Here's a taste of some of the Colour Expert questions and answers to help you with your own colour scheme.
If you would like more colour advice for your project, please ask our Colour Expert for help or come in and see our staff at your local Resene ColorShop or Reseller. Colours are a representation only.
Please refer to the actual paint or product sample. Resene colour charts, testpots and samples are available for ordering online.
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Q. We are repainting the exterior of our house, plaster finish. It has been approx. 13 years since the original paint was applied. The walls will be Resene Triple Truffle. What colour do you recommend for the soffits? Is there a rule that soffits should be a lighter colour than the walls? We live in Papamoa, approx. 1.5km from coast line. Do you recommend a low sheen or semi-gloss finish? We are also painting our powder coated metal garage door in Resene Grey Friars. The door is facing north west and gets hammered by heat and sun. What paint do you recommend and do we need to use a special product to clean the metal first or can we just use sugar soap? A. Generally speaking the under soffits are painted in a pale or white colour. It is all about the quality of reflected light through windows. If they are painted really dark it affects the light within the rooms in the same way that a high bank/fence or a lot of trees close to the house creates shadow in the interior rooms. If you don't want too stark a white colour you might consider one of these ones - Resene Sea Fog, Resene Double Black White or Resene Eighth Truffle.
September 2016
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Q. We have a 10 year old weatherboard house with a Grey Friars COLORSTEEL® roof and aluminium windows. We would like to change the colour of our weatherboards from white to a darker more easy care colour. We live in an open setting near the coast. A. Here are a few ideas to get you started - Resene Beachcomber, Resene Nomad, Resene Terrain, Resene Sand or Resene Duck Egg Blue.
September 2016
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Q. Our small cottage needs a fresh look. I need help with colour options – where do I start? The roof is Decramastic metal tiles. The windows are aluminium with a sloping block. The high side (entrance side) is to be landscaped, with a new narrow veranda to be added. A. You start by working with any existing elements on the house that are not being changed. Colours on the roof, windows and brick base of the house on the high side all will have some bearing on what will work well for you. Some options for the main colour might be one of these colours - Resene Half Spanish White, Resene Quarter Fossil, Resene Sugar Loaf or Resene Quarter Biscotti. Trims could be muted interesting colours like these - Resene Timekeeper, Resene Explorer, Resene Wrangler or Resene Easy Rider.
September 2016
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Q. I'm looking for a neutral colour scheme with white trims for the internal house colours. So basically all one colour throughout and one trim colour. The blinds in the lounge room are being changed. Maybe a feature wall colour in a shade of blue for my 6 year old boy’s room. A. Perhaps look at these neutrals, see if they appeal to you - Resene Eighth Bison Hide, Resene Quarter Truffle, Resene White Pointer or Resene Albescent White, or for whites try Resene Double Alabaster, Resene Quarter Merino, Resene Quarter Albescent White or Resene Quarter Bianca. Some blue options for feature walls in your boy's room you might like to try are - Resene True Blue, Resene Matisse, Resene Float or Resene Subzero. September 2016
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Q. Can you please suggest neutral options for walls and doors from your Resene Whites and Neutrals range. It’s for a small two bedroom home with a pitched white ceiling. A. Very versatile neutral colours that you might look at to see if they appeal to you are these ones - Resene Eighth Parchment, Resene Quarter White Pointer, Resene Merino, Resene Quarter Thorndon Cream or Resene Quarter Tea.
September 2016
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Q. I have a 1973 V Jennings split level home. It has a jade green roof tile and a mustard yellow brick with Mission Brown aluminium windows, white interior walls and Mission Brown beams on the vaulted ceilings. I want to paint the entire interior white, including the window frames, beams etc. but do not know if the white will look awful on the exterior next to the mustard yellow bricks and green roof... so I thought a slightly off-white cream for the aluminium windows. A. It really depends on which 'white' you choose to use. Warmer whites may work better for you. These are a few that you might check out to see if they appeal to you - Resene Quarter Bianca, Resene Eighth Rice Cake or Resene Quarter Merino. All of these colours are also available as slightly deeper variants in case you want a tiny bit more coloured white tone.
September 2016
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Q. We are going to paint our nursery room. We want to stick to neutrals with white for skirting boards, the door and ceiling. There is one Roman blind in the room which is a light grey marl colour. What colour would be best for the walls? We are looking for something warm but also fresh. We ae worried a warm colour will clash with the grey roman blind though. A. The warm neutrals shouldn't clash with the blind but it’s best to test the colours carefully. These may be good ones to start with - Resene Half Albescent White, Resene Rice Cake, Resene Quarter Thorndon Cream or Resene Quarter Fossil. If you use real white - Resene White - for the skirting boards, door and ceiling the warm neutrals will take on slightly more colour.
September 2016
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Q. We are planning on painting our farmhouse - a weatherboard villa - and are having difficulty choosing the right shades of grey. We want quite light grey walls, white windows, and a grey roof (we also want a roof colour that is mid-light) but need that contrast with the walls so end result doesn't look like a warship! A. In order to not look like a warship I suggest you have three distinctly different levels of colour on the house - Resene Mid Grey (roof), Resene Quarter Friar Greystone (main house) and Resene Alabaster (windows), or Resene Lattitude (roof), Resene Half Delta (main house) and Resene Quarter Rice Cake (windows), or Resene Half Tuna (roof), Resene Surrender (main house) and Resene Quarter Black White (windows).
September 2016
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Q. We are reroofing and repainting a 1920s bungalow in a rural setting. We like the more modern industrial look, and so are trying to balance not too much old while still respecting a 1920s bungalow. The joinery is being kept as white wooden. The roofing will be Colorcote®, we are thinking either Grey Friars or Grey Flannel? The weatherboards we would like not as dark as the roof while still giving contrast to the white joinery. A light grey would be perfect but one that doesn't look too browny or bluey. A. Resene Half Tapa is a yellow/green edged grey. All greys (yes all of them) carry undertones of colour in them. None are really pure. It is a case of looking at a few greys to discern what type of colourants are in them. Without comparing greys it is really hard to judge them. Both the greys that you are considering are quite different from each other - Grey Flannel is a warm stone grey (almost a brown) and the Grey Friars is a deeper steel charcoal. If you don't want any brown or blue tones it does make your choices less as they are the types of greys that work well with the roof colours. Perhaps one of these greys might appeal to you - Resene Half Scarpa Flow, Resene Stack or Resene Jumbo.
September 2016
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Q. I want to paint the exterior of my house. The style is a very simple cottage. I need to work with a Karaka roof. There is no fancy fretwork. It has an upstairs and a carport. There is no front yard. We are close to the road but the back is surrounded by lovely native trees and an old rock wall garden. A. Here are a few colour ideas to get you started - Resene Half Tea, Resene Fossil, Resene Half Foggy Grey or Resene Pearl Lusta.
September 2016
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Q. I am looking to paint our spare bedroom. It is a south east facing room which gets lots of indirect light through the big windows. The previous tenants have painted it yellow which gives a slight cheery feel but is a bit too yellow for us. We are looking for a slightly softer warm neutral, possibly with a yellow undertone which will keep the sunny feel of the room during the day and have a warm glow in the evening with the warm light from the bulb. It would also need to work with a warm rimu bed frame, denim blue carpet and lots of green outside the windows. We were considering either Resene Rice Cake or Resene Parchment with a more pure white on the trim. A. A south/east facing room will 'sour up' the underlying yellow in the colours you have mentioned - but as long as you test the colours very carefully you won't get any nasty surprises later on when the painting is completed. All colours appear stronger/deeper/brighter when painted in an interior. One of the paler variants of Resene Parchment may work for you - i.e. Resene Quarter Parchment or (lighter) Resene Eighth Parchment. But if you do want a warm neutral without the sharp clear yellow undertone (because the room has the tendency to make it look greeny/yellow and sour) you might check out these colours - Resene Eighth Fossil or Resene Quarter Spanish White.
September 2016
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Q. I'm planning to paint the bach bunkroom Resene Reservoir and I was wondering what bright accent colours I could use to paint the bunks. A. The following colours may be rather delicious - Resene Dauntless, Resene Memphis Belle, Resene Melting Moment or Resene White.
September 2016
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Q. I have a problem bedroom. In order to lighten the space up I painted Resene Half Dutch White on the walls to contrast with Resene Dutch White on the ceiling, doors etc. Now the Resene Dutch White looks pretty dirty against the lighter walls. So I think I need another plan. My bedroom furniture is stained slightly darker than rimu. The linen is delicate. A. I am not sure what your rationale was in regard having a stronger colour on the ceiling than the walls. All colour in an interior has the potential to look twice the perceived depth overall and any colour on a ceiling would look even stronger again because of the way light falls away from the ceiling creating shadowy depth. Were you originally considering making the ceiling the dominant feature of the room? If you were to reduce the ceiling colour to Resene Bianca and to use that colour on all the doors and woodwork trims it would be a soft lighter/whiter look (a candlelight cream). I think it would work better for you lightening up the space and enhancing the lovely delicate colour of the linen.
September 2016
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Q. We're building a plywood and batten bach on the west coast. The roof will be Ironsand or Karaka, and the joinery silver pearl. I wanted to paint the plywood Ironsand as well but because it will be band sawn ply, the builder recommended using stain. Which stain would suit the Ironsand roof? The veranda posts and possibly the gable will be left to silver off (treated pine) therefore I wanted the walls to contrast. A. If you wanted a deep olive toned green to go with Karaka on the roof you might look at Resene Woodsman stain – Resene Touch Wood. But if you wanted the colour to go with Ironsand you could check out Resene Woodsman stain - Resene Tiri which is neither brown or green but merges well, or a slightly earthier colour like Resene Woodsman stain – Iroko. Other colours that you might check out are Resene Woodsman stain – Resene Sheer Black or Resene Woodsman stain - Resene Limed Gum.
September 2016
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Q. I am looking at painting my 1928 bungalow in Resene Tsunami with Resene Sea Fog windows and trim. What would you suggest for the base boards (covering the piles) and roof? I was thinking Resene Half Grey Friars and then could use Grey Friars for the roof and guttering as that is a COLORSTEEL® colour. I was also thinking of Resene Chill Out as a fun front door colour but wonder if that is too much going on? A. Are you planning on having a COLORSTEEL® roof and gutters? Grey Friars is a good choice for the roof but so is COLORSTEEL® Storm Blue which relates well to you main house colour. The baseboards could be Resene Half Grey Friars to go with the Grey Friars roof or an alternative could be Resene Half Tuna as it is very slightly blue in its undertone. You might also check out Resene Ivanhoe as it looks lovely with Resene Tsunami. Yes why not have a fun front door? Resene Chill Out or a similar but slightly greener colour i.e. Resene Rice Paper could look really fresh and add a lot of 'wow' to the entry.
September 2016
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Q. We need to paint a monstrosity of a wall... I’m thinking a dark blue/stone grey. My husband thinks it might be too dark. Our carpets are a dark grey, we have light grey roller blinds and our kitchen has a light wooden laminate floor, so we are running with the light wood and white. We are worried the existing red is so dark we don't know how many coats to do? A. If you were to use one coat of white undercoat it would remove the entire red colour. It would also provide a white back ground for you to see the spatial dimensions and natural light in the room. It would be really good as well when testing colours because you would see them against a white background and that in turn would help you find the right depth of colour for the room. Colours in an interior often look twice the depth of colour that you might imagine they will do. So proceed carefully with the testing of colour. These colours might be worth checking out - Resene Longitude, Resene Freestyling, Resene Gull Grey, Resene Grey Chateau, Resene Neutral Bay or Resene El Nino.
September 2016
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Q. We are about to extend the deck of our house and we would like to give it street appeal with a new paint job. It has brown aluminium joinery with prominent garage doors. The roof will not be painted. A. Some colour options to try -
September 2016
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Q. We are building a new house and are looking at painting it a grey colour with a dark roof and white aluminium joinery. What colours would you suggest? Would Resene Half Scarpa Flow look ok? A. The colour you mention is lovely. Any colour seen on the exterior of a building can look half again as light so you definitely need to check this out. If Resene Half Scarpa Flow looks a little too light for the overall look you want to achieve you could use Resene Scarpa Flow instead. White powder coat colours to consider might be Arctic White (very cool/almost blue-grey white) or Appliance White (still white but just a teeny bit warmer) and for the roof either - Indigo Blue COLORSTEEL® or Grey Friars COLORSTEEL® or very very dark Ebony COLORSTEEL®.
September 2016
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Q. We are painting the Linea® and plaster exterior of our house. We would like the Linea® to be Resene All Black and would like a light grey with no beige or green undertones in the plaster. We want a light grey that will not look too white as we don't want the black/white stark contrast. We are looking at Resene Triple Concrete. Will this still look light grey against the Resene All Black colour (and we don't want it to look pink or purple!). What would Resene Surrender look like with Resene All Black? Any other light grey suggestions? What is on trend with the soffits? Are they to be same colour as plaster or a neutral white? A. Resene Triple Concrete is lovely - it has an undertone of warmth (might be mauve) hiding in it. Resene Surrender may have the tiniest hint of warm silvery fish scale blue in it. You need to look at the greys together to be able to judge what is in them and putting a sheet of white printer paper between all of the samples (or partially over top of) is a good way to help the eye/brain see the reality of the colour. Check these greys at the same time - Resene Half Silver Chalice or Resene Half Grey Chateau. All colours on an exterior have the potential to look half again as light as you might expect them too - bright natural sunlight strips their depth away. These colours used on an exterior with Resene All Black will definitely look 'whiter' - if there is no other real white to base a judgment on the eye/brain will say 'You are Black therefore you must be White' - but you may need a slightly deeper grey with the first two numbers in the colour code between 75-60. Then if you had real white - Resene White - under the soffits (or somewhere) then and only then would your eye/brain say 'You are much whiter than the grey (which may look lighter) on the house.'
September 2016
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Q. We have a two storey 1900s brick Georgian homestead. The window frames, gutterings etc are painted Resene Half Pearl Lusta. We are now contemplating painting the iron roof a Resene grey. Our choice was Resene Chicago and our Design Consultant friend has recommended Resene Grey Friars. I would appreciate receiving your thoughts and commentary for Resene Chicago vs. Resene Grey Friars roof topping a two storey brick homestead. A. I like Resene Chicago as it has a lovely greyed off green base to it which does look very nice in a warm almost earthy way with Resene Half Pearl Lusta and together they provide a balance to the bricks on the house. Resene Grey Friars is darker - more of a steel grey charcoal - very smart and used a lot. At the end of the day the choice is yours. What grey do you like best?
September 2016
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Q. Any colour advice for painting the exterior wall of a house where our deck is? We have a 1960s white weatherboard house. The corner deck is stained dark brown (Resene Treehouse). Overhead is a white pergola. The garden wall is Resene Paua, which we love. The corner of the house where the deck is, is very sunny and hot, and the white makes it rather glary in the sun. I'm wondering about making the house walls on that corner of the house a different colour to make the deck more of a feature but think Resene Paua may be too bright when up close? A. Resene Paua may be too gorgeous to want to share space with any other colour apart from white, the brown deck and the living green wall feature. Have you thought of using the same colour that is around the windows on the walls in question? They would absorb the bright light and as this colour is already on the house it won't be in conflict with the Resene Paua.
September 2016
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Q. I have a Woodland Grey roof. Please advise me for my exterior walls colour for my concrete house. A. You might check out these colours to see if they appeal to you - Resene Villa White, Resene Thorndon Cream or Resene Sandspit Brown.
September 2016
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Q. We have a 1940s bungalow and are repainting it in Resene Shark with white trim. It has a low pitch tin roof and we would like to know what roof colour we should go with to complement the house? A. Resene Shark would definitely need to be made into the reformulated CoolColour™ version of the colour to modify the intense heat that will be attracted to the weatherboards. You could use light greys, a silvery aluminium, a neutral bone, a green or a red oxide - Resene Atmosphere, Resene Grey Chateau, Resene Aluminium, Resene Titania, Resene Gecko or Resene Red Oxide.
September 2016
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Q. The exterior of our house is a due a paint. It has Resene Tea and Resene Half Tea and they have worn well. The front door is painted dark against advice and so cracks have appear in joins and fillers. We touch up seasonally. The front door of the 1920s bungalow with leadlight is painted Resene Cowboy. What colour and product would you recommend as it is north facing? We don't want black but as dark as possible brown/red-modern muddy/cool colour? It needs to go well with Resene Tea which I want to keep. A. If the front door receives a lot of north facing sunlight any mid to deep colour will deteriorate - some colours will be affected sooner. In order to protect the door from any further damage you may need to go for a much, much lighter colour and use the CoolColour™ reformulated version of the colour to claw back as much protective factor as you can achieve. You could try colours like colours like these ones - Resene Stonewashed, Resene Kabul or Resene Rough N Tumble.
September 2016
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Q. I have installed new wardrobes with glass doors. They're throwing a green. What colour can I paint my walls to offset the greenish tinge? They're currently camel in colour. A. The glass in the wardrobe doors sounds as though it is standard float glass which is a greenish glass - not crystal clear low iron oxide glass which isn't green. Apart from replacing the glass with a totally crystal clear glass nothing will stop the float glass from throwing a green look. You may have to green up the wall colour in order for the influence of the green in the glass not to be so dominant in the room. Check out these colours to see if they look good with the glass in the room and appeal to you - Resene Quarter Parchment, Resene Half Thorndon Cream, Resene Rice Cake, Resene Eighth Ash or Resene Merino.
September 2016
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Q. We are doing up a rental and we have really good curtains which seem too good to replace, however they are a dark dusky pink colour. The carpet is dark brown/grey tones. We want to lighten up the lounge and dining room but neutralise the dusky pink. What do you suggest? A. I doubt that any light colour would truly neutralise dark, dusky pink curtains. Perhaps you could look at these colours to see if they will work with the carpet and curtains - Resene Eighth Spanish White, Resene Quarter Albescent White or Resene White Linen.
September 2016
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Q. I have a kitchen which has wooden cabinetry, brown floor tiles, a brown bench and splashback tiles (very dated/old). I would like to paint my wall areas to lighten/freshen them up until I can afford to remodel. I have two sets of French doors opposite each other and I have windows over the sink area so there is lots of light. The kitchen is not open plan but is off the entranceway which is painted Resene Sandspit Brown and Resene Eighth Blanc. A. In order to balance all the wood and brown influences that you have now you might look at using a complement - a colour opposite on the colour wheel. Brown is a shade of orange - opposite orange on the colour wheel is blue. Perhaps one of these colours might be considered- they all have a greyed off tone to them so are not 'baby boy blue' - Resene Half Duck Egg Blue, Resene Half Halcyon, Resene Half Breathless, or Resene Half Gull Grey, or slightly grey/green/blue - Resene Half Tasman.
September 2016
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Q. I am building a house and using Resene paint for the exterior. My roof is COLORSTEEL® Ebony with Shadowclad® features in a natural cedar look finish. The front door is matt black as is the aluminium joinery. The garage door is also in Ebony. I am thinking about your Resene Double Black White on the Rockcote and Resene Half Black White on soffits. A. I think your colour choices are very good. It is a truly contemporary theme using the black and white. Because colours on an exterior often can look lighter than you might expect you might also check out the possibility of using Resene Triple Black White on the Rockcote. Just to compare - to ensure the overall look is everything you want.
September 2016
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Q. We are renovating and have chosen an Ironsand coloured roof. We would like to stain our deck a dark colour but would like to know what would go nicely with our roof, off white aluminium windows and a dark stained deck and door. We are also unsure of what colour to paint the gables and the bottom part of our house which is currently green. A. You might look at these colours to see if they appeal to you - Resene Truffle or Resene Rockbottom. If you used lighter colours on the gables and bottom part of the house it could look very smart with the mid toned colours on the main body of the house - and if you were unsure about the depth of the main colour suggestions you could reverse the sequence of colour - lighter house, deeper gables and basement - Resene Quarter Truffle or Resene Double White Pointer.
September 2016
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Q. We have recently moved into a new home, but really dislike the current colour painted on the cedar, trim and roof. The cedar is an orange, terracotta brown while the roof is a COLORSTEEL® green, and we really want to smarten it up and bring it up to date. We live in Oratia, are surrounded by bush, and the house is elevated and gets lots of light. I have tried a few Resene testpots, but we are a bit limited by the dark brown aluminium joinery. My favourite colour so far is Resene Bokara Grey, but it think it might be a bit dark if painted over the whole house, and I'm not sure what colour we would paint the roof to go with it. Any advice you could give on colour combinations I could try would be hugely appreciated! A. Perhaps you might also check these colours out to see if they appeal to you - Resene Squall, Resene Quarter Ironsand, Resene Half Bokara Grey or Resene Kilamanjaro. They are slightly softer than the colour you like but may tie in the windows a little more as they still carry undertones of warmth. You might check out Resene Element or Resene Ironsand as roof options but it must be noted that overall the house will appear very one dimensional and dark.
September 2016
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Q. We have a fabulous Resene Canterbury Clay feature wall in our living space, which I love. Unfortunately the rest of the walls are too yellow/cream which does not work well. This area does not get a lot of natural light and I'm wondering if you can suggest a clear white to lighten up the room, without being too stark against the Resene Canterbury Clay. A. You might check out these 'whites' to see if they appeal to you and work well within the room - Resene Eighth Pearl Lusta, Resene Quarter Bianca or Resene Quarter Rice Cake. These white colours have a tinge of warmth in them which may help with the lack of natural light in the room.
September 2016
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Q. I am repainting the exterior of my house. It’s a rendered finish with a charcoal tile roof. We have had a patio roof added to one area which has a Woodland Grey finish. I want to paint the gutters Woodland Grey to match. I was thinking of using either Resene Arrowtown or Resene Half Stonewall for the walls of the house. Will this colour look OK with the Woodland Grey gutters. I have previously used Resene Arrowtown on a rendered house and don't want to go any lighter than this. A. Either colour would work well. Of the two colours mentioned Resene Arrowtown has a little more brightness because of its yellow ochre undertone. Resene Half Stonewall is slightly more muted (less yellow toned) by comparison. I think it is all about personal preference as to which colour you choose. The Resene version of COLORBONDL® Woodland Grey is called Resene Squall.
September 2016
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Q. We would like some advice regarding the external colours for a new house. Our theme is coastal contemporary (with a touch of Scandi for the internal colour scheme). We have a fab quarry rock retaining wall below two sides of the house so want to draw out some of those colours. The roof will be Grey Friars. A lot of schemes seem to have a light window joinery colour but we are considering Matt Sandstone Grey for our joinery and garage door. Would a colour like Resene Bombay be good for the weatherboards or would something lighter be better to give more contrast? We like the idea of a blue front door such as Resene Resolution Blue. A. I think there may be too many greys with totally different undertones all vying for attention. If the weatherboards had more of a relationship with the type of grey you are considering for the window joinery it may be a slightly better - a more harmonious way to work your exterior colour scheme. You might check these greys out to see if they appeal to you - Resene Archive Grey, Resene Quill Grey, Resene Quarter Friar Greystone or Resene Mountain Mist. The bold blue front door would certainly make a 'wow' statement. If you like the very bright purple undertone of Resene Resolution Blue you might also check out these colours as well – Resene Torea Bay, or a maritime sea blue/green – Resene Billabong.
September 2016
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Q. I am building a new home in New Plymouth. I have a COLORSTEEL® Thunder Grey roof, Karaka gutter and fascia and a Flame Red garage door. Now I have to choose a colour for LINEA® and plaster cladding. What do you recommend for LINEA® and plaster colour? A. The LINEA® cladding can tolerate deeper colours so you might check these ones out - Resene Friar Greystone , Resene Double Napa or Resene Double Ash. The plaster cladding needs to be lighter and these colours might be considered - Resene Thorndon Cream, Resene Quarter Ash, Resene Quarter Foggy Grey or Resene Titania.
September 2016
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Q. I have Karaka coloured tiles on the roof and am having the house plastered over bricks. The window trim is Lichen. Any suggestions of a colour for the plastered house walls please? A. The earthy tones of the roof and window joinery need to be considered - a lot - and with that in mind the following colours might be considered - Resene Double Fossil, Resene Double Thorndon Cream, Resene Sisal, Resene Half Grey Olive, Resene Ash, Resene Greige or Resene Wheatfield.
September 2016
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Q. The house has red aluminium joinery and unpainted plywood cladding with battens. Getting a colour for the ply cladding to suit the red joinery is my concern. A. I suspect that no matter what stain or paint you choose to use on the ply and battens the red of the window joinery would still stand out. Do the windows match the roof? Mid toned colours in greys, greens or browns may look alright with the red joinery. Perhaps check these out - stains - Resene Woodsman Stain – Touch Wood, Tiri or Sheer Black, or for paints try Resene Squall, Resene Windswept or Resene Canyon. I have deliberately not suggested a red colour as having more red is unlikely to make the windows look better or less red. It will just be red overload.
September 2016
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Q. What is the best CoolColour white to use on the exterior of our wooden cottage home with Resene Bokara Grey? A. All whites are naturally CoolColours because they are not dark or blackened. Resene Bokara Grey has a lot of warmth in it and if you want a 'coloured' white that worked well with it you might look at these suggestions to see if they appeal to you - Resene Sea Fog, Resene Black White, Resene Wan White or Resene Half House White. These 'coloured' whites are also available as lighter or deeper variants.
September 2016
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Q. I want to repaint my Hardiplank® house in a modern colour to complement our New Denim Blue roof and windows. Our fascia boards are also painted in New Denim Blue, as is the gutter, and the downpipes are white. I'm thinking along the lines of a light-medium bluey grey? Our house is a transport and around the bottom is painted brown (yuck). Do I paint that the same colour as the house or as the roof? Which looks more modern? A. The following are some light - medium blue toned greys that you might check out to see if they appeal to you – Resene Zumthor, Resene Half Gull Grey, Resene Forecast, Resene Surrender or Resene Half Silver Chalice. The bottom boards around the house might be better painted to match the roof - or a slightly lighter variant - Resene New Denim Blue or Resene Half New Denim Blue.
September 2016
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Q. We've just bought our first home which we are planning to renovate starting from the kitchen. We're taking the wall out to make one big space for the dining/kitchen and lounge. We are trying to come up with a colour palette, starting with painting the kitchen first. We have wooden floors and are planning to get a wood look benchtop with black sink. Our options so far are Resene Merino, Resene Sea Fog or Resene Thorndon Cream. Which one of these would you suggest to hero wood features in the house and also in the future which colours we can use in the lounge and hallways/rooms etc to complement and to tie it all up? A. Perhaps you could look at using Resene Merino as it is not as yellow toned as Resene Thorndon Cream or as grey/white as Resene Sea Fog. It really is all about your personal taste in colour. But if you did use Resene Merino you could look at using these colours (lighter/brighter) Resene Half Merino for smaller or dim rooms, Resene Alabaster for ceilings and woodwork and (deeper) Resene Triple Merino for a very sunny or very large room (whole room or as a feature wall only) as a soft toned green neutral. Accented colours to consider are these ones – Resene Inside Back, Resene Wireless or Resene Pohutukawa. These may not be on the wall as paint - they may be used as drapes, artwork, bedlinen, rugs, upholstered furniture or other smaller accessories.
September 2016
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Q. I want to repaint all my interior joinery a crisp Resene Half Rice Cake. However the ceilings have been painted in either Resene Quarter Spanish White or Resene Eighth Spanish White. Would the joinery colour go with the ceiling colour? I don't really want to repaint the ceilings. A. As long as you don't mind the ceiling being more coloured and not related in a harmonious way to the new colour you are using on the joinery then you could keep the ceiling as it is now. I would make the ceilings and the woodwork match. Yes there will be work involved but it would give you a whole new fresh look.
September 2016
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Q. I want to paint our bathroom. It is a very big and echoes. All four walls are white. I was hoping that painting either one or two walls would help close it in a bit and help it feel warmer. I was thinking of painting the two walls along the door and behind the bath, depending what colour we choose. I thought texture would be a good idea as well. The vanity is dark wood and the tiles are light. A. Painting two walls is a good idea. Warmer or deeper colours will definitely help make the space seem less cavernous and intimate. You mention 'texture' as an idea also but personally I wouldn't in a bathroom as I feel it would make cleaning the wall surface difficult and dampness may create mould on the surface that was hard to eradicate. Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen Kitchen & Bathroom paint would be an appropriate coating to use in this area. You don't mention any colour preferences but warm toned neutrals might be like these colours - Resene Perfect Taupe or Resene Antidote. Not too dark and not too coloured but nice. Or a deep warm colour of your choice - perhaps a soft toned red. Reds have the ability to appear closer (advancing) so that walls look closer to you. Blues or greens make walls seem further away so possibly not what you have in mind for the room.
September 2016
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Q. I am using Resene Delta on the exterior of a house and want to do a yellow trim around the door frame and a nice blue to tone on the door. I have got Resene Wild Thing but it looks a bit bright. Any suggestions? The house is fibrolite with aluminium windows. A. The look you are trying to create sounds rather unique. Resene Wild Thing is an exceptionally bright fluoro colour. All yellows appear much brighter than you could ever imagine they will do. This may be why they are used as logos on commercial buildings as they can be seen from such a great distance. Perhaps look at these slightly lighter yellows - Resene Golden Sand used with Resene Space Cadet, Resene Salomie used with Resene St Tropaz, or Resene Moonbeam used with Resene Guru.
September 2016
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Q. If I stain my pine batten-on-ply with Resene Woodsman Cedar stain, do you recommend I use a deep green COLORSTEEL®Karaka or Lichen or a deep red colour COLORSTEEL® Pioneer for my long-run iron roof? A. If you have a red roof (Pioneer Red) and a reddish stained house it will be a 'big red' statement with no complementary colour as a contrast. I would be more inclined to use a green or earthy charcoal brown on the roof so the cedar stain on the house has a balanced and harmonious co-ordination. These COLORSTEEL® colours are ones that you might look at - apart from Karaka – Thunder Grey, TernStyle, FlaxPod, FernFrond or Ironsand. I am not so keen on Lichen as it will always look lighter and yellower than you might imagine it will.
September 2016
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Q. I have chosen Resene Half Bokara Grey for my cladding. What would work best with Titania joinery for the roof - Sandstone Grey or Thunder Grey... or something else? Also, should the joinery be different? A. Sandstone Grey is a warm earthy neutral colour that picks up the warmth of the Resene Half Bokara Grey so there is a natural harmony in pairing these two colours. Window joinery could match the roof or because there are often other colours available as joinery that don't match roof colours you should check them out first. Sometimes people want the joinery colour to be a lighter colour simply because they don't want it to look discordant when viewed from the interior of the house.
September 2016
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Q. I want a warm white colour suggestion for interior walls. I currently have painted patches of Resene Alabaster, Resene Double Alabaster and Resene Half Sea Fog which I find similar to what is on the wall now, which I find quite a cold colour. A. You might check out warmer whites like these ones to see if they appeal to you - Resene Bianca, Resene Merino, Resene Half Thorndon Cream, Resene Half Albescent White or Resene Chalk Dust.
September 2016
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Q. I want a neutral grey for my interior walls. I had chosen Resene Sea Fog but think I should go a little bolder as our house gets lots of natural light throughout the kitchen/dining/lounge but not so much in the bedrooms. I don't want anything that shows yellow, green, brown and am considering Resene Concrete, Resene Half Concrete or Resene Athens Grey. A. The colours you have mentioned don't show yellow, green or brown. They are cooler silvery or lilac/bluish tones of grey. They are quite different to Resene Sea Fog. Have you checked out Resene House White, Resene Double Black White or Resene Barely There? They are nice too. I suggest you test them carefully to ensure they work in your rooms and with the other coloured elements - flooring, furniture and drapes - that you have. All colours appear deeper in an interior when all four walls are painted - sometimes doubling in depth. Testing the colours carefully by painting all of the testpot (two coats) onto large A2 card (available from Resene ColorShops) will help you see this.
September 2016
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Q. I am at a loss regarding colour. When we moved in everything was a variation of brown: carpets and doors were dark brown, the carpet a medium brown (appears similar to Resene Smooth Cream) and the walls a light brown. Suffice to say, too much brown for me! We are not planning to change the carpet any time soon, but have bought a citron couch (colour slightly more yellow and lighter than Resene Neva) and rug similar to Resene Half Bianca. I will probably choose soft furnishings in the future based on the overall look once the walls are painted (but possibly small accents in colours similar to either Resene Vroom and/or Resene Candy Floss). I would like a light colour for the walls but not a pure white, more like an off-white. I wonder if Resene Black White, Resene Sea Fog or something similar would fit. I would also like the ceilings white so need enough contrast there. I know there shouldn't be too many colours but need something that will blend in, in a way. The curtains will also be light in future. Other furniture will have a clean look, with a Scandinavian type influence probably. The overall look is to be fairly contemporary. The sitting room is open with the dining area and kitchen. The back of the sitting room (with the mirror) can be darker with the dining room/kitchen lighter in the afternoon. The same wall colour will go through the hallway too and probably bedrooms. A. I am inclined to agree with you in regard whiter types of colours. They certainly would allow you to exploit a Scandinavian type of influence with some 'pops' of colour. These are a few for you to check out - Resene Rice Cake used with Resene Eighth Rice Cake, Resene Half Merino used with Resene Quarter Alabaster or Resene Sea Fog used with Resene Quarter Black White. September 2016
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Q. We have a 1980s Hardiplank® house that we are looking to repaint and reroof. The house gets a lot of sun and has brown aluminium window frames. We are looking at painting the roof either Resene Grey Friars or Resene Sandstone. What colours will complement this for the exterior of the house? Do you also have any recommendations for staining the deck? A. In order to work with the existing brown aluminium window frames I would be inclined to favour these colours for the roof - Resene Ironsand, Resene Windswept or Resene Touchstone. If you prefer not to harmonise with the window joinery then the Resene Grey Friars or Resene Gauntlet would work but the windows would stand out more as a definite brown. House colours that might appeal are these ones - Resene Tea, Resene Eighth Arrowtown, Resene Quarter Cougar or Resene Quarter Taupe Grey. Deck stain colours might be one of these – Resene Woodsman Equilibrium, Resene Woodsman Smokey Ash or Resene Woodsman Limed Gum. September 2016
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Q. Now that our kids have left home, we are recarpeting our 10 year old home and looking at Steel Canyon in the Calhoun range, which is quite dark. We will keep the Resene Alabaster trims and ceilings throughout but would like to repaint the walls that are currently Resene Half Spanish White in the living areas and the children’s bedrooms have a steel blue and lavender colour. We would love suggestions to match the carpet - a neutral for living areas and maybe a nice warm contrast for guest bedrooms. A. I think you may have to check out a few colours to come up with the exact right ones to suit your house. These are a few to start with – Resene Quarter Tea, Resene White Pointer, Resene Quarter Bison Hide, Resene Half Cloud or Resene Truffle. Some of these colours come as lighter or deeper variants which might be considered also. Contrast colours might feature as drapes or bed linen in the guest bedrooms - it is sometimes not the walls that get all the attention.
September 2016
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Q. My house in Queenstown is being renovated. I would like some advice on exterior colours that are hot down there at the moment. The exterior is half stucco and half Hardiplank®. A. The following colours (greys and taupe) might appeal to you; however because I don't know what colour the roof and joinery are they may or may not work, but they are a start point for you to consider - Resene Half Stack, Resene Silver Chalice, Resene Atmosphere, Resene Triple White Pointer, Resene Double Truffle or Resene Half Mountain Mist.
September 2016
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Q. We have a 1920 weatherboard house. We are re-roofing in COLORSTEEL® New Denim Blue. I want to paint the exterior weatherboards a medium grey that suits the blue undertone of the new roof. We have a strong white fence surrounding the house and intend to do the window frames and bargeboards in white. Can you suggest some options for the weatherboards? I also would like to paint the front door in a feature colour. A. You may need to test several greys. These ones have subtle elements of blue in them that may appeal to you – Resene Geyser, Resene Iron, Resene Quarter Regent Grey, Resene Half Dusted Blue or Resene Duck Egg Blue. Blues and greys look lovely with orange based reds or orange based yellow tans so these might be worth checking out for the front door – Resene Countdown or Resene Pendragon, or a surprise dark colour - Resene Indian Ink.
September 2016
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Q. We have a 1970s home and are looking to repaint the interior. We have a lot of natural timber with timber floors in the hall/bath/kitchen areas and the door surrounds etc as well which we would like to keep. The carpets in the bedrooms/lounge were replaced with a nice neutral grey carpet. We have made the guess that the current hall colour is Resene Truffle. We would like to choose a colour from the Whites and Neutrals range but really don’t know where to start! I have tried a couple of testpots but feel a warmer off white is needed to bring light and warmth/depth to the home and also work with the carpet. I'm afraid choosing a colour like Resene Merino would look too yellow against the wood and too brown/mushroom against the grey carpet! A. If the woodwork in the house is a beautiful warm yellow tan and the carpet is a warm grey then colours will look quite different when placed near either the carpet or the wooden floors. You say you don't want a colour that is too yellow but I do think you need to test colour as it often alters itself like a chameleon. Colours are so changeable it doesn't pay to make a judgment about them until you see how they change (and change again) when tested and seen in different lights - natural daylight in all its aspects and artificial light at night. You need to compare them with each other. When viewed in isolation you only know about 25% of the potential of the colour. When it is seen close to other colours it makes your judgment of it change. Other colours to test are these ones - Resene Eighth Bison Hide, Resene Double Sea Fog, Resene Double Merino or Resene Barely There.
September 2016
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Q. Our villa is quite dark on the South side and currently painted in something a lot like Resene Triple Sea Fog. The sunny rooms look ok but I want to repaint the darker rooms in something a bit brighter and fresher. The trims will all be Resene Alabaster. I am tossing up between Resene Quarter Merino and Resene Half Sea Fog. Resene Half Sea Fog would obviously tone in with the rooms we are not repainting and with the Resene Alabaster but I am wondering if it might still look a bit gloomy in our South side bedroom? If I go with Resene Quarter Merino, is there a chance it could throw a bit of green or cream and clash with the Resene Alabaster and white picture frames? Will it be a little warmer than the Resene Half Sea Fog? I have already discounted Resene Black White as I think it would look a little cold. I just want an easy fresh white that looks ever so slightly warm without clashing with white furnishings. A. South facing rooms often have a dim, grey or sour natural light. It is really important to test very carefully any colours for these rooms. Resene Quarter Merino may be a little too pale to work alongside Resene Alabaster. There is very little difference in overall weight of colour between them (check the first two numbers of their colour codes) so the ceiling and trims may not look as clean and crisp as you would like them to. Resene Alabaster and white (furnishings) will work with any colour - it is very versatile - but you do need to see it 'different' to the wall colour otherwise you may as well paint it all the same colour. Perhaps test Resene Half Merino to see if it is warmer and looks different (but harmonious) enough compared to the Resene Alabaster. As an alternative you could test Resene Black Haze but it may 'grey up' so proceed carefully.
September 2016
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Q. We have recently rendered our 1980s brick house which has a red tiled roof and bronze aluminium windows. I am having trouble picking exterior colours. A. You may need to look at neutral colours that relate harmoniously to the window joinery. If you go to a very light colour the windows may appear more dominant. Is this what you want? Sometimes there may need to be a level of compromise involved in decisions that you make. You could check out these colours to see if they appeal to you - and work with the joinery and the roof - Resene Double White Pointer, Resene Half Tea, Resene Half Cougar, Resene Quarter Friar Greystone , Resene Quarter Akaroa or Resene Double Thorndon Cream.
September 2016
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Q. I am building a new home. It’s traditional in style with a corrugated roof in Grey Friars and the aluminium in Appliance White. There will be window sills and definition around the joinery also to be painted in the white. The cladding is LINEA® so I am looking for a punchy grey but not as dark as the roof. I am planning on the front door and garage door being in the white to break things up. I quite like Resene Gunsmoke or Resene Stack. A. Resene Stack is a possibility. Other options worth considering are perhaps more aligned to the roof colour - Grey Friars. Try Resene Quarter Grey Friars, Resene Half Tuna, Resene Revolution, Resene Half Raven or Resene Quarter Baltic Sea.
September 2016
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Q. I am considering the following combination for our exterior paint job: Stucco on house and front retaining wall in Resene Silver Chalice (not sure yet which strength - full, half etc); windows, doors, eaves, spouting, balcony in Resene Black White; garage door, door sills, top of retaining wall, paving steps, front door in Resene Shark and decking in Resene Double Stack. We are getting French doors put in downstairs, new decking and a black powdered metal gate (the kind with lots of gaps) blocking off the deck from the driveway. I know this colour scheme is awesome on character weatherboard homes, but just wondering how you think it will look on a 1970 stucco home. Will it look silly/out of place? Our roof is light silver and we won't be changing it at this stage. Our house is an eyesore so hoping to modernise it and give it a fresh look. A. I think the colours would look very smart and contemporary. I do have one concern - if the black powder coated gate is COLORSTEEL® Ebony it may look a harder true black compared to the Resene Shark which is a softer black - would this worry you at all? I do recommend that you use the CoolColour™ reformulated version of Resene Shark to minimise the extreme heat that is attracted to very deep colours. If the garage door is exposed you might consider doing it the same mid grey as the decking - Resene Double Stack. It would be lighter with less heat jeopardising the surface of the door. Also it might balance the deck colour on the other side of the house. Are the French doors going to be wooden ones painted to match the other window joinery? This is a traditional way to paint French doors rather than making them a definite colour. Please test the greys carefully to make sure they don’t make the main house stucco look like unpainted concrete. For an alternate colour idea - a crisp white/grey colour for the stucco (if you decided to go that way) might be Resene Double Black White used with Resene Eighth Black White for all the trims/windows etc.
September 2016
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Q. I've painted all of the interior of my apartment Resene Eighth Akaroa and I'm looking for a neutral colour to paint my kitchen cabinets. I would like a light tone and have considered Resene Rice Cake. Do you have any suggestions about what a great option would be? A. If you wanted a light colour for the cabinets in the kitchen that softly merged with the main wall colour (rather than stand out as a whiter/crisper colour) then Resene Rice Cake would work well. However if you wanted to see more clean contrast then using a lighter variant of Resene Rice Cake - i.e. Resene Half Rice Cake or even Resene Quarter Rice Cake might be a little better. My main worry with the full strength Resene Rice Cake is that the underlying yellow/green edge to the colour might make the wall colour look a warmer peachy/beige by comparison.
September 2016
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Q. We have just bought a sunny 50s bungalow. We want to repaint the interior in a grey/grey toned white. I'm just concerned that it might make it feel a bit cold and maybe we need a warmer wall colour for the bedrooms. We also haven't decided if we'll sand the floors or put down carpet so the colour needs to be flexible. Curtains will change too. I've been looking at colours like Resene Sea Fog, Resene Alabaster, Resene Rakaia, Resene Quarter Stack and Resene Zumthor. Any suggestions for walls and ceiling/windows/skirting would be great. Also whether we should keep consistency throughout the house or make each room different? A. Perhaps you could use Resene Sea Fog and slightly deeper versions - i.e. Resene Double Sea Fog and Resene Triple Sea Fog These are warm rather than blue/silver so they are a bit more obliging in the ambiance they create. Crisper whites like Resene Half Alabaster and Resene Quarter Black White look really good with the Resene Sea Fog palette of colour.
September 2016
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Q. I've placed a primer on my hot pink feature wall but I don't know what colour I'd like to paint it. My other three walls are a deep grey and I'd like to leave them. My furniture is white and my room accessories are aqua/blue. My carpet is dark grey and I have wooden blinds. Could you please tell me what colour would suit best? I like neutral tones so I don't want greens, blue and or any type of bold colours. I’d like to stick to white, greys or browns. I would also like the feature wall to still be light. A. You may need to test several colours before you find the right one. The grey you have on the other walls may control - quite a lot - what looks good with it. Perhaps you could use a 'white' so that it reverses what you have - the normal thing is to have the feature wall deeper, other walls lighter/whiter. You could try Resene Eighth Pearl Lusta, Resene Black White or Resene Half Wan White.
September 2016
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Q. If my room colour is Resene Thorndon Cream should my wardrobe doors match my wall or my door colour (probably a lighter shade of Resene Thorndon Cream)? A. I think lighter than the walls, the same as your other doors. It is a personal choice however - you may like a deeper colour on the wardrobes.
September 2016
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Q. I am thinking about painting my walls Resene Thorndon Cream. I would like my ceiling, cove and doors to also be in the Resene Thorndon Cream family. I would like the cove to stand out. What strength Resene Thorndon Cream should I use for these e.g. 1/2, 1/4, 1/8? A. To really stand out I suggest you use Resene Eighth Thorndon Cream. If you aren't keen on using a crisp white colour then perhaps you might consider Resene Quarter Thorndon Cream for a softer transition between walls and 'other' elements.
September 2016
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Q. We have a room downstairs that is dark with no windows and I want to paint this white. From what I have been reading we will need a warm white. What colour would you suggest? A. You might check out these warmer whites to see if they appeal to you and look good in the room - Resene Quarter Albescent White, Resene Half Bianca or Resene Half Soapstone
September 2016
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Q. We have an old villa. We are painting the weatherboards in Resene Athens Grey semi-gloss, and want to paint the windows, corners and bargeboards a crisp white to give a very definite contrast. Which white do you recommend? A. I think one of these whites may be what you are looking for - Resene Quarter Black White or Resene White.
September 2016
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Q. We are building a new house. We have decided on the roof colour as Ironsand. What colour window joinery will go with dark brown or grey bricks as cladding. Silver or white? Also will Arctic Grey look good on the walls inside? A. I think silver joinery (perhaps Silver Pearl) may be a modern colour for the window joinery. If you used Arctic Grey in the interior it may look quite cool and slightly blueish. September 2016
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Q. We have a two storey home by the water. The roof is FlaxPod COLORSTEEL®. We need to choose a colour for the aluminium window frames and for the walls (wooden). It is a 30 year old house that we are doing up. A. There is a limited range of powder coat colours for aluminium windows. Perhaps you might look at these colours to see if they appeal to you - Appliance White windows with Resene Quarter Foggy Grey, Titania windows with Resene Triple Sea Fog or silver pearl windows with Resene Truffle.
September 2016
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