Hi colourgirl3, You have good bones to work with there. I would caution against a dark colour roof - maybe Colorbond Gull grey instead. Often you can get good articulation with dark colours for gutters (charcoal) and lighter colour for fascia boards (Gull grey) and a darker grey for timber posts and features (Dulux 'Asteroid'). Greys will work with your existing face brickwork and window colours. If in doubt go to your local paint centre with a digital pic of the house and see if you can get them to give you some suggestions on their computer program or do it yourself by downloading one from a paint website.

I agree with GPG - if you can increase the window size and update to a modern frame (black in keeping with the image you included) it would make a big difference to the look. You could also install some external shutters. I would update the garage doors with something minimal and replace the latticework at the bottom with a modern timber screen (remove the unnecessary lattice at the top). I would be careful of introducing too many horizontal lines though! Think about a solid colour garage door and maybe update the handrail to glass.

Kill two birds with one stone and replace the balustrade with a full length, double sided cabinet. This will blur the height difference between the rooms while creating more if a sense of the two rooms working independently of each other, and provide a place for interesting piece or two on the top(like sculpture). In the process, you could ensure the traffic flow and furniture of the rooms works best with the passage to the lounge where it is, and if not, decide where it works best and build the cabinet either side of the passage.

You say this is a 1990's house . Its made to look like a 1930's house at present . To make it look 'modern' would take a lot of work , and IMO destroy the character of the house . Embrace what it is , tidy it and change the focus slightly , but personally I wouldn't take off the scrolls and those little posts , or even the walkway roof . Just my opinion , but if you want modern , you sell what you have and buy a modern place in grey on grey on grey , with charcoal -- there are more than enough unique points on this house that you either embrace it or you sell it .