White Render - what colour windows?

[handbagsandholidays]

Our house is a 1930’s art deco house. After much deliberation we’ve nailed the floor plan but now struggling with finalising the exterior. The property is known as the White House so I suspect the white render will have to stay to satisfy the planning authorities. It currently has a green roof and green crittal windows although they look like they’ve faded to a light grey over time as they’ve never been replaced. We are looking to change the roof colour and also the windows to modernise it. Please can you help with suggestions? If you have white render- please share photos of your windows if you can 😊 Thank you.

We've recently had our house rendered and painted white. We kept the existing white windows.

I like the way your tile breaks this up. We have plain white all over at the moment so I’m unsure what all white will look like for us.

I’d max out the art deco. Of course update, I would t “modernise” that will change the whole vibe. Unless I have misunderstood your use or the word.

research art deco and take inspiration from that

Sounds like your house is quite a landmark. If it's been green and white since it was built 90 years ago, why on earth would you change that for something much less distinctive?

Yes, it sounds beautiful!

I would go for that lovely verdigris 30s green which sounds like it might be what is there already?

You say change the roof colour.

Do you mean paint the tiles? Or a new roof?

Wow, I didn’t think real people lived in houses like this. It’s gorgeous!

Yes sorry I should have said update rather than modernise as such. The interior needs modernising for sure! We want to keep the crittal (or alternative crittal style) windows, keep the general shape of the building and so have included curves in the extension design to keep with the art deco theme. We’ve avoided adding a dormer to try and keep the house true to the art deco style too.

@SidebendThank you! It is very distinctive but thankfully not listed so whilst we want to preserve the style, we have a degree of flexibility. The roof tiles are very difficult and eye watering expensive to source so we are looking to change the roof for something a little more accessible. @PigletJohn As the extension will also have a roof, the easiest option is to change both so that they match. The roof is a true green whereas the windows which are likely to have been green once upon a time, have now faded to become grey with a hint of sage. I think @Geneticsbunnywas right in that the roof is a verdigris green but the windows no longer are which makes it look very mismatched.

@whatsnewpussycat34Thank you. It is a lovely home - although we are yet to live in it 😬 We purchased it 3 years ago and it felt too overwhelming to start the renovation so we continued to live in our 2 bedroom flat as a family of 4 and pretty much buried our heads in the sand! 😅 We have finally made progress with the plans and seem to have the motivation to get on with it now so 🤞🏽 we may be living there by Christmas 2026!

I like the green. I’d try to replicate that.

I hope you are sticking with similar green tiles for the roof? They are such a beautiful feature of those houses and it would be such a shame to stick red/orange/grey tiles on instead.

Please Keep the roof and repair only as and when.

I didn't understand the answer about the tiles. Do you mean paint them, or new ones in a different colour?

Sorry I meant new ones in a different colour. Trying to get the green ones for the new roof is proving to be very difficult hence looking for an alternative colour/style. 😓

Eye wateringly expensive too!

I quite like this colour , depending on roof colour

I would go for the traditional green colour, for sure. Anything but battleship grey!

I love the existing colours and would go for something similar

I was thinking about roof colour just now.

I have seen a number of houses in 1930's white, styled after Le Corbusier, and it struck me that I can't picture the roofs at all, just the white shading walls, big suntrap windows and curves. I just looked some up, and they all seem to have flat or concealed roofs. I wonder if there's a colour of tile that's considered authentic? I've only known one house that had a green tiled roof, and it was considered very striking. Mediterranean roofs seem to be a light terracotta as the clay is different.

BTW, try to avoid modern concrete tiles, which are heavier so may not suit the roof timbers, and to my mind have a shorter life.

I am imagining something like this?

I think a traditional tile in a dark colour would work well.
Does this webpage, with many photos, about Art Deco in Harpenden help?
They even have a picture of a green roof, which they say isn't original. Is yours original? Are there any old photos?

This is the sort of colour I had initially thought too… I’m unsure why the architect is so against it!

I love that third picture with the standard bay trees in Versailles planters. I think having some greenery up against the house makes such a difference.

I've never employed an architect but, from hearing stories on MN, it seems that sometimes they don't make the best suggestions - they get caught up in their design world and forget about boring things like cost and practicality.

I think grey will look dated very quickly.