Well into the finishing components of the build now. New flooring going in, tiling about to commence and external painting well advanced.

In regard to painting, generally, when we document a project for tender we will govern the number of coats, the paint type and finish and a code (when using the same type of paint but several colours). We rarely, (although we have an overall balance of colours in our mind), specify an exact colour selection. This week we were reminded why. You never really know what a colour is going to look like until its on the surface in situ. This week we tested our original board colour selection of 50% strength colorbond gully. When we saw this on the wall it looked way too light, so we switched back to full strength. In the office the lighter colour worked well, but not on site.

A few other tips:

Listen to the painter, its what they do everyday and their expertise is useful, particularly regarding knowledge as to how paints will go with particular surfaces and their inherent textures.

If you are using colorbond for roof cappings and flashings etc, consider selecting colours for external walls from the same range. Results in a much more integrated final look that doesn’t focus on those little necessary construction components that you may not want to feature.

Image of upper level deck showing external colours in combination. The board colour has a brown base that works well with the spotted gum column covers.