I do love a zinc roof, it will age beautifully and goes with everything. From soft country cottage to sea breeze blue hamptons style maybe you'd feel more comfortable . If you like both and are unsure which way you lean, a soft dove grey, or duck egg grey which has soft blue through it looks beautiful with white trims and details, as it mimics the horizon. Look at your neighborhood to make sure yours isn't s sore thumb! :)

Are you sure the roof is stainless steel?? That is VERY expensive and only used in very exposed corrosive coastal locations since it lasts forever. I think it might be Zincalume, a low cost but very durable and very common roofing material that has a light silvery surface and should last for 50 years. Definitely do NOT paint the roof black (or any dark colour), it would add more than 10° to the internal heat load, and you would have to spend so much more on insulation and on-going AC costs just to get back to where you are now. Have the roof checked and repaired by a roof plumber instead. If it's an old leaky galvanised iron roof at the end of it's days, replace it with zincalume. The porch roof looks like it needs replacing, but I would replace it with new roofing, possibly the insulated sandwich panel kind, that has a smooth white underside, then add a gutter to the front edge so you don't make your visitors walk under a waterfall in the rain. The canvas awning suggested earlier would not last as long without looking tired and would require the removal of existing roof structure, so I think it would be the more costly option (and you would still have the waterfall problem). I would leave the front fence as is, it ties in nicely with the house, but trim the tree. The back deck could easily be roofed to match the front, and be more useful to tenants with weather protection. It would be good to make all trim colours the same, and against the cream brick I think the dark grey you have on the front door and columns works quite well. I would make the other windows and trim, as well as the weatherboards over the back door match that if it just involves painting. However, it's not essential and if it means changing powdercoat finishes it would be too costly to be worthwhile in a rental.

Without knowing where your house is and the climate So climate permitting I would open up the the house from the front living/lounge right through to the rear kitchen deck removing the doors as I have shown and creating one long family room. Don't keep those views for when you have visitors or when you might use that front room, I believe in using the whole house everyday not just for special occasions, It's a bit like saving the best crockery for special occasions The current Living room is perfect as that, which can be closed off during the evening and left open during the day letting light and easterly morning sun in through those beautiful windows. I count myself very lucky to have water views, my house opens up to this which is such a lovely calming outlook that I never tire of. As has been revealed you have a beautiful house with more rooms than were expected and find it hard to go with a combined laundry pantry with so much available space. The new kitchen needs to balance with the number of rooms and size of your house. It's OK to change your mind it's your house and better to do so now before anything is finally locked in.

Ashjean I have had a play with your house and suggest the following very basic layout at this time to see if you like it I would have the garage on the Battleaxe drive way along with laundry, bathroom and study, this could be built on the boundary with the eaves on this side reduced if needed, Windows would be high light up under any eaves. I suggest that the bedrooms are on the western boundary which will be quieter and cooler with plantings, the hard surfaces of the driveways will store any day time heat that will be released over night Keeping the floorplan simple with removing the extra passage to separate the bedrooms and bathroom and using a simple roof without too many extra ridges will save you money. Can you please confirm the front width of your block and the length