Two Newtown Exteriors: A Weatherboard Cottage in Charcoal and a Terrace in Full Colour

AKD Painting repainted two very different exteriors in Newtown: a weatherboard cottage finished in charcoal with deep red trims and a white picket fence, and a rendered terrace where the owners wanted colour, in turquoise with pink joinery at the front and pink with green at the back. Both are on tight Newtown blocks with shared walls and no room for a scaffold truck, which shapes how the work is done.

Project snapshot

Location: Newtown NSW 2042, Inner West Sydney
Homes: a single-storey weatherboard cottage with gable and verandah; a two-storey rendered terrace with rear bay window
Scope: weatherboards, gables, barge boards, fascias, verandah posts and picket fence on the cottage; front and rear walls, sash windows, fence and bay window joinery on the terrace
Access: ladders, the verandah roof and hand tools; no scaffold on either job
Warranty: 5-year written workmanship warranty

The cottage: charcoal boards, red trims, white pickets

Weatherboard cottages are rarer in Newtown than terraces, and the timber takes more looking after than render. The boards were washed, scraped and sanded back where the old coating had let go, bare timber was primed, and gaps at the board ends were sealed before two coats of charcoal went on. The barge boards, fascia and gutter line were done in a deep heritage red, the verandah posts and picket fence in white, all cut in by hand so the three colours meet cleanly. On a house of this age the early coats on the joinery are treated as lead-based, as set out in our guide to lead paint in older Inner West homes.

Two AKD painters repainting the picket fence and verandah post of a charcoal weatherboard cottage in Newtown — **In progress:** fence and verandah posts going white against the charcoal boards

Finished weatherboard cottage in Newtown painted charcoal with heritage red trims and a white picket fence — **Finished:** charcoal boards, heritage red trims, white pickets

AKD painter on the verandah roof painting the red barge board of a weatherboard cottage gable in Newtown — **In progress:** the gable and barge boards, reached from the verandah roof

The terrace: colour, done properly

Bold colour is unforgiving. Every ripple in the render and every wobble in a cut line shows, so the preparation on the terrace was the same as it would be for white, only more so: render cracks filled and sanded flat, a full prime, and two even coats of the wall colour before the joinery was picked out. The sash windows and front fence were finished in pink against the turquoise wall, and at the back the scheme flips to a pink wall with the bay window and awning frame in green. In a conservation area the street face is worth checking against council guidance before colour goes on, and we raise that at quote stage.

Rendered terrace in Newtown painted turquoise with pink fence and joinery, seen from the street — The terrace from the street: turquoise walls, pink fence and joinery

Pink painted sash windows against a turquoise rendered wall on a Newtown terrace — Sash windows picked out in pink

Rear of a Newtown terrace painted pink with a green bay window and awning frame — The rear: pink wall, bay window and awning frame in green

Painting on a Newtown block

Neither house has side access, and both share at least one wall with a neighbour. The cottage gable was reached from the verandah roof with the iron protected under boards, the fronts were done from step ladders on the footpath side of the fence, and the neighbours on both jobs were told which days the boundary faces were being painted. That is ordinary for our painters in Newtown, and the same approach carries across to Enmore, Erskineville and Stanmore. For the wider picture see our guides to painting a Federation terrace and heritage and Federation house painting, or our exterior painting page.

Questions about exterior repaints in Newtown

Do you need scaffold to repaint a terrace or cottage in Newtown?

Often not. Single-storey cottages and many terrace fronts can be painted from ladders and the verandah roof. Two-storey parapets, rear walls over a lane or anything over a neighbour's roof usually need a hand-built scaffold, and we say which in the written quote.

Can I use bold colours on a house in a Newtown conservation area?

It depends on the street and the building. Council guidance is strictest on the face seen from the street and on the King Street and Enmore Road strip. We check the relevant guidance before colour is signed off.

How do you deal with lead paint on old weatherboards and joinery?

Homes built before 1970 are treated as having lead-based paint in the early coats. Preparation is done wet or with extraction, with containment and clean-up to match, and no dry sanding or burning off.

What warranty comes with an exterior repaint?

Every AKD exterior carries our 5-year written workmanship warranty.

More AKD projects: the Annandale renovation interior, the Newtown cottage and terrace exteriors, the Canada Bay strata exterior, the pressed metal ceiling restoration, the timber deck restoration, the commercial exterior repaint, protective coatings at IKEA Rhodes and the before and after portfolio.

Repainting in Newtown?

AKD inspects the house, quotes the preparation and the paint system in writing, and backs the work with a 5-year workmanship warranty.

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