Your stone wall is nice... driveway tidy up (no grass strip, a neat sleek single sweep) and a garden wall along the front that echoes that stonework would pull it together.

What a fantastic house! Midcentury style is one of my favourites. Here are some in different paletes - some trees up near the house could add some mystery. what do you think?

I am taking a wild guess here and suggest your home was built either by Lend Lease or L.J. Hooker in the early 60s so there are many of them around. The driveway was typical of the day too - I am still trying to get DH to change ours. In those days most people were shy of moving away from the red brick for resale purposes but within 10 years sandstock and clinker bricks had taken over and the red was gone for good. Because that design is so distinctive, it will always be there and recognisable no matter what changes you make so decide whether you want to enhance it in its original form, or endeavour to play it down as much as possible, just remember, it will always look that that is what you have done. Then again, it is probably only old people like me who remember all these things.

Rendering the brick work in a soft creamy sandstone colour will complement the stonework beautifully. Redo the driveway and keep it in the sandstone colour too, nothing patterned to rival the wall. Sandstone colours compliment the greens in the garden perfectly too and give everything a lovely mellow look.

I really like the Jacaranda blue trim, it is a lovely contrast and still current.

I am trying to remember if there are window boxes under the windows? I would plant something low and colourful there or at ground level in front of the brick but not the stone. I would remove the pots, they look a little lonely.

The landscaping is typically 60s - even the letter box - today the trend would probably be to tier but if you are happy with the slope I would leave it. Whatever you do to make the garden more trendy will be out in 10 years, but personally I feel a lush and well kept garden never really dates so I would build on what you have, maybe extend it across the front further and change the letterbox to a nice sandstone one. Keep it well maintained, your lawn fertilised, weeded and mown regularly and you will always receive compliments.

While a garage is very handy to have for storage, I would hesitate to fill the carport in, it balances the house better and I think you would be left with a dark passageway to your front door that would be a bigger problem. If you do need storage, a wall of weatherproof cupboards along the back of the carport done in the same colour as the house would not look out of place, I have seen it done a lot.

Bricks are beautiful because they don't need painting and don't show the dirt. I like the stone wall too. They look wonderful with a decent garden - palms or confers. What about a Silver Bismarck? The garden can make a house look much better. I wonder whether you could make use of the wall to the right by hanging some planters on it - climbers tumbling from it or over it. What about a bougainvillea or purple potato creeper? The potato creeper is fast and available without the berry problem. A decent, wide driveway would be great, so you can drive in at any angle and there's less mowing too. The garden definitely needs work.

I agree with the comments by la classe and Sharon Bouchard's first picture. Perhaps paint the gutters, posts and window frames in a charcoal colour to make the facade more current. If your budget doesn't extend to an exposed aggregate driveway, perhaps a new concrete one, painted charcoal to match the gutters. I think the garden around the letterbox should be removed completely and the plants reused down each side of the property. Perhaps steps similar to Sharon's first photo might add some interest.

In my opinion the red brick is very dated and the garden needs sprucing up. If it was my choice I would paint or render the brick to an off white with dark charcoal fascias, window frames etc. Check house titled "South Melbourne extension" by Rebecca Naughtin for colour scheme idea. A great palette against which the sandstone would shine. Definitely smarten/neaten ALL your borders of driveway and front garden etc with plants like mondo grass and keep plants low so you get max exposure of your revamped house!! You could even plant mondo grass in the central grass strip of your driveway. Saw a pic on Pinterest where they planted small succulents which looked terrific!! Tidy garage as well with maybe some storage cupboards painted same colour as house.

I think Olldroo is on the money - don't try to hide the house's heritage, but celebrate it. Investigate late 1950s/early 1960s gardens . . . I was thinking maybe a pink concrete flamingo for the centre of the lawn, with a palm tree? (You could also go 'miniature' with a yucca or similar). But maybe the soft spot for the flamingo is more me and not you . . . this website gives a list of plants popular in the era www.secretgardens.com.au/planting-styles/retro-plants-and-planting-styles-1960s/ while this pic shows a fantastic image of one of those plants - an umbrella tree - http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/228191/#b - imagine that in the middle of the lawn, maybe slightly to the right to obscure the red brick . . . of course, that's a project that years in the making . . . (hey, if one of the house inhabitants - like one of the inhabitants of my house! - is into old cars, a 1960s vehicle would add instant wow factor to the carport!)

I notice you have eucalypts in the back garden and next door? Since the 1960s were also the beginning of the Australian native garden, perhaps instead of an umbrella tree, a suitable native could do the same trick . . . and blend more with the background canopies. (You can tell I'm no garden designer - but I'm just trying to stretch the envelope a bit.)

I think I'm really saying honour the heritage of the house rather than try to hide it - but do so by finding aspects of the time that appeal to you and still work today.

For starters, paint all trim and front door and door in side brick fence a pale blue. Pale blue goes beautifully with sandstone, cream and red brick.

Move the tree in the front garden bed to where the bush is in front of the brick wall on right - it definitely does not belong in the garden bed as it will be in the way when it grows and also throws the lines of the house and it needs a tree where the bush has been planted. A tall bush would be too thick and heavy.

Take away the large pots in front of the windows as it makes it "bitty" and move their plants with the bush to the garden in the back left corner. This corner needs developing. I wouldn't have any pots at all in that corner. There seems to be some black pots there. I would plant into the ground all the potted plants and create a lush corner.

Clear out all storage items in the garage to a dull red storage shed some how hidden as far back as possible off brick wall left of house after the screens. I definitely would not have any mess in your entrance! The two cream pots with a third slightly smaller cream pot in front, making a corner display, could be put where the storage is in garage and have low soft looking plants such as star jasmine or annuals etc. A cream chair or two with blue and white stripe pillows could be added to the mix. You need a really clean fresh entryway.

Very importantly, you need to address the two front windows inside so they are always uniform - either new white curtain sheers with roller blinds or heavy curtains, or the double blinds where one is sheer the other is blockout. I would not go for inside shutters unless you rendered the red brick cream as the shutters would look too modern and too heavy for the red brick. It needs to look light and airy.

Paint the letterbox black. It is amazing how black paint transforms these letterboxes and their surrounds.

The lawn needs help in general and sharp edging - particularly down driveway. Soft succulents as suggested by Diana would be great!

Light and friendly is the nature of these houses. Add a strong sense of care and the house will be a very welcome retreat.

Hahaha, Susan.......... pink flamingos. What about a row of white car tyre swans - but they usually went with fibro houses.

Natives are lovely and attract the birds but they do take a lot of care unless you buy hybrid ones that don't grow as untidily. Many of the 50s garden plants are rarely seen now as they proved to be too troublesome. Liquidambers and rubber trees undermined driveways and house foundations and that species of umbrella tree runs rampant, https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/uploadedFiles/moretonbay/environment/vegetation/umbrella-tree.pdf

Thanks Olldroo - maybe not the umbrella tree then. That link you gave suggests instead celery wood, leopard ash, native tamarind and wheel of fire - so maybe these trees fit the in-keeping-with-history-but-updated idea. I grew up in a house with a huge liquidamber in the back yard. It did eventually play havoc with the plumbing (requiring annual clearing of its roots from pipes), but they are magnificent trees, particularly in the autumn (Kelly, I think a liquidamber would be way too big for your front lawn).

Kelly, whereabouts in Australia are you? Might help people suggest climate/environment appropriate plants for you.

The best way of selecting plants is to walk around the neighbourhood looking at what is growing well in other gardens where the soil should be similar and visiting local nurseries. They will stock only the best plants for your area and will give lots of free advice.

I agree, Susan, the liquidambers are beautiful, a lovely lush green in summer, magnificent in autumn and allow the sun in winter. The leaves break down quite quickly too so are good for mulch. Our local Council planted them down all the streets, but sadly most are now gone as they destroyed the kerbing, guttering and footpaths. They also have a rather nasty seed pod that has sprained many an ankle and caused nasty falls when trodden on.

I don't think I would go for a tree in the front lawn, roots often surface spoiling the lawn, and they take all the goodness from the soil, making the lawn patchy and uneven. I can't tell what sort of grass has been used, but a light topsoil done now and a good dose of dynamic lifter will have it beautiful by Christmas.

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, they are fantastic!
This photo was from the sale campaign before we bought the house a couple of years ago (it was rented at the time, hence the blinds, junk in the carport, random pot plants and patchy lawn). The first thing I did was rip down the ugly lattice!
It's an interesting house being that most of the original features have been retained - they came out of the woodwork once we stripped back the layers of wallpaper and 80s renovations inside).
The front windows face north, so we have a fantastic large, open, light-filled lounge/dining here. Due to the type of window openings, we installed top-down, bottom-up cordless translucent honeycomb blinds (luxaflex), also for their sunblocking and insulating properties. I find they go really well with the style of the house.

We've patched and top-dressed the lawn and filled the holes. I extended the front garden bed across to the right and planted a golden wattle (endemic), banksia, grevillea, and heat tolerant grass plants. More needs to be done with the garden. And nope, no liquid ambers planned - my parents had a huge one in their backyard (big block luckily). Unfortunately the lovely gum over our back fence has since been chopped down ("safety reasons", and a solar 'farm' has since gone up on the granny flat's roof on that property..). We are in southern Sydney.

I've recently painted the two front windows and timber above in antique white USA - I couldn't stand the blue! And as all other windows on the house are white. We recently sprayed the mix of cream and green colourbond that surrounded us, with a dark charcoal tint. It looks fantastic. So, I definitely like the idea of painting the letterbox that colour too!

I have toyed with the idea of rendering the brick. As others have said, I hope to avoid confusing the style of the house, but at the same time, it's no stunner as is! I also go back and forth about enclosing the garage or not. I like both the photos in the top post... We need to fix the brick wall to the right of the house as the lintels are rusted and splitting the brickwork near the gate. I need to decide whether to remove the brick right back to the house and replace with vertical timber (or other) slatted hardwood fence, or Lucy it at the bend? There's a sunny patio behind, so needs light and privacy.

So, the facade and gardens have been somewhat neatened since this photo (I'll try and post an updated one), but are still in need of some fresh thinking!

Thanks again everyone - keep the ideas flowing!

Thanks for bringing us up to date Kelly, you have been busy. Look forward to an updated photo. Lucky you having the north aspect at the front, lovely and warm in winter, so definitely no trees at the front to block that. Do you know what sort of a lawn you have?

If you can repair and keep the brick wall, I think I would, it visually adds width to the house. A timber fence will cut it, add another element that could muddle everything and I worry it could detract from the sandstone.

As far as rendering goes, I am not one to follow the crowd, but in this instance, I think I would allow your house to fit in with the neighbourhood. If homes around you are of similar finish and age, then leave the brick as is. Hard to explain but when I see a house that has been rendered in a sea of original homes, it stands out for all the wrong reasons, almost like a desperate fix to update that never quite comes off. Because your home is so distinctive in style, it will be harder to achieve too.

Trying to make the house look current is a bad idea in my opinion. The key is to go back to its origins as a retro is usually more successful. As the red brick is very dominant I would choose a trim colour that doesn't clash or contrast too much. Go back to the colours of the time or match a lighter subtler colour in the stone feature to use on the trim. Definitely take inspiration from the gardens of the time. I don't like the drive much, but wouldn't want to see anything too modern or potentially slippery. As your options here are fairly limited I could learn to live with it.

Very old post

Noticed that myself - wonder what they have done to the house.

Not bad as is! Not sure about white under fascia tho

Old post.

I'm not saying it can't be improved, but I like it already. I suggest that you keep the period coherent. If you don't then go hard to really transform everything.

You might look up what posh people did with modern houses and gardens in the 60's. I'm pretty sure that they would use a different letter box. Yep: go retro for when the house was the current height of style.

It's a mid-century modern gem, dudes. (and, there is no delicate way of saying this, I do not usually like that style at all).

2014 post.

Not an ugly duckling at all - really appeals to me other that that purpley- blue trim colour - needs a change. DON’T render!

OLD post

Doesn’t matter if it is an old post - clearly people still look at the posts for inspo for their own projects, doesn’t matter if the OP has long gone or finished their project

HU, I've replied to old posts, sometimes the related questions that appear can be confusing and the date can be overlooked, it happens, I think many of us have done it, so don't worry about it. Thing is, if the original poster is no longer following and if other people looking for inspo are more likely to get advice by starting a question of their own than getting lost in an old discussion and if people willing to reply waste time reading through before noticing the question is 7 years old, and it brings it back to the first page making it more likely more people will mistake it for a recent discussion, I'm not sure how productive any of that is, so I appreciate the 'old post' advisory, and in that spirit since I've now added to the conversation I'll draw to others' attention that this is an

OLD POST

Funny too the little details you can pick up. My new house has a letterbox very similar to the one here, painted cream and very boring. I didn't want to be bothered concreting in a new one, so I painted it purple. It sits in a garden not unlike this and has attracted the most incredible attention. Even the postman hand delivered my mail the next day to tell me how much he loved it. Just goes to show, you don't have to have the latest trend to create an eyecatching feature.

OLD POST !