Help with render colour please!

[Lou0607]

We are just about to have our late 1920s not especially beautiful house insulated and the grotty pebbledash will be replaced with render. We are keeping the bricks on the lower half of the front elevation and the white sash windows will remain. I'm thinking not white as the windows will be slightly lost and nothing too creamy. As the bricks are red, I'm not sure about light grey will work? Can anyone help with any suggestions please?

We also need to replace the front door and surround. I don't think I want to go black but am not sure about colour or style. Any ideas welcome! Thank you

Hmm well I would have said white or a nice off white!

There are some similar houses on my road with a white render against red brick which look great. Could always paint the windows a different colour if you’re worried about them getting lost.

or failing that… sage green?

Pebble-dash colour (ie dark beige) as closely matching the other half of the semi pair as possible. Unless there are already lots of mismatched semi pairs on the road. In which case white or a neutral.

I quite like it as it is lol.

What about a very pale green for the render and navy for the front door.

I'm with @tumbleweed101.

Once you paint that render you will have created a job for life, I had a 1930's house with pebble dash and if you brushed it firmly, the 'pebbles' came off, perhaps they spray it these days, I don't know. Pebble dash can 'breathe' I think, if they render it will that 'breathe' too?

I would leave it alone...

I would also leave it. Grey would be the last choice on my list.

I'd have cream of if I had to have any but I'd definitely just leave it.

Not grey! It would look so cold.

I’d go cream too.

I would also leave it.
Render will need painting every few years otherwise it looks shabby.
You will definitely be creating a job for yourself.

I liked looking at the Monocouche site when we were choosing ours. It shows lots of different styles of house in each colour. Even if that's not the system you go for it's a good reference point.
Personally I would avoid light grey when you have a red/brown roof, I think you need a warmer tone - an off white or light beige looks much better. In these examples the light greys are almost all paired with dark grey roof tiles.

https://monocouche.co.uk/colours-finishes?gadsource=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrsLpgpCgiQMVxJNQBh00xyMBEAAYASABEgL-FPDD_BwE

Depends on the render. Some are through colour renders that never need painting, but may occasionally need a treatment applying to prevent mould and algae growing. Depends what direction the building faces, location etc

Grey will look like concrete, I wouldn't choose that.
I do like it the way it is. A fungicide, a good wash, done.

When you change the door - choose the frame and the door to be of the same colour (not plasticky bright white though). I really don't think it's aesthetically pleasing for them to be in different colours. Unified colour also makes the whole doorway appear more grand, which must be a good thing!

Are you aware you probably need planning permission for this

It looks nice. It's the original finish and matches neighbours. I'd save money and get a new front door matching other original doors on the street.

Thanks all for your input. Keeping as is isn’t really an option. The house is VERY cold and no amount of ventilation in the bathroom is keeping the mould at bay. The walls are just so cold. In the winter, the heating has to stay on for such a long time to heat the house and then no sooner has it gone off, all the heat is lost through the walls - we tried upgrading the boiler/rads but that hasn’t done enough. We investigated internal insulation but it just wasn’t practical so we’ve had to go for external wall insulation. We’re trying to do our bit for the planet too.
The road our house is on has lots of different styles of house and the properties either side of our pair of semis both have painted render on the top half of the house so it won’t look too out of keeping hopefully.
We’ll aim for a similar off white / cream as they have.
As we don’t live in a conservation area or have a listed property, we don’t need planning permission as it’s permitted development so all good from that point of view.
We know the house will look different and it won’t be to everyone’s taste and that’s ok, we’re not really doing it for aesthetic reasons.
We’ll have a think about the door once the walls are done to see what we think would work.
Thanks again for all your help.

Hi you do need planning actually and probably building regs it doesn't matter if in conservation area or listed it's do with changing 25% plus of a wall to different finish www.uk.weber/blog/tips-tricks/planning-permission-required-render-my-house

Bricks and houses need to breathe. External insulation? Not a great idea. I’d use pre coloured white render. Not grey or green. The picture posted earlier looks classy.

I agree with some previous posters be very, very careful about what render you have. If it's 1920s is it cavity wall or single skinned? If the latter then you need the right kind of render otherwise you will have damp issues and a very expensive problem.

Yes, my brother had objections to his change of render colour from cream to white. One of them said that it would 'look like a brothel'. Which was perplexing.

It definitely wasn't a conversation area.

A house near us has gone for pistachio green and it looks amazing

We had ours what the neighbours described as porridge colour!!! It was a cool toned light beige colour! Was lovely!

Beautiful home, op

These houses are invariably cavity ground floor, then some corbeling to close the cavity, then single skin 9” upstairs. Hence it cannot retain heat.
Personally I think interior insulation is the way to go, but appreciate it’s a pita to install. Also the exterior rendering does not last forever and at @ 100 years old now, is most likely due to be replaced anyway.
Exterior insulation will not be breathable, and it won’t cause any issues as it’s 100% waterproof, and warm. The OP just needs to ventilate adequately, like on any house.
I’m interested in how they edge the insulation under the soffits, on the gable, and above the corbels, so a new thread/photos when you start @Lou0607 would be appreciated.
Colour? Cream.

So this is how the house looks now that the work to install the insulation has been completed. We went for a very soft off white that wasn’t too creamy but equally not grey. It won’t be to everyone’s taste but my goodness, it has made such a difference to our home. Previous winters have been horrible and the house has been so cold and damp. Now we hardly need to run the heating and when we do, the house retains the heat really well. Next stop is the front door. Any thoughts on a colour that would work well? I’d really like to move away from black and have something more colourful.

Wow that's gorgeous! Total transformation!
Warm claret/deep red for the door? I always like a red door - such a welcoming statement