Painting a New Extension on a Toorak Period Home
A large share of the work on Toorak, Armadale and South Yarra streets is renovation rather than repainting. A period home gains a rear pavilion, a second storey or a new kitchen and living wing, and the builder's contract often treats painting as a line item near the end. How that last stage is handled decides whether the extension reads as a seamless part of the house or as an obvious add-on. New surfaces behave very differently from century-old ones, and getting the two to look like they belong together takes planning well before the painter arrives.
When to involve the painter
The best time to talk to a painter is before the builder reaches lock-up. At that point you can still agree who is doing what. Some builders include painting with their own contractors, some leave it to the owner, and some do only a basic finish. If you want a higher level of finish on new walls, or the extension painted to match work on the original house, it is much easier to settle that early than to discover at handover that the walls were rolled once over a quick sealer.
It also helps with sequencing. Painters need the plasterer finished, the electrician's fit-off planned around, and flooring either protected or not yet laid. Joinery, stone benchtops and tiling all affect when walls and trims can be done.
New plasterboard
Plasterboard is smooth and even, but it is not a uniform surface. The paper face and the jointing compound over joins and screw heads absorb paint differently, and without the right sealer the joins show through as dull or shiny bands under strong light. That is especially visible in the tall, glazed rear pavilions common on Toorak renovations, where afternoon light rakes across the walls.
The first coat on new plasterboard is a dedicated sealer or undercoat, applied to the whole wall. Joins and patches are then checked under a work light and touched up where needed before two finish coats go on. If the plastering is not to the level you expect, it is worth raising before painting starts, because paint will make every flaw more visible rather than less.
New render
Many extensions are clad partly or fully in render, whether acrylic render on blueboard or a cement render over block or brick. New cementitious render needs time to cure before it is painted, and the right waiting period depends on the product and the weather. The render manufacturer's guidance is the place to start, and your builder or renderer should be able to confirm when it is ready. Painting too early can lead to poor adhesion, staining and blistering as moisture and alkalinity work out of the new render.
Where an extension meets original render, the two rarely have the same texture. Our article on repairing and repainting rendered facades in Toorak explains how old lime-based and cement renders differ, and the same thinking applies when new render sits alongside them.
Matching the original house
The aim is usually for the extension to look intentional rather than identical. In practice that means a few decisions.
Colour is the obvious one. Even the same colour can look different on new smooth plasterboard and old hand-finished plaster, so we often suggest testing on both before committing. Where the extension is modern in style, a deliberate contrast can look better than an attempted match. Our guide to choosing colours for grand period homes covers how heritage schemes are usually put together.
Sheen matters too. Old walls with a lifetime of patches look better in a flatter finish, while new walls in a busy kitchen and family area may need something more washable. Using the same sheen level across a continuous wall, even where it spans old and new, avoids a visible change in light at the join.
Trims and joinery tie the two parts together. New skirtings, architraves and doors can be painted to match the period ones, and where the original house has stained timber the extension's joinery can pick that up.
It is also common to repaint the adjoining rooms of the original house at the same time, so that the new and old spaces are fresh together rather than one making the other look tired.
Heritage overlays
Much of Toorak and Armadale is covered by heritage controls under the City of Stonnington. Extensions usually go through planning before any building starts, and that process may already set out external materials and colours. It is worth checking your permit conditions before choosing the exterior scheme, and speaking to council if in doubt. We work to whatever has been approved.
How we fit in
We paint new extensions under our Exterior House Repainting and Interior Painting services, and on period homes we work alongside our Heritage & Period-Home Repaints approach so that the original house and the new wing are treated as one project. If the extension includes a statement wall or a specialist surface, our Feature & Decorative Finishes service can handle that too.
If you are planning or partway through an extension in Toorak, South Yarra, Armadale, Hawksburn or Kooyong, send us the plans or a few photos and an idea of the builder's timeline. We will tell you when we need to be on site, what we need from the builder beforehand, and how we would bring the old and new parts of the house together.