beautiful features of your home while getting along with everyone else’s.

Before you pick up that paint brush, here are a few tips to ensure your neighbours aren’t running to detox their eyes from a particularly offensive shade of baby blue.

Image: desiretoinspire.net

Take cues from the architecture

Your exterior colour palette should feel appropriate to the style of your home – be it a Californian bungalow, Queenslander, Art Deco or modern duplex. Draw on the unique architectural elements – such as the character, details, textures and original colours – to showcase the history of your home.

You can choose to go against the grain, but historically accurate colours will not only enhance the street appeal of your home, they will also enhance resale value. That doesn’t mean you have to adhere to strict historical guidelines (unless your council specifies it), but a Mediterranean colour palette on a Victorian terrace will just look jarring.

Use existing elements

Unless you are planning a major exterior renovation, you should always take the existing details and materials of your home into consideration. Work with the current colour and texture of the roof, driveway and stonework, as these are the hardest (and most expensive) to change. For example, some bricks are a deep red, others a bluish brown; coordinate paint so that it matches the undertones of those materials. If the bricks are warm, stay warm!

Image: metricon.com.au

Blend in with the environment

The colours of the natural greenery and surrounding landscape should harmonise with the exterior colours of your home – there’s a reason Hamptons style colour palettes work so well in coastal locations! Coastal homes take inspiration from the sand, water and sky with soft shades of white, tan, blue and yellow.

The same thing applies with neighbouring homes. Most home exteriors are neutral for a reason. Your community most likely has some sort of colour scheme already in place; find the balance between being unique in your selection and blending in beautifully with the other homes on your street.

Choose three different shades

Think of your exterior colour scheme as three pieces of a puzzle that come together to form one beautiful façade. Your main colour choice should cover (and complement) the brick/timber/render. Ideally, the windows, railings and roof edgings should contrast against the main colour. If that main colour is a dark grey, then a stark white will frame the home beautifully (or vice versa).

The front door is your opportunity to add a dash of personality and flair to an otherwise understated colour scheme. Just make sure that if you do choose to paint the front door a plum purple, you keep it confined to the door – there’s a difference between creating a little ‘oomph’ and having your home look like a life-sized doll house.

Image: insideout.com.au

Try before you buy

Never rely on paint swatches alone. Colour shades can vary significantly from the way they appear on a swatch (Jen recently learnt that the hard way– luckily it was just an interior space!). Painting the whole exterior of your home and then realising it was the wrong colour with be a very time-consuming – and expensive – exercise.

Also, remember that different paints come in different finishes – the main ones being high gloss, semi-gloss, satin and flat – which can alter the way the colours you choose will look.

Buy a sample pot and test it on an inconspicuous area. See how it looks in different types of light and under different weather conditions. This way you can determine whether you’ll be happy with the choice for years to come.

If you’re still stuck on choosing the right colours, consider asking the advice of a colour consultant – check out this budget makeover to see how handy a colour stylist can be!

—–Australia’s rapid renovation expert, Naomi Findlay is an internationally renowned renovator, award-winning property stylist and speaker. She’s an industry leader in creating healthy wealthy spaces and creating wealth and profit from renovating property. Learn more about Naomi.

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Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than F Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than French onion?

I think not!

Grab the recipe on the blog this morning via link in bio.
Get to know me! I haven't done one of these in YE Get to know me!

I haven't done one of these in YEARS so there's possibly thousands of you who don't know my back story. Here's a few things you may not know about me!

✔️ I'm English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and I moved here (just for one year) back in 2008😆 

✔️ I can't end the day without a bath, even if I get home really late or on a really hot day. It's a mental health thing and my happy place. 🛁 

✔️ Before becoming a blogger and running my own small business, I was a journalist from the age of 18. My favourite news gathering times were as a newspaper crime reporter (bit different to interiors!) 📓 

✔️ I once worked at New Scotland Yard in London 🚔 

✔️I had an interview at Oxford (didn't get in!) but chose not to go to uni at all after being offered a job on the local paper #universityoflife 😁

✔️ My mum died when I was 3, I have an excellent dad and one sister (younger) in the UK ❤️ 🇬🇧 

✔️ At school, my favourite subject was French 🇫🇷 and I was head girl 🤓🤓

✔️ I'm addicted to ☕️ , long hot baths and💄 (been wearing it since I was about 14!)

✔️ I'm not a phonecall person and will never ever pick up an unknown number. Ever. They can leave a message 😁

✔️ My favourite cuisine is Japanese 🍣 🍜 and Damian and I honeymooned in Tokyo and Venice 

✔️ I have zero design qualifications. I just started blogging about my passion, which is trying to persuade everyone to #heartyourhome That was 11 years ago...

✔️ My favourite tipple is a good GnT or🍷 

✔️ Cheesy as it sounds, 💁‍♀️being a mum is my absolute biggest joy in life 🧒👦

✔️ I will never give up my old school paper diary! Has to be A5 and week to view 📖 

✔️ My official surname isn't Bishop. I kept my maiden name for work after I got married but changed it for everything else. Often confuse myself!

✔️ I didn't get my Ps until I was 37 and I'm still a terrible parker 😯 🅿️

Hope you feel like you know me a bit better 😘

📸 @vanlowvanlow
Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 @nood_co coloured con Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 

@nood_co coloured concrete basins is a great Aussie business success story. Although co founder Matt Di Costa first found fame as one half of Matt and Kim on The Block, he hasn't relied on this to build his brand.

“We are very honoured to have been a part of The Block, and all they have done for us. I am, however, a believer in letting the product take centre stage,” he says.

Read our interview with Matt via link in bio now.

🙏Share your favourite colour basin in the comments!

#colouredconcrete #noodco #colouredbasin #blockheads #the block #bathroomtrends2022

Pic 1 by @naibudesign_ and 2 by @twostyleinteriors
I'd love to see more colour in Aussie interiors! I'd love to see more colour in Aussie  interiors! 🎨 

At the end of the day though, it's a matter of personal taste. I love pops of colour but it's not for everyone. 

We couldn't resist featuring this Canadian house tour today. The amazing Kelly Green  hutch (swipe) was an upcycled $200 find 🤗

Head over to the blog via link in bio to see the rest including one of the best playrooms we've seen in ages!

Project by @in.house.design
📸 @philcrozier
Create an unexpected city oasis with an emphasis o Create an unexpected city oasis with an emphasis on light and nature.

That was the brief for the conversion of a corner shop and a warehouse bakery into a luxury family home in Sydney's Newtown. And how about the library?!

Take the tour of this very special @annacarindesign project on the blog now, via link in bio.

Pic: @justinalexanderphoto
The things that excite me as a 40 year old 🤭 N The things that excite me as a 40 year old 🤭

None of us enjoy laundry (OK, there are a few of you out there who do. Weird!) but we have to do it. And often. So if your laundry bin can be as good looking, functional and space saving as this, then why wouldn't you?!

I've lost track of how many baskets I've thrown out because they've gone soggy or mouldy. They look pretty, sure, but they're not fit for purpose and they're often messy and overflowing.

Here's what I love about his @brabantia_australia one:

✔️ ventilation holes
✔️ no need to remove the lid for small items plus it hides your dirty laundry from view
✔️ easily removable and washable inner laundry bag that velcros back on 
✔️ corrosion resistant so fine in bathroom or laundry 
✔️ Brabantia make things as sustainably as possible
✔️ compact, sleek, European design
✔️ 10 year warranty
✔️ tall and skinny so takes up less floor in my tiny laundry

The Rolls Royce of laundry bins? I think so 👌🏻

TOLD you this was going to be exciting!

Now I need to know, do you have your laundry basket in the bathroom, the laundry, every bedroom? We used to have one in each bedroom but moved to the laundry-only situation which I much prefer (one for colours and one for whites). My boys know to put their used clothes in the bin in the laundry each night and they're 7 and 3!  #raisingfuturehusbands

#gifted
"Living rooms are important spaces where our publi "Living rooms are important spaces where our public and private lives intersect."

So says stylist @nataliewalton in her gorgeous new book Style, the Art of Creating a Beautiful Home.

"They are where we gather to welcome guests and entertain. But they are also where we decompress and relax at the end of the day. Increasingly, they are open-plan spaces and need to work within a greater scheme. Bringing all the elements together cohesively requires care and consideration. And, if you want a space that lives up to its true potential, make it personal and create with conviction."

Read an extract, the chapter on elevating your living room, on the blog today via link in bio.

Published by @thamesandhudsonau Pix by @chriswarnes 

#livingroomdesigns #nataliewalton #coffeetablebooks #designbooks #interiorsbooks #livingroominteriors #elevateyourspace
Kids and husband messing with my vignettes again🤨

PS. The coaster was RIGHT THERE 🤪
#weatherforit 🥶 Need a new blanket? Look no fu #weatherforit 🥶

Need a new blanket? Look no further than these gorgeous South African blankets from @baobabcollective, sustainably sourced, ethically crafted and imported by a Southern Highlands couple.

On the blog now via link in bio.
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