So, you’ll probably notice I haven’t posted many images of our homes exterior, because, until recently, it was the part we left until the end (along with our kitchen garden which you can see here). Even small things like painting our avocado green eaves and brown gutters became a non-priority – as much as I disdained them!
I’m working on a full ‘Before and After’ post for next month, but before I do I thought I’d share a few snippets of our exterior, especially because we finally installed our new exterior barn lights!
I reached out to Barn Light Australia when I was looking for some new exterior wall lights, as the previous ones we had installed (that we brought back from Home Depot in the US after a trip to Hawaii) were a bit too cheap for my liking. They were really cute, but they just didn’t quite look right with our house and the quality just wasn’t there either. So, I needed to find something else that would contrast against the house a bit more, that were also a higher quality fitting.
I’ve loved Barn Light Australia’s lights for years and often recommended them to clients or friends, but had never used them myself before.
I chose the Austin Wall Sconce, as it was a clean and simple looking fitting, but also very much that farmhouse / barn style look we were going for.
I also love the fact that they can be custom powder coated in so many different colours. We went for white as we wanted the lights to really pop against our dark, bagged brick exterior (more on that in the Before & After post next month!), but also to tie in with all our white trim.
These lights are such nice quality and the perfect size as well. Once installed we really couldn’t quite believe the difference they made and how much better the house looked!
Barn Light Australia were also so fantastic to deal with too. Top customer service, very friendly and efficient, which I really appreciate as I often have a million things on the go between work, our home renovation and juggling motherhood and family demands!
To view more of their beautiful products, you can visit their website here. Feel free to ask any questions about our lighting too!
N xo
I love your plants! Can you tell me what the flowers are and those trees??
This is gorgeous! May I ask what brand and color on the exterior? I am in love!
Thanks Kristy. It’s a colour called Unison by paint brand Aalto but they are only in New Zealand and difficult to find, however an almost identical colour (that I actually think is nicer) is Resene ‘Rice Cake’ and we’ve used this on our new home. Might just be my favourite new white! Hope that helps 🙂
I would love to know what colour you have painted the exterior
Hi Sarah, it was actually a paint tint that was added to an acrylic render which was the colour of cement, so it turned out nothing like the paint we chose! Sorry I realise that’s probably not terribly helpful 🙂
Hi Nicki, your home is gorgeous. I love the colour scheme. You mentioned in comments above that you have since re- painted. I’m curious which colour & brand you have gone with. Would also love to see some photo’s. I am building and desperate to find some inspiration. Thanks, Jennifer
Hi Jennifer, thanks for the lovely comments. We sold this home a few years ago now, but you can see updates on the exterior as we did board and batten over the brick, in more recent posts. Just type in “my favourite paint brand” and another a collaboration with Pottery Barn for our outdoor area. That should give you some more information so hope it helps! Nicki 😊
Hello Nicky. I would like to know the name of the plants in the square pots
I loved the updates but I see you have hydrangeas in pots but what would help my outdated porch trellis Collums flowers greenery please help
Hi, I found your site via Pinterest searching for white hydrangeas in pots and I am so glad! Your style and photography are stunning. Would you be so kind as to share the type of hydrangea you are growing? They look absolutely lovely and I have envisioned that exact look on my verandah! Thank you
Absolutely adore your home and styling! Thanks for sharing Nicki and those barn lights are of course just another one of your gorgeous touches! xo
Hi Louise! Thank you so much for your truly lovely comment! That means so much and so thrilled that you love the barn lights as well! They’re one of my favourite things we’ve installed in our whole renovation!
I am so interested to learn about the color and texture you used on your exterior brick! Please update soon!
Hi Erin, this has actually been an ongoing drama this exterior render! Bascially it’s a Dulux acrylic render which we had a paint tint added to and the colour is nothing like the paint colour but we ran out of render and have not been able to colour match it again! It’s been so frustrating, to be honest, so I don’t think I’d use this product again in a hurry. We have actually now completely changed out exterior as we were unable to touch up areas and finish it off properly! Hope that helps :\ Nicki
I absolutely love the exterior also its such a nice colour can i ask what the colour is, or would be close to? And would love to see what it looks like outside now!!!
Your hosue looks gorGeous! We have a terrible brown brick house and wondering what to do with and it when yours came up on pinterest.. are you able to tell us what you dod pretty please? Love the colour, texture and everything!
Hi Lauren, do you take your own photograpHs? So much air aNd natural light, they (and youR home) are gorgeous! Any tips for home photography?
Hi Joss, sorry I missed this comment! Thank you so much. I definitely do take all my own photographs and really appreciate those very kind comments! Any tips? Yes, practice practice practice! It helps to have an eye for photography but this is totally something that can be learned so online courses or reading about photography will be really helpful. No need to rush out and buy fancy cameras either, as new iphone models are pretty darn good. Nicki xo
Hi nicki,
i wanted to reach out about the coloring of your home? my husband and I just purchased a split level home and I am thinking this color on the siding would be perfect with a darker multi brownish colored brick with white trim. would love your advise and expertise.
xo lauren
Hi Lauren, sorry for the delay in replying. The colour of our home is actually a tint added to an acrylic render, so I can’t give you a specific paint colour unfortunately. We have since needED more of it to do a few touch ups and had a lot of trouble colour matching it due to the nature of the product. I can give you our colour but it’s completely different to the paint colour as the render is grey so it makes the colour a lot darker and changes the actual colour. I’d go to your local paint store and ask one of the coNsultants for some selections, then do test patches, as that is REALLy the best way to determine if it will work with your home and the surroundings. Cheers, Nicki xo
Your barn lights Are gorgeous, but what really caught my eye in the first photo was the beautiful dutch door. Could you share the details of where you got it?
Hi Kelly, thank you so much! We love our dutch door although unfortunately we had this custom made locally, so it wasn’t a factory bought door. Sorry! Nicki 🙂
I wondered if it was custom made, it looks too good to be store bought! Thanks For getting back to me