Choosing Paint Colours

 Paint colours are some of the hardest decisions to make when renovating. Initially, I wanted a grey and white colour scheme for the exterior. I was inspired by this gorgeous house in my area (photo above). I'd even picked out the colours which match it from Dulux - exterior walls in Dulux Doe, gutters in Colorbond Monument and the trim and other bits like the fascia, door frames etc in Lexicon Quarter. I still have the notes from my August 2011 meeting with Setty Vang from Dulux, where we discussed these colours.

So when the painters arrived this week to start some preparatory work, I felt organised. The builder had told me months ago to have my paint colours ready and I had been ready for a year. My paint chip folder was ready to roll. But on the morning that the painters arrived, I changed my mind. I'd had a sleepless night, thinking about the paint colours and wondering what was wrong. 

Then I realised that whilst I loved the grey and white colour scheme on the other house. My house was different to the "inspiration house". Whilst both houses are the "Queenslander" style of house, both were different styles and different eras. The other house is a gorgeous cottage with a new colourbond roof. Whereas, our large Queenslander is in the Federation style as it was built around 1901 and is white with a zinc roof (except for a few bits which will be replaced).
So, feeling slightly nervous, I met the painters on site explained that I hadn't decided on the paint colours. They gave me 24 hours to get the right colours sorted. Given I'd had twelve months to sort this out, I thought that was generous. So I rang Setty Vang from Dulux and explained the situation. We sorted it out pronto. So I have decided on Dulux Natural White for the exterior with colorbond guttering in Monument. The handrail, front door and window hoods will also be painted in "monument". I didn't realise until recently that all the colorbond colours also come in paint colours. Handy! Now, I just need to sort out the interior colour scheme. Wish me luck.