Nooooooooo!

At least retain the brick porch, as the Edwardian facade is much more valuable and an asset to your street appeal than render. A contemporary and unflattering period detail.
If you retain the porch, including the brick pillar that supports the verandah beam, as this IS a part of the porch, and is the main feature of the front elevation, and render the main body of the house (if you must), the box bay won't easily be outdone by the render, and the large gable and strapping details retain the character if tour home. Rendering the main body only will do as you require, And keeping the fundamental elements of your homes period is worth doing. You will get the best of both worlds.
I would then paint your render in a colour called urban grey, by Haymes. It is a brown based concrete colour that has a hint of coffee in it. This will compliment the brown brick and still modernize the exterior facade, while retaining character!

Im so glad you responded! I actually really love the look of our home but the top storey being rendered was blinding me. Should we restore the porch bricks?
ps - I cant find that colour on the website

oh thankyou. you would know your bricks better than I can see them, they look in great condition, you could do a couple of things depending on your budget.
either have a bricklayer professionally clean them i.e. hydrochloric acid to freshen up the mortar joints and faces of brick, restoring their colour.
Or, have them tuck-pointed, whereby the mortar joints are refilled with either a charcoal or white highlighted joint. I think the charcoal would look amazing particularly if you did go with dark grey trims.
Hmm, urban grey looks like this...in different light. it is both the fence and house colour. it changes from light to dark at different times, which really accentuates shadows from period details.

thanks. I found the paint colour and am now very excited! Cant thank you enough for your advice

So glad you're not rendering.

In about five years all those other rendered houses will look dated and if yours were rendered it would just look confused.

So much better to appreciate the house as it is - original and unique.

Fantastic! It is a great colour to know. If you want a really good idea of it's finished result, just use a sample pot to paint the porch rendered details in their entirety, then you can stand back at street level and see the effect on the brickwork. Then the rest in render will simply tie into that when it's done.
Paint the rendered tops of the piers, and the base plinth, the insert squares on the piers as well as the Inset rectangle on the porch front. Basically everything that is currently cream. I would love to see those results too, and from there, get some feedback.
I'm so glad to have helped. One sample pot should cover these areas for you enough to see the effect. I think you'll be thrilled with it.
Don't be put off by it's impression against the cream, it will look quite different, as it is a cool tone compared to the wRm cream. It is far more contemporary and the bricks should warm against it.
Good luck

Ok will post the results... Do I paint the gable and strapping areas that are currently cream in the urban grey too?

Not the gable fascia, which is the side beams that frame the triange, just the areas in between he strapping that are cream now, the fascia should be the same as the strapping, as in the dark navy colour currently. Domino by dulux is my suggestion for those.

Sorry just one more question....the only urban grey I could find was a wattyl one but the photos look a lot darker than the pics you posted.....I don't want to get the wrong colour I'm assuming when it's painted it won't be as dark ?

Builder once told me that rendering brick turns a no or low maintenance property into maintenance as render requires painting. I was also told to be wary of termites getting between bricks and render and entering property (as happened to a friend's newbuild 9 years ago - recently she discovered termites had entered under render and invaded a corner kitchen cupboard. Render does seem like a quick way to update of freshen, but pros and cons for everything.

Correct, it is a wattyl, only I had tinted a purchased Haymes.Teeth he thing with colour is that once applied to a large area it's impression is generally lighter. In corners you will see a closer indication of the swatch sample. However, applied colour is generally two shades lighter in application.
In short, it will look much lighter on your facade. And still have depth to contrastin corners and details etc.

Perfect thanks so much... I am indebted to you for all of your help

I think if you can change the roof colour to black that will give the new look to the house

Sorry Bikram, not this roof! It's terra-cotta- a big part of the Edwardian appeal.
You are right though, it definitely would give a new look to the house, just not one that suits this facade.
Not that this is my home, nor do I have a say on what the homeowner will do. Just responding as a 'protective mother'

So my husband can't visualise the grey...I painted a small section and he thinks it's too dark...what now?!?!?!

If you're liking the grey, just not the tone, the paint store should be able to do a lighter tone of the same colour for you

I think this is the perfect tone next to the brick. If you see it near a light colour, in contrast it may appear that way to some, but seeing it complete has a different impression. I think it looks modern and sophisticated. I would continue to complete the porch and reserve an opinion until then. Paint as much of the rendered base also to get the full effect. Regardless it will be painted so it's worth doing, you will be repainting soon anyway.
I don't agree lightening th ecolour, it will look wushu washy next to the boldness of the brick. Your rendered brick has so much feature, this grey will accent that. Paint the rest and live with it for your husband to see. Don't stop at that square.

Once you've done that, only then reconsider it. Too many people stop when they start, because they're having a reaction to change, an adjustment has to be made visually, and different is not bad. Light is comfortable, but I can't count the many of period homes that professional specifiers apply this too. How many architecturally renovated homes do you see cream?
One more colour I will suggest along these lines, but not better, just slightly lighter is murky water. And last case, dune. Get all three, I would bet on your husband liking dune, which proves my theory, but dont settle on the dullest colour. It won't do the facade favors. Rather it will look ho hum. Render flattens the facade, removes character, so I think it more important than before tonuse these tones to effect to compensate the loss of character.
First look at it, I smiled, that's it, keep going. Hard to trust me not knowing me, but many have to success. I have been a dulux colour finalist and are recognized for my colour specifying.
Please just see it out, then you can make an informed decision, one where you've had time to adjust to a change.

Great advice and discussion. So glad you are not rendering! the colour looks great against the brickwork. I am interested in how the window frames will be treated. Is the recommendation to do all the non-brick areas the same colour?

Thank you anniau, my suggestion for the window frames was to tie into the gable strapping in a deep blue, one called domino by dulux. Similar to what is currently there.
The deep navy charcoal will be striking against the grey of the render, and the architectural windows, and period features will be defined by this.
I really hope they have some faith, and give it a go.

Here's a progress pic....we decided on dune at 150% as a compromise...still have to finish the painting and the porch tuck pointing but so far so good! What's the verdict?

Yes the grey is too dark & not of the period. Please keep the bricks, they look great. What you could do is have them re-pointed, the mortar will come up light & bright & find a paint shade similar to paint over that grey & around the base of front of house. Hope this helps.

Can you post the progress pic? I cant see it

Sorry the upload didnt work - here it is

I'm so glad the front is brick, it really sets off against that render, which is a little grey, is this the dune?..I believe the render colour needs to be applied to the rectangular cream areas on the roof to extend the colour upwards and keep the bottom section of the house looking connected to the roofline.
If so, it will pull into perspective once the window frames are painted out in the dark trim colour, but for now, I think a little warmth in that colour would've gone a long way.
M vote is still for urban grey because of that. But congrats on these huge changes so far. Are you happy with the progress?

Don't render. Get the bricks/mortar repaired. Saves you years of painting.

Uuuču