Brought to you by Dulux

BY BONNIE

Choosing the colour scheme for your home’s exterior can be really quite daunting. Remember that your front façade is the first thing people see so it should set the vibe for the entire home. No pressure guys, but it could be make or break of your whole vision! #somuchpressure!

I’ve always been inspired by coastal homes. Nothing rocks my socks quite like white weatherboard. And now that we live on acreage, nowhere near the coast, it seemed important to bring the coast and country together and weatherboard ticked both boxes.

How I chose the perfect white for my weatherboard

When I’m choosing an exterior white, I tend to look at shades that are more chalky, slightly warmer tones than I’d use internally. You can get away with a crisp white inside, but your exterior is always going to be exposed to the elements. As much as you try to prevent it, it’ll end up a bit dusty and dirty, and you don’t want that to show.

I usually start out by ordering A4 colour swatches from the fab folks at Dulux. They’re easy to stick on your wall (the swatches, not the people!) and you can eliminate a whole lot of shades quickly. When you’re down to your final few, you’ll want to order sample pots or pick some up from your local hardware to paint them straight onto your house for a true colour test.

Make sure you paint really big swatches, give it two coats and look at the colours in various lights throughout the day. Exterior colours will look different the larger they get and depending on the type of light they are in. Don’t forget to paint on the names of the colours underneath each swatch because you don’t want to get your White Pointers mixed up with your White Polars or your Chalk Whites with your China Whites – that could be an expensive mistake!

If you’re keen on having a contrasting trim (which we usually do), paint those colour options on the wall too, right up close to your white swatches. You want to see the two colours together. When it comes to window trims, roof, gutters, fascia and the front door, whether you keep them the same as the walls or choose contrasting colours comes down to personal preference. And your vision board!

TIP: Just one word of advice on this - don’t contrast your downpipes with your exterior walls. Let’s be real, downpipes are #fugly, not a feature, so don’t make them stand out. Paint them the same colour as the walls.

For my dream home, I left my painted swatches up for over a week and we had more judges than an America’s Got Talent panel vote on them. Dulux Snowy Mountain Quarter finally received the #goldenbuzzer and the rest went home crying over spilt #duluxnutmilkquarter

P.S - Erin wanted a quick decision from me but I needed to take my time and so should you. Don’t rush this one.

And picking the perfect paint?

I’m not a fan of shine, on my face or my façade, so I knew I wanted a low-sheen paint.

We’re big fans of Dulux Weathershield for exteriors. It’s a water-based acrylic and is specially developed to withstand the harsh Australian climate (which we get a strong lashing of out here in The Hills!)

Paint has the power to totally transform the way a home looks and is such an important choice whether you’re building or renovating. The combo of Dulux Snowy Mountain Quarter and weatherboard just screams ‘coastal’ and I’m thanking my lucky stars it’s mine. #visionachieved #moderncoastalbarn