Your Summer Painting Plan for Wellington: Festive Season Home Refresh Guide

Summer in Wellington is the best time to give your home a refresh. The festive season brings visitors, extra daylight and (usually!) better painting weather—making it the perfect window to finally tackle those interior and exterior projects.

But where do you start? Which painting jobs should you prioritise before Christmas, and what can wait until January or February?

Here’s a simple, Wellington-specific summer painting plan to help you make the most of the season.

Step 1: Decide Your Main Goal for This Summer

Before you pick up a brush or book painters, get clear on your priority:

• “I want the house to look great for Christmas and visitors.”
• “We’re planning to sell in summer.”
• “It’s time to protect the exterior and roof before the next winter.”
• “We just want the interior to feel fresher and more modern.”
  

Your main goal determines where to invest time and budget.

Step 2: Pre-Christmas Quick Wins (Weeks 1–2)

If Christmas is close, focus on high-impact, fast projects:

• repaint or touch up the front door
• refresh entrance and hallways
• tidy living room feature walls
• touch up obvious scuffs and marks
• repaint or stain decks and outdoor areas used for BBQs

These can often be completed in a few days and dramatically improve how your home feels for guests.

Step 3: Plan Colour Updates for the New Year (Weeks 3–4)

Once the rush of the festive period is over, turn your attention to colour.

January is a great time to:

• choose a new interior colour palette
• update old-fashioned colours in living rooms and bedrooms
• plan an exterior colour change for a bigger transformation

Use summer light to test colour samples in real Wellington conditions.

Step 4: Schedule Exterior & Weatherboard Work for Peak Summer

The hottest, driest summer weeks are ideal for exterior painting in Wellington.

Prioritise:

• full exterior weatherboard repaints
• painting fences and boundary walls
• coastal home repaints in suburbs like Lyall Bay, Island Bay and Seatoun
• repainting trim, fascias and balustrades
  

Well-prepped and painted exteriors last longer and protect your home from Wellington’s wind, salt and moisture.

Step 5: Don’t Forget the Roof

Summer is also the ideal window for roof painting, thanks to warmer temperatures and drier conditions.

Consider roof painting if you notice:

• faded or chalky roof colour
• rust spots or exposed metal
• moss and lichen growth
• an untidy roof that drags down street appeal

A freshly coated roof can transform the look of your home from the street and extend the life of your roofing.

Step 6: Decide What to DIY vs Leave to the Pros

Use your summer break wisely—some tasks are perfect for DIY, while others are higher risk.

Good DIY options:

• small interior rooms
• feature walls
• low fences (on flat ground)
• minor trim touch-ups

Best left to professionals:

• second-storey exteriors
• roof painting
• full weatherboard restoration
• work requiring scaffolding or harnesses

Step 7: Create a Simple Summer Timeline

Here’s a sample festive season painting timeline for a Wellington home:

• Early December: Front door, entry, living room touch-ups, quick deck or fence refresh.
• Mid–Late December: Final interior tweaks before guests; minor hallway and bedroom updates.
• Early January: Colour consultations and testing; plan exterior or roof projects.
• Mid January–February: Full exterior repaint, weatherboard work, roof painting and major transformations.
• Late February–March: Final tidy-ups, detail work and any postponed interior rooms.

You don’t have to do everything in one go—staging projects across the summer keeps things manageable.