I've not been a fan of rendering unless the bricks are mismatched such as on a major renovation. Or if the bricks are a painfully awful combination of colours.

Personally I'd render yours due to the poor brick colour choice/s. Not really a quality bricky way to lay bricks on end where you can see the holes either..... Shame really as brickwork does look good when done properly.

I would still paint the render though even costing more it has a lot of advantages such as lasting longer, colour choice, the colour stays the same where an oxide can change when wet from rain, etc.. Find a good renderer and be very careful as some won't mix the render correctly or even get it on properly..... The old school Italians (in many cases) were/are very good renderers.

You have some lovely big windows Stacey. Have you thought of incorporating some miniorb cladding over your existing bricks? If so, replacing the decorative balustrade design with simple marine grade steel would update the front of your house as well. It was the first thing I noticed but easily fixed. Because of your natural outlook I would perhaps paint your veranda posts a gum leaf green or soft grey/green colour together with the window frames. Because the circular deck and stairs are also a dominant feature I would perhaps render the circular brick or plant a simple fine leaf ivy that will sucker into the brick and soften the whole circular structure. And perhaps replace or redo your entrance stairs with a dark grey modwood which is indestructible in your bushland environment.

And perhaps ditch the white paint!

I like the render idea. If you had it done white and then painted all the ironwork black, it would look very Miami Beach Art Deco.

The Bricks are OK, if you like them, keep that round feature deck in the brick and render the rest, or stone clad the feature and render the rest, or cheapest of all just paint the rest in a dark warm neutral and render the round feature in a lighter but similar tone. You have the windows to consider. If you changed the colour of them you could also change the overall colour scheme from warm to cool. Although a black and white scheme is current, it looks better on timber houses and in suburban and inner city areas in my opinion. There are lots of different elements to your house which would look more integrated if you chose a warm colour scheme with a maximum of 3 colours. You can even make the bricks work if you paint upstairs a warmer colour to match them and changed the tiles and front steps to wood. Wood integrates everything in a warm colour scheme.