I really like to specify Colorbond Windspray but it is often a maligned colour in the Colorbond range. The thing about Colorbond Windspray is that it has a base that sometimes appears blue and sometimes green, depending on the time of day, and it is this chameleon quality that can put people off. What I like about Windspray, in comparison to Colorbond Shale Grey, is that it has a little more depth and is a good option for people who want a grey roof that isn't too dark, but also won't get too dirty.
I have some more thoughts on how to use Colorbond Windspray below:
The underlying tone of Colorbond Windspray
So, as said, Windspray does have a slight green/blue undertone which makes it more of a battleship grey. The house below has a Colorbond Windspray roof, gutter and garage door with Surfmist fascia, posts and windows and Shale Grey weatherboards. This is a classic combination which is very much on trend. If you wanted a lighter look, you could have the garage in Surfmist instead of Windspray.
Clearly the undertone in Windspray is more evident on a hip roof or gable roof. This is also more noticeable in the sun when the grey washes out. However, the same house below from the rear has a skillion style roof and you therefore only see the gutter. With this style of roof, the colour barely makes an impact on the overall look of the house.
You can team Windspray with Dover White for a fresh coastal scheme or with other cool greys like Colorbond Shale Grey and Basalt. Silvery green greys and cool off whites also work really well with Windspray.
Colorbond Windspray for traditional homes
My choice for a heritage roof colour is often Colorbond Windspray as this is the closest to the old galvanised corrugated iron roofs. A Zincalume roof is also a good choice, but often people can be reticent about using this. The house below is a very traditional heritage style home and I believe the Windspray roof here is a perfect choice to create the right look. By keeping the colour just to the roof and gutter and introducing a white fascia, you don't notice the underlying colour in the grey.
Introducing a different coloured trim
The biggest appeal, apart from aesthetics, of a light coloured roof is that it reflects the heat. Not so much a problem in some parts of the country, but this is a really important design feature in the hotter areas if you want to build a house that is sustainable.
The main point to remember when choosing a light roof is that you don't need to have the gutters and fascia in the same colour. The house below has a Colorbond Windspray roof, but it is disguised with a smart dark gutter and crisp white fascia that ties in with the rest of the house. The Windspray roof gives the house a very classic feel, but the grey and certainly any undertone you may see, is not evident at all.
I really like this design tip. Often clients are very wary of doing this, and of course the effect is different depending on the pitch of the roof, but it is certainly something you should bear in mind when you are choosing Colorbond colours.
You should also consider whether your house is on the high or low side of the street and think about how much of the roof you will actually see at street level. The house above has a Colorbond Windspray roof, gutter and garage with Surfmist fascia, trim and windows. Being on the high side of the street with double storey houses either side, means that you don't see much of the roof at all.
Colorbond Windspray is an Ultra Steel colour
Lastly, a really good reason to select Windspray for your roof is that it blends in beautifully with the water. Therefore, when you have neighbours behind you who look out to the ocean or another body of water over your roofline, your roof will just blend into the horizon. It doesn't have the glare of Surfmist or Shale Grey or the strong colour or depth of many of the other options, which makes it the perfect choice in these locations. Colorbond Windspray is an Ultra Steel colour, which means it can be used close to the sea and will withstand the harsher conditions. There are six Ultra colours: Monument, Woodland Grey, Surfmist, Dune, Wallaby and Windspray.
The house above was designed by Lucy Glade Wright from Hunting for George. The classic Windspray roof and gutter suits both the coastal location of this home and the heritage value of this property. Windspray has been used on other elements of the exterior too which helps it to nestle into its coastal bush setting. I have the whole house tour here.
Unfortunately, Colorbond Windspray is not in the new Matt range of colours.
I have two related posts that you may find interesting: How to select roofs, gutters and fascias and Using Surfmist as a trim colour.
I hope that this has given you some inspiration and confidence to choose Windspray (or not)! If you are building or renovating your home, I have a FREE Resource Library with checklists and e-books for you to download. You can sign up for FREE here.
Hi Samantha, I’m so excited that you’ve featured windspray with surfmist and shale grey on this post! I hunted and hunted for pictures of this scheme to confirm my choices for my new build before prestart, without success. The choices were daunting as the whole house is colorbond except for feature hardiplank around the windows. I’m thrilled that it all works! Thank you for all your invaluable posts, especially on using surfmist as a trim- so helpful for a country build.
Hi Wendy glad this was a timely post! Samantha
Hi there, I have Dulux Acratex charcoal on my roof. Would wind spray work for the guttering? Vivid white for fascia and trims. High gate for the weatherboard house?
Hi Margie If I am using a different colour on the gutter and fascia, I tend to like to hide the gutter and make it a similar colour to the roof. Dulux Highgate has a slight purple undertone which would work better with charcoal. It does depend so much on the design of your house though and what you are trying to achieve so this is only my gut feel and a guide! Samantha
Thank you Samantha. I do appreciate your help. My house is 65 years old and an east facing weatherboard from the 1950s. I like a soft hamptons look. The fascia is vivid white. Should the guttering be charcoal, white or high gate. I don’t know what colour to choose for the garage door?
Hi Margaret generally your guttering should either match your roof or your fascia and I usually tend towards darker colours if you are in doubt as they are easier to keep looking good. Hope this helps Samantha
Those observations are really helpful, thank you.
Thanks for the great tip on using colourbond windspray colour. We found that with our Midnight Blue/Deep Ocean colour roof the windspray looks too blue. So we are looking for a nicer grey, a light and dark grey for contrast with no blue undertone! Any suggestions?
Even the shale grey has a blue undertone!
Hi Deb Colorbond Shale Grey can read a little blue sometimes but generally I find that it is pretty neutral but the Colorbond range is fairly limited. I presume you are looking at this for your gutters as your roof is already a Colorbond colour? If you are looking for a wall colour you have heaps of options and you should be looking for more of a greige colour to suit the Deep Ocean. Hope this helps Samantha
Hi Samantha, thank you for the web page on windspray as a couple of days ago I confirmed roof colors with the builder, windspray roof, gutter and barge cap, white(surf-mist) eaves. These colors will hopefully match the white trims, and proposed ‘blue tune” blue for the weatherboards.
Great article! Makes it hard to decide on which colorbond colours to choose from. Initially have in mind a Surfmist roof, fascia, gutter and trim, with Shades of evening Taubmans weatherboard but unsure if Windspray, Dune, Ironstone or Deep Ocean for garage would stand out as well if it isn’t Surfmist garage? The house faces east. What do you think?
Hi Zarah your garage doesn’t necessarily have to match your roof colour – it just needs to work overall with the rest of the house. Good luck Samantha
Hi Samantha, we have Woodland Grey roof, window, gutters and garage door. Our choice so far, which we are not sure of, is using Taubmans Zelda around the garage and front door, changing to Cobblestone Path. We’ve painted boards with the Taubmans colours and think it works but we’re doubting ourselves all the time. Now my husband has come up with this combination – Colorbond Windspray on front all around garage door and front door with sides and back of house Shale Grey. Do you think they are too blue with Woodland? Thanks again, Fran
Hi Fran It’s difficult to say for sure without seeing the house. A combination of Woodland Grey, Windspray and Shale Grey could work but it depends so much on the house and the look of it – whether it is traditional, contemporary, skillion roof etc. I’m sorry I can’t be definitive but exterior colours do depend so much on the style and design of the house. Samantha
Thank you, I appreciate your feedback. It’s a skillion roof, you hardly see any of the roof colour from the street, it’s contemporary, in a tropical green setting. I guess a couple more painted boards is the next step.
Hi Samantha – what are your thoughts of using Windspray as the base colour for a house and Monument for the garage and surrounding decorative feature areas?
Hi Melinda Colorbond Monument is very neutral and so works with most colours. How it will look though depends on what is on the upper storey and the design of the house so it is difficult to say for sure that your scheme will work. Samantha
Hello Samantha, I have found your posts on roof colours very enlightening, namely that colours appear lighter on the roof than they appear on the colour chart. I am trying to choose a roof colour for our contempory brick house, we already have gully guttering, facia and garage doors with black window frames and we are considering evening haze, then paperbark and dune Im wondering if these colours are too light and we should go for gully that is currently on the roof but old and wearing. which colour evening haze, dune or paperbark would better suit our current colour scheme?
Hi Robyn Colorbond Gully isn’t dark on the roof so I think this would be fine but if you wanted something lighter, I think that Dune goes the best out of the lighter colours you have looked at. You need to consider the colour of your bricks though and any other colour elements on the house that could make an impact. Hope this helps Samantha
Hi Samantha
Love your tips.
I want to be game enough to have a windspray roof on our typical Australian farmhouse with bull nose verandahs. We have a mixture of mainly terracotta bricks of varying shades,weatherboards some on the house and a lot on the adjoining cottage. Painting everything and thinking windspray roof, white cloak half windows and maybe fascia and poles, weatherboards Russain toffee or British paints stone path . Need a light roof as hot where we live so choices really only paperbark or windspray. Thanks Narelle
Hi Narelle I think that Colorbond Windspray will work much better than Paperbark on your Australian farmhouse – it is a classic roof colour for this. The other colours will depend so much on the brick, the overall look of the house and the amount of sun it gets etc. so is difficult to comment on that but I am pretty sure on the roof! Samantha
Great article….but I am still so indecisive. Our new coastal beach house has skillion roof. One day I think Shale grey..next day I change to Windspray. After reading the article I am tending Windspray….So fascia Windspray or Surfmist?
Garage door maybe Surfmist. Windows are ordered…white! Help
Hi Karyn You need to consider the wall colour and any other trim on your house. My feeling is Windspray roof and gutter and then fascia in Surfmist with the garage door the same. But you need to remember that Surfmist is an off white and not a true crisp white so your wall colour is really important when deciding what to paint your fascia and garage. If you have a white house then the Surfmist may not work. Hope this helps Samantha
Hi Samantha, your articles are very helpful. I am still struggling a lot with our facade colours. We have picked, but not set in concrete yet, Salt spray tiled roof, Surfmist gutters, fascia and garage with Dieskau for walls. Front door is clear stained blonde oak with pearl white for windows. House Style is new build with piers out front of portico, fully rendered with vertical cladding around windows. Does this colour combo work? Thanks for your help.
Hi Tesa Surfmist and Dulux Dieskau work well together but you won’t see a lot of contrast – the house will be very light. This is a lovely render colour if you want something quite pale. You will get a contrast with your Pearl White windows though. If you are concerned, you should paint up large boards with two coats of Surfmist and Dieskau to see how you like them together. Hope this helps Samantha
Hi Samantha, I have a low pitch farm house with a veranda on the front of the house, what do you think of a zinc roof,
colour bond windspray walls, Shale Grey guttering and trimmings and Surfmist windows.
Thanks
Hi Maria a zinc roof suits a low pitch farm house, Shale Grey is a good gutter to use with this. You might like to consider doing the fascia in Surfmist to tie in the windows with the greys? Hope this helps Samantha
Hi Samantha,
We are happy to have stumbled upon your article about windspray as we just chose that as our roof color for our new home. We have gone for roof and gutters in Windspray, fascia and garage door in Surfmist and ‘Rottnest island white” as the main render color. Windows and main door are black. Would this work? The front elevation of our single story house has three feature brick walls (on either sides of bedroom windows) and we plan to use “Country ledgestone in Aspen” for them. We were hoping that the grey in the stone will tie in well with the grey on the roof and the off-white/warm colors with the surf mist.
Do you think this color scheme works? Or should we change the roof to shale grey? Would appreciate any advice from you.
This sounds like a lovely scheme. I would stick with Windspray as it gives you a little more depth and contrast with the Rottnest Island. Samantha