They've made a comeback Felicia ;) Yes, please post photo if you can. An easy change is to white wash it. Otherwise, plasterboard over the top of want to get rid of look altogether. You might find [this discussion[(https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/want-to-achieve-a-soft-rendered-look-for-internal-brick-walls-dsvw-vd~1200219) of interest. It came up in the side bar of Related Topics.

imo the biggest challenge/cost would be removing all those big solid walls, changing doors and windows and repairing ceilings and not the extra plumbing (new bathrooms and kitchen cabinets, fixtures and appliances cost the same regardless of the extra few metres of pipes) and a new location can make the most of the available space but it can sometimes be more cost effective to add an extension rather than attempting to squeeze too much into an existing building but you need an engineer, builder and plumber to give expert advice on site ... better not to assume that one option is better than another but collect a variety of ideas and ask for quotes to compare actual prices but do you have a realistic budget? i would expect to pay at least $50,000 for a modest new kitchen and bathroom in the same locations before removing any walls or adding an extra bathroom and new laundry and the combined ens/wiw is too small and would be better to have a good sized ensuite with biw and there's not enough space for a bigger island without compromising space in the family dining area...there are so many different options but we need more info...are there any good or bad views, what is the length and width of the block, is there a garage, is there car access into the back yard, what is the distance from the house to each boundary, describe your climate, where is north on the plans, how many steps are there from the back and front doors to the ground, does the block slope and in which direction, how much headroom is under the house and in the roof space...is there any potential for an upstairs, downstairs or an extension into the backyard?

Having the dining table on front of the windows like you suggested won’t be an option I think. We tried and it looks awkward especially because we won’t get a 3 Meter table in there without looking overly crowded. Additionally we were thinking dying sliding doors towards the garden there and having an outdoor lounge area. The dining table would then block access. However we noticed that off cantering the dining table under the bulkhead doesn’t look too bad. And a solution for the dining table light could be a straight light with two suspensions left and right of the bulkhead.

<div><a rel='follow' href='https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/moraga-residence-midcentury-living-room-san-francisco-phvw-vp~58419' target='_blank'><img src='https://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/pictures/living-rooms/moraga-residence-jennifer-weiss-architecture-img~16019b400c23f839_8-2673-1-d1d156d.jpg' alt='' border=0 width='500' height='750' nopin='nopin' ondragstart='return false;' onselectstart='return false;' oncontextmenu='return false;'/></a></div><div style='color:#444;'><small><a style="text-decoration:none;color:#444;" href="https://www.houzz.com.au/hznb/professionals/architects/jennifer-weiss-architecture-pfvwus-pf~880898489" target="_blank">Photo by Jennifer Weiss Architecture</a> - <a style="text-decoration:none;color:#444;" href="https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/living-room-design-photos-phbr0-bp~t_10702" target="_blank">Discover living room design ideas</a></small></div>