Something similar at an older place we are tiding up. You can make a great deal of difference without too much expense I am sure! We replaced the same balcony with timber vertical railings. It was about $4,500 for around three sides of the house and a large external staircase. In some ways it is better than the cables as kids can't climb them and it gives you a degree of privacy. I would like to do the gates in a horizontal timber of the same proportions, you could do the same with your carport sides Skip the shutters - unless the windows are even sizes they look silly. Hold onto the cladding you have until you can afford to do the windows. It also make sense to leave it as it is because in time there may be internal changes you would like to make that affect window sizing and placement. Paint over the bricks and the upstairs - go a dark grey blue with a light trim and a light grey blue for the garage doors. A timber trim around the windows could also look great.

Hi Lindel Love the design and view! There are a couple of solutions here, depending on what the requirements are (ie cost versus energy efficiency). To your original query, the Colorbond will give a better maintenance long term but obviously the energy efficiency is zilch. The structure behind needs to do the insulation work as well as be structural. From a cost point of view timber framing is cheaper but the wall insulation is limited. You can however use a structural insulated panel to be both the structure as well as the insulation for everything from the upper floor to the walls and roof.... We are doing an extension in this at present which will actually look like a 1930's character style to match the existing home. I'm not familiar with your BAL but we have found that when we get such high insulation ratings from the walls and roof it has usually enabled us to cover the losses from windows and given the ability to have larger windows without the need for double glazing. Regarding the timber, I would be considering an artificial product unless you want to do the maintenance. Cheers

If you are building a new house why don't you select a grey brick and match it with a grey render? It will be much cheaper than paying for bricks, then paying for paint and labour. Face brick without paint, is also a much better bet when looking at long term maintenance. Nothing is as horrid as when paint starts to peel/wear/chip off a cheap brick and reveal the colour underneath. Check out Adbri Masonry's range of grey bricks. There are other suppliers of grey bricks as well. http://www.adbrimasonry.com.au/homeowners/bricks-and-blocks/concrete/architectural-brick Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

Hi Jade and Lachlan - I recognise your beautiful home from my Dr Retro House Call to it. Love the new exterior paint colour for the fascia. So often this style of terrace didn't have properly engineered footings to the brickwork or thickness to the slab. Sometimes the cavity under the slab was even filled with building rubble before the slab was poured as it was easier to hide it the dispose of it! If there has ben movement in the past twelve months it may point to a change in moisture conditions in the soil, such as having a leaky water main out the front fixed, or having a large tree removed. A patch job is not going to fix it, especially if the movement continues. A local structural engineer may suggest some form of underpinning which will be expensive, and not rectify your balustrade height issue. Whether it is demolish and replace, or underpinning there is no cheap, quick easy fix. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls