Banya, Sunshine Coast
Choosing colour for a brand-new Banya house.
You're picking colours for rooms you've stood in twice. On lots this size, that decision matters more than it would elsewhere.
- Since 1985
- /Family-run, locally owned
- /Fully insured
- /Dulux + Taubmans accredited
- /Lead & asbestos qualified
Local context
What this work looks like in Banya.
Banya holds Aura's newest releases, including the Acacia and Rivus precincts along the Aura Brook. Almost everyone we paint for here is making colour decisions about a house they haven't lived in yet, usually off a floor plan and a couple of site visits. That's genuinely hard. Lots here run from around 350 square metres up past 600, so the houses sit close together and the rooms are efficient rather than generous, which makes the wrong colour choice more noticeable than it would be in a bigger home.
What we watch for
Conditions that change the job here.
Close neighbours change the light inside these houses. A side window two metres from the next wall gets reflected light rather than direct light, and it will make a colour read differently in that room than the same colour on the other side of the house. We look at which rooms actually get sun before recommending anything. Smaller efficient rooms also punish dark colours more than large ones do, so we usually suggest keeping depth for a feature wall or the media room rather than a whole bedroom.
How it runs
What to expect.
We walk the house with you before anything is ordered, ideally at the time of day you will use each room most. That visit is where you find out which rooms get real sun and which are getting light bounced off the neighbour's wall two metres away. Sample pots go up on the actual walls, not a board. Once you have decided, expect two full coats over the builder's white as standard, because one will go patchy under raking light and we will not quote it that way.
Usually included
- Colour walked through room by room, checking which ones get real sun
- Depth kept to feature walls and media rooms in smaller floor plans
- Two full coats over builder white on any colour change
- Sample pots on site before the order goes in
Colour before you live there
Picking colours for rooms you have stood in twice.
Neighbours change the light
A side window two metres from the next wall gets reflected light rather than direct light. The same colour reads differently in that room, and no floor plan tells you which rooms those are.
Small rooms punish depth
Efficient floor plans on lots from around 350 square metres do not carry deep colour across a whole room. Keep depth for the media room or a single feature wall and you get what you actually wanted.
Builder white is a base
It goes on thin because it is a starting point rather than a finish. One coat of a new colour over it goes patchy wherever light rakes across the wall, so two coats is the honest quote.
Before the order goes in
We walk the house at the hour you will use it.
01
Walk it room by room.
Ideally at the time of day each room gets used most. That hour on site is where you find out which rooms get real sun and which are borrowing it off next door.
02
Sample pots, on site.
Pots go up on the actual walls, not on a board held against them. In the Acacia and Rivus releases the reflected light makes a board genuinely misleading.
03
Keep the depth contained.
Where you want a darker colour we put it on the feature wall or the media room and keep the rest light, so the floor plan still reads open once the furniture arrives.
04
Two coats over the base.
Full coverage over builder white, cut in properly at the cornice and the skirting. We will not quote a single coat, because you would see it within a fortnight.
For agents and property managers
New-build handovers, colour sorted early.
If you are managing a Banya handover for an investor, the colour decision is easier before a tenant is in and the walls are still untouched. We can photograph sample pots on site and send them through for a remote sign-off.
Colour on a small lot
Four neutrals for compact new-build rooms.
Dulux
Natural White Half
#EDE7DA
Holds warmth in a room lit off the neighbour's wall.
Dulux
Lexicon Quarter
#E7E8E5
Keeps an efficient floor plan feeling open.
Taubmans
White Tea
#F0E8D9
Good in the rooms that only get reflected light.
Dulux
Antique White U.S.A.
#E9E1CC
Warm enough for a media room without going dark.
Common questions
What people ask before booking.
How do I pick colours for a house I haven't lived in?
Walk it with us at the time of day you’ll use each room most. Which rooms get real sun and which get reflected light off the neighbour’s wall changes everything, and you can’t see that on a floor plan. An hour on site saves repainting a room you got wrong.
Will a dark colour work in these rooms?
In some, not in most. Efficient floor plans on smaller lots don’t carry deep colour across a whole room the way a large home does; it closes in fast. Media rooms are the exception, and a single feature wall usually gives you what you actually wanted anyway.
Why won't one coat cover the builder's white?
Because builder-spec paint is applied thin, and it’s a base rather than a finish. One coat of a new colour over it goes patchy, especially anywhere the light rakes across the wall. We plan two coats as standard and price it that way rather than quoting one and adding later.