Dulux's popular Surfmist scheme: a soft Hamptons grey under the coolest common roof (0.33). Better Homes and Gardens shows the same wall and trim pair.
Australia · Exteriors · COLORBOND steel
Roofs and schemes
Most Australian houses are coloured from the roof down. Every COLORBOND colour with its solar absorptance (lower runs cooler), then the wall and trim schemes the brands and magazines build around them. Each brand's paint match for a roof colour is filed with that colour.
NCC 2022 Housing Provisions 13.2.3(10): on the elemental path, roof solar absorptance is capped at 0.64 in climate zones 1 to 5. Darker roofs need another way to comply.
Dover WhiteSA 0.28Surfmist MattSA 0.35SurfmistSA 0.33Classic CreamSA 0.33SoutherlySA 0.4Shale Grey MattSA 0.46Evening HazeSA 0.43PaperbarkSA 0.43Shale GreySA 0.44Dune MattSA 0.48DuneSA 0.48Bluegum MattSA 0.59BluegumSA 0.57WindspraySA 0.6Pale EucalyptSA 0.6GullySA 0.64WallabySA 0.64BasaltSA 0.67over 0.64JasperSA 0.67over 0.64Basalt MattSA 0.71over 0.64Woodland GreySA 0.7over 0.64Cottage GreenSA 0.73over 0.64IronstoneSA 0.73over 0.64Deep OceanSA 0.74over 0.64Manor RedSA 0.7over 0.64MonumentSA 0.73over 0.64Monument MattSA 0.79over 0.64Night SkySA 0.95over 0.64
Fencing only
COLORBOND colours made for fencing, not in the roof and wall range.
Schemes that work
Dulux's Coastal scheme, with a Green Turquoise door. Colour consultant Samantha Bacon also uses Lexicon Half as the trim white with a Surfmist roof.
Light roof, dark cladding: House Eadie by Tribe Studio (2012) put Dulux Monument at 75 percent on Axon cladding under a Surfmist roof. Keeps the dark look without a dark roof.
Clayfield House by Richards and Spence, Brisbane (2012): Surfmist Trimdek roof over Woodland Grey steel wall cladding and timber.
Bondi House by Fearns Studio (2013): Surfmist roof, brick painted Whisper White, timber and feature sheeting in Monument.
Surfside House by Andrew Burges Architects (2021): Shale Grey Custom Orb roof over brick painted Natural White. Shale Grey is 0.44, well under the roof limit.
Dulux's Earthy Oasis scheme, with Feather Soft as the trim and accent.
Dulux's Timeless scheme, and the three colours a Melbourne painter lists as Australia's favourite exterior set. Monument is 0.73, over the 0.64 roof limit for Queensland zones, so it needs a NatHERS assessment or the dark moved to gutters and cladding.
dulux.com.au dulux.com.au 2 newlinepainting.com.au colorbond.com ncc.abcb.gov.au
Dulux's Modern Traditional scheme: charcoal roof, crisp white walls, black accents. Same roof caveat as above.
All-steel version: Samantha Bacon pairs a Monument roof with Surfmist or Dover White for Hamptons and Shale Grey for contemporary; BlueScope shows Monument with Surfmist and Southerly.
Samantha Bacon's Hamptons pairing, with white trims; she says Basalt is popular in Sydney and Melbourne and to some degree in South East Queensland. Basalt is 0.67, just over the roof limit.