If you want to make the house hotter, then painting the roof charcoal will certainly achieve that. Repointing the brickwork is the most sensible from a maintenance perspective. Once you render and paint, then you have to keep painting (and it's likely to be out of fashion sooner or later). Try to keep passive cooling in mind (i.e. light colours & permeable landscaping) with any of your renovations, and I think it always pays to try and embrace and compliment the original architecture and be unique, rather than trying to look like the latest project home. In my opinion the arch window is actually quite cool, and the excellent mock-ups provided by Geo Toria are along the right track.

Hi Do you need four bedrooms? If not, turn main bedroom into a kids room. Turn the lounge into main bedroom with en-suite, knock down the wall between the kitchen and the bedroom at the back of the house and then create one big open plan kitchen living dining across the back of the house. I envisage you would need to knock out the back wall of the house and add some square footage to get the space you would desire. You could also build a patio across the back with stacking sliding doors to create a beautiful indoor/outdoor living space that overlooks the pool. Good luck!!

Obperth2014, I would suggest standing in the middle of the block, and getting to know where the sun comes up and goes down, and where the breezes come from. Yes we can all do this with a map, but it is good to actually go to the sight with a compass and a map. In Perth we have the strong southerly winds, and westerly winds from the coast. Therefore cross ventilation from that direction is good for cooling the home down in summer. We also have a hot easterly wind in the summer, coming off the desert. This time of the year is great to stand on the block and see the winter sun direction. In my previous post I have mentioned the summit home design, "the mod" I still think this is a good design for your block, with west side covered with a large vergola or fixed system. This will then utilise the full yard from your living areas. Front living room windows can be moved to be north facing, with a smaller window on the northwest frontage. Anyway, food for thought.

What sort of easement? You can plant on it but research first so you don't plant anything with aggressive roots. Our water utility used to have a list categorising plants which are safe, plants which should not be planted within x metres, etc. Check if there's anything like that available from your water utility or council. If the plan does not have indicative furniture placement for anything else I don't know why it would show a dining table. Solar HWS or solar panels? Plants as large as trees down the narrow space between your house and the boundary with your neighbours create potential problems with roots and with leaves in roof guttering for both of you. Double glazing is valuable, especially in your winters, but for summer you want to stop the sun from shining on the windows in the first place. It might not be the most chic solution but when we needed something temporary and economical we used the shadecloth screens from the hardware store.