Hi Sally, I suggest you post you question again in the Design Dilemma sub-forum. You'll probably get a lot more advice there. Good luck!

Wow now we can see the front, I think you should use the double garage for parking with side access to the garden to unload shopping etc. Remove the other roller door and carport, replace the carport with a pergola,. As previously suggested make lovely garden path access from the new front gate which would be to the left side of the picket fence, , Run another courtyard fence off the garage so that you can plant this area and include a clothes line, this now the rear entrance to the house. At the end of the new pathway to the lane side of the house, extend the deck and add stairs so that you come from the pathway up onto the deck on the old carport side. All that parking drive way parking space could be a lovely out door area. Paint the garage doors and gutters on both buildings grey to match your roof.Use a fence similar to this with a gate at the front and between the neighbours to the left. cheers,

Design inherently involves weighing up options against priorities within certain limitations/conditions/contexts. Structural integrity for the building needs to be addressed/managed either way and there are appropriate regulations/processes in place to ensure this occurs in order to achieve building approval ......the question here is more what do you want it to look like - ie do you want internal brickwork or plasterboard? You can manage termite risk or fire risk in various ways/methods.....best you balance/work through all this with the design professional you are working with or discuss some of the pro's & cons & cost differences of certain specification one way or the other with a local builder if you can

my suggestions includes cleaning all the brick walls and paving and repair any damaged pointing and grout, extending the roof sideways over a new garage without the Dutch gable, clean and paint the roof tiles in a mid colour or consider replacing tiles with Colorbond Steel for a more long lasting fix and opportunity to upgrade roof insulation, replace gutters in a dark colour and downpipes to match the brick colour, replace the steel fence with simple horizontal rails (and/or raise a solid brick fence to maximum height and render in the darkest fence colour) add Plantation shutters or venetians to allow light inside while retaining privacy and use Kate's idea of the pergola across the rear, add generous outdoor furniture to make an outdoor entertaining area, paint the garden retaining walls and fences in a darker version of the new gutter colour and fill the garden beds with shrubs to block out fences and neighbouring houses, keep the big palms and add some big shrubs and more palms to the front yard and paint the front door in the darkest version of the new gutter colour and what are the flat panels on the outside rear wall??