How to decorate an exterior, and in which order.

If you have fascias and soffits to paint, do these first.
It’s always best to remove the gutters so you can paint behind them properly; this is where they can start to rot. It’s also a good time to clean out the gutters and wash them before putting them back.
If the fascias and soffits are dirty, give them a wash down first, and then dry them off. Now rub them down, remove any flaking paint. If you have any bare wood paint them with a primer.
Next undercoat them with a suitable undercoat, then you can topcoat them with a gloss.
Obviously if your fascias and soffits are stained, you would simply do as above but paint them with two or more coats of stain rather than primer, undercoat and topcoat.

Next if your walls are painted, paint these next.
Before you jump straight in, rub your hand over the wall, look at your hand; does it have a powder on it? If so this means the paint already on the wall has been affected by the sun and weather. You will need to ‘stabilise’ the walls first, this sounds dramatic and as if the walls are about to fall down, but it isn’t. All you need to do is buy some ‘stabilising solution’ and brush it onto the walls. What this solution does is ‘stick’ and seals the old paint giving you a good surface to paint onto.

If you don’t stabilise the walls first all you are doing is painting over a powdery dust and the new paint will not last very long and could well start to come off!
If you have any cracks you should fill these also, depending on the size of crack, will determine on the type of filler you use.
You may also want to mask up your windows if they are UPVC before you start with the masonry paint, especially brown wood effect as any paint on these can be really hard to remove!

Now the masonry work is done you can paint the doors and windows if they aren’t UPVC. You will need to do the same as you did with the fascias and soffits, wash, rub down, prime it needed, undercoat and topcoat, or two or more coats of wood stain.

Finally if you have one and it is painted, paint the plinth. This will give it the finishing touch.

Now, stand back and admire your work.