I see this is a very old thread , with lots of comments . I've just skim read them , but I haven't seen anyone suggest anything like my 'top-of-my-head' idea -- I love the wood , and the white contrast , but pretty boring . Whats your favourite colour , or what ties in with the other rooms ? It might be blue or red or yellow or orange or green , as examples . So paint the skirting board and around the door a pastel shade of your choice , and add a small 30cm x 30cm abstract painting featuring that colour as the primary dominant one , above ( or possibly below , or maybe even get 2 matching/complementary ones ) the control panel . One lighting crowd suggested glass shades -- I'd actually go for someothing large but wooden , in much the same shade as your floors and steps , with LED bulbs -- you can get some stunning ones around 80-100 cm in diameter ( sort of a star ball shape ) for $300-400 . Total budget then $500 plus a painter and maybe electrician , unless you DIY .

Hi Bron. I'm totally with those who have suggested a. Colorbond Monument and b. No rendering. As a professional renovator, I see clients who had not taken into account the maintenance - cleaning, patching the cracks when the house moved and they all do, eventually) and would not render again. Bagging is really old-fashioned. The bricks are a great colour to work with. The suggestions of plants , a path leading (directing visitors) to your door, and I'll add using a feature colour on the door (an unobtrusive screen door - or even removing it) would make a big difference. It would be great to see a pic of the house from the street to see if there's anything else to suggest. Happy reno!!

Oh boy oklouise, this is dangerous territory when you ask about the perfect reno! We thought we did have the perfect Reno we could afford in stages but we got just about ready to lodge with council and our architect surprised us with the costings going over by $200K and giving us a lovely flat roof and new cladding for our first stage budget. We now have about $10K less after this process and are really feeling vulnerable I suppose. So we are back to square one but the essentials are: repair the deck on the steep slope at the back, remove internal walls to open the space downstairs, reposition the staircase, new flooring, new kitchen and provide an aesthetically pleasing but functional entrance. Wish list would be garage/carport & driveway, flat roof, new bathroom upstairs, new laundry & WC downstairs and landscaping. $100K for the first stage (which probably means just deck repairs and removing walls?!) then we would be looking at refinancing and seeing what we can do next. The architect designs were beautiful but unattainable unfortunately. Anyway, I advertised our job about a week ago and I think someone is interested in meeting with us and I've also left a message for Dr Retro so I don't want you all to spend too much time on this although I really really appreciate and welcome your advice. Thank you again oklouise, Lisa

Thanks again to all. Last week's meeting to thrash out some ideas led to this revised rough sketch... This gives us: -- more coats storage near the front door for visitors -- good size linen storage adjacent to laundry -- a 'drop zone' adjacent to kitchen (near the door into bedroom) -- 1800mm high wall between ensuite shower and toilet, to eliminate overspray (and provide location for future grab rail) -- possible bathtub in a great location, although I think we'll go without it, and have an internal rockery/fernery at the southern edge of the the ensuite shower recess in lieu, combined with skylight overhead (I love the fantasy of feeling like I'm showering 'outdoors') -- revised kitchen/dining/living arrangement that still gives room for BIG island bench -- possible ramp access, although still need to figure out best configuration/location -- move electric golf cart to standalone 'shelter shed' located to rear, to allow more usable space in garage