Hi I have work in the building Industry for many years before venturing into Landscaping and Design. It come to this having a split level can be easy but you will need to think would you like to come up and down multi level home. I had a multi level home at Bonnells Bay (Newcastle) N.S.W. and found after living there for 5 year a bit of chore to go up and down the level so much. A single level flow better to go with a Alfresco Dinning experience, as if you have a guest at your house been entertain on the outside it make it hard to find a toilet if needed. I would say to your husband to weigh up the cost, it is simple and as follows a retaining wall of one level, can be anything from stone or besser block or timber. These element will be what you can afford to do, the stone and besser are the most expensive of the 3 but require the less maintenance and last the longest. Timber can be low cost, but has the tendency to decay over time and has a life span of no longer then 5-8 year, depending on environmental conditions. A retaining wall of that height of 1.5m, tend to need a engineering spec to built and so my advise is to go for the besser as it the cheaper then stone. if your are concern on look of the besser, it can dressed up with stone looking tile or there a number of option to go for. is to get the costing of doing a multi level home design. This can be costly too depend on if it going to be slab or bears and joist home, as the cost differ and different type of process have to happen. You got to ask yourself, is my house raise of the ground or is a slab that sit directly on the ground. to put it to you as simple as I can, for a slab need steel and pier to be dug and so on, so if this is the case then with your current house is siting on a cut and fill which is common for this type of slab construction. Where a Bearers and joist system sit on top of a raised pier that come off the ground. this is what a lot of the older style home have, the only thing about this not a lot of builder and trades people do not how to do this as it a dying art of constructing house. final option is to do a raise slab which raises like a retaining wall but in face bricks and a slab is pore on top but not seen form the outside and the face bricks continues As for the design of your house it all up to what you want for a house, you have to ask yourself can I use this for the long term or is something I want rather then need. Sometime we over compensate for thing and the saying in design is less tends to be best. a flowing design is a happy one and can be more of a chore to go with something that is wanted then needed. A little tip for your kitchen, make shore that the sink, stove and fridge are in a triangle form from each other as this flow the best when cooking. Any tip of knowledge on retaining wall just send me a message

As you are only looking for ideas perhaps a starting point would be a modern, square style of entrance that you could get ideas from. I couldn't find what I wanted exactly for a photo, but I think if you took points from this photo and adjust to your budget it might suit?? Eg. I think if you can get a nice wide door with a bit of glass on either side, it would really present well. Raising the height of the concrete at the front door with decking tiles or stone tiles depending on your style could really enhance. Concrete pavers you could even make yourself! They can be smaller or larger and if scaled right to the proportions of the house can make it a little more formal. As you have the driveway on the side, I would put a screen on the left and emphasise the left column making a feature of it as in the picture. The column on the right does not align with the entrance, I would not emphasise that column? But perhaps hard to gauge from one photo. If you went for wood this might be an idea.

Going through the photos these are my thoughts. - Personally I do not mind the contrast between the colours of the house but it is a strong contrast and might not be to everyone's taste. Do you dislike either of the colours? Changing either colour involves cost and possibly increased ongoing maintenance but if you hate the colour scheme you might feel it's worth it. - The change in driveway material is visually distracting. It looks like a tight turn into the driveway? As has been said, reducing the amount of gravel would help. I'm not sure what else you can do in the short term. - The PVC downpipe needs painting so that it doesn't stand out. - What is the tree on the corner of the house? I think when it gets bigger it will improve the kerb appeal. When it comes to landscaping sometimes what is needed is patience - Do you need the path to be so wide. If you don't need it for say trailer access or something like that I suggest extending the garden bed on the left further across towards the front door. - What is the upper lawn for? I lived in a rental property where I had to mow the lawn at the top of a sleeper retaining wall and if possible I would always design such things with a garden bed along the edge to avoid needing to mow right up to the wall. Bonus benefit, you can plant something to spill over the wall and soften it. - The plants in front of the garage look too large and random and distract from what is quite an interesting modern roofline. I see something like a larger garden bed with more variation in colour and texture, or perhaps more uniformity and one feature plant? And the house number on the brick wall in the same colour as the upper part of the house. - How's the drainage? I finally worked out what else was bothering me. Not strictly aesthetic. But it looks like you front door is not very high above the surrounding ground level? - I think the bush garden style with the rocks and strappy plants suits the house.

House has many good features, I love how the bedrooms are divided from the living area, that can be very important if you have young children. I even like how the door to the laundry is screened from the dining area - little things like that are important to me. The toilet in the bathroom would annoy me, but having the second toilet in the laundry would offset that. I think I would be inclined to close off the lounge room as a TV/Media room that would free up the general living area for just living. The outdoor areas look well planned with excellent access from the house. Oklouise's idea of relocating the kitchen looks an excellent idea but plumbing could be an issue here, firstly it would be expensive just to move the plumbing and something to be generally avoided with renovations, and secondly with rooms underneath the house, it may not be possible. As the kitchen is now, opening it more to the living room could be a good idea except I can see possible safety issues with the hotplates being exposed to passing traffic - especially with young children in the house. I agree with David - you do have to think about how you are going to live in the house and the lifestyle you envisage. For this reason, if you do decide to purchase, I would strongly suggest you live in the house for a year before doing a thing. That way the things that aren't working for you will become very obvious as well as things you need or would make life easier making decision making simpler. You will also get a feel for the lighting in the house, where it can be improved and the aspect of the house - what rooms may need warming (south facing rooms) or what rooms need cooling (west facing rooms).