Simple colour schemes can literally transform the appearance of apartments and multi-use dwellings. A new coat of paint can help bring an aging property into the modern era, thus increasing its value. It also makes the property much more attractive to prospective buyers and tenants, as well as making it a nicer place to live in. Ultimately, a refreshed, modernised building makes a statement to residents and the community that it’s well-maintained and managed.
Externally
Moving away from creamy yellows, burgundies and light blues from the past couple of decades, we’re now seeing an increasing number of owner corporations choosing colour schemes with earthy and dark grey tones. Colour schemes containing deeper, more natural colours work well for both new and old properties. Older buildings in particular can benefit from the right colour choice as it can take decades off a façade.
Darker colours not only look great, but they also wear much better compared to their lighter counterparts where dirt and pollution shows more easily.
Colour choice is not the only consideration you’ll have to make when painting the external surface of your property. The type of paint used can be just as important.
If you live in a coastal area then it’s imperative to think about specialised protective coatings over standard paint. Painted surfaces deteriorate at a much faster rate in these harsh environmental conditions, which affects not only the appearance but also increases the risk of damage to the building’s fabric due to paint breakdown. There’s a wide variety of protective coatings on the market created especially to withstand such conditions.
A lot of expense associated with an external painting project is often from scaffolding or other costs due to accessing hard-to-access areas. A way to minimise this in the long-term is to choose a special high build paint. These types of paint are manufactured for longevity, so they have a much longer lifecycle than standard paint. Even though the initial expense of purchasing the paint is higher, high build paints last substantially longer reducing the frequency of painting needed and the high cost that comes with it associated with access equipment and/or abseilers.
Internally
Externally our colour schemes are darkening, but it’s a different story internally.
Olives, pinks and greens used to be the go-to for colour choice in internal common areas, but now we’re seeing a move towards neutral tones. Owner corporations are more often than not choosing to freshen up these areas with colour schemes much more understated than their predecessors. Such schemes can lighten up areas and are also less likely to quickly date.
Carpet tiles are becoming the norm in the majority of apartments and multi-use dwellings we work in. As a cost effective solution, they allow you to easily change or move single tiles rather than having to replace the entire floor. Darker tones are usually preferred due to their practicability, but also because of aesthetic reasons. With neutral, light walls, dark colour carpets stand out to become a feature themselves.
Professional Help
Even taking into account on-trend colour schemes there are still endless colour combinations available. It can become quite overwhelming trying to whittle down the myriad of possibilities to the final choice, especially if consensus among body corporate members is required.
In such circumstances, entailing the help of professionals can make this decision a lot easier for you. Take advantage of their experience and knowledge to recommend colour schemes that not only modernises your building, but also suits its type and location. Plus they should also be able to create montages to show you what the colour scheme will look like on your building, which helps to gain consensus among all stakeholders.