Don't paint the brick. Keep the vintage look.

Maybe spray roof a grey. However I would open up the garden with appropriate landscaping and then decide what colour for around Windows and front door. By the way, I love the facade.

I'd leave the bricks ..gives it character..paint your trims and spray your roof if you want..use the money to landscape..I'd get rid of the bushes and hedge and start again..they look like they are crowding your house..

Thanks everyone for their thoughts. We do love the character of the house as well and I think landscaping will be a big way for us to improve the overall look - Vy, the word "crowding" is perfect to describe how the plants look now.

John Henson - yes, the portico is concrete and we won't be able to extend (the pole is actually a drain pipe too!). A builder friend said "don't touch it!" for all of the problems that could cause. I tend to agree with you about spraying the roof tiles as well, it can look tacky.

Further things for consideration:

We need to recap the stone capping on the porch and will also update the tiles on the porch. Any recommendations on a material that is more attractive, but somewhat in keeping with the character of the home?

What are people's thoughts on black door (with more windows to let the light in), leaving the windows white or painting them black as well? John Henson - your first example of the brick home with black trim has made me consider this.

Thanks again - always good to get some perspective and push our thinking.

What a gorgeous house. Love the brick colour and roof colour. I would't render it, obviously wasn't rendered to begin with. Keep it as true to it's Art Deco originality as possible. Nothing worse (in my opinion anyway) then a period house façade that has been 'modernised' and becomes a mish mash of styles! I think black trim on windows etc would look nice though.

Repaint trims white as they are now. Restore frames and timber if deteriorated. Black trims could be an option as suggested but white looks cleaner to me.

Repoint bricks as suggested. Pressure clean will make a big difference.

Many of these era dwellings were either face brick or rendered or some a combination. But yours is face brick so run with that. Painting costs money as does the initial render so use that money somewhere else, its not a necessity to spent it here.

Roof tiles with the moss are sought after so keep yours as is! Just repair as necessary. I'd have a good look at the roof behind the parapet and see how its going. They trap leaves like you wouldn't believe!

Really just an external renovation will brighten this fantastic house up. Front door looks great but the flyscreen door look like a modern add on. Find an original style one that was around the same era as the house or a reproduction perhaps.

I'd have a landscape designer come up with something as this is all it really needs aside from some maintenance work and a bit of renovation.

I agree about keeping windows white. I think the black windows in the photo above work because of the black feature stripe on the facade and the black tiles on the sills. Also the windows are quite different. Keep white for your sash window, IMO. :)

@wuff - we plan to keep the sash Windows, although they need some sanding back and repainting. Aren't cement porches interesting? Ours doesn't leak, thanks goodness (touch wood), but the drip line underneath has been painted over too many times and is not almost non existent so that the rain runs under too far (!) it's also on the list of things to improve.

Again - thanks everyone for your ideas and opinions. We are at - keep white Windows, black trim (including porch and pipe), and black door and replace with security door more in line with the home. Repoint and clean the bricks. Landscaping has moved up a notch in terms of priorities and my googling /houzzing/pinteresting (they are all verbs, right?!) has been in full gear today.

Wonderful!

All really great ideas listed here. For my two cents worth, as mentioned previously, a good pressure clean to the entire house would make a really big difference. Keep the brickwork, roof and front door a dark grey colour and white trims for windows, front door and porch. Remove the curved brick at front entrance and extend entry the entire width of porch. Two pathways, a wider front path, in line with front door, extending to front fence and a side path, leading from right hand side driveway, accessing porch from the side. Clear existing plants and shrubs and let your house shine and with some innovative landscaping ideas, your home will have a new lease on life. Great home.

I thought I would post a photo of the state our cement veranda, our original poles were clad in some fibre cement to make them something else, we have changed them back to what originally would have been in place, we walked around the neighbourhood looking at similar homes that have been redone well. Our neighbours have across the road has the full Art Deco round with all the lovely details but they are having a hell of a time trying to stop the fretting because of the poor drainage on the roof...I am still sad about removing sash original Windows, as you can see there is a modern door onto veranda, this was already in when we purchased the house, we can only assume that sash windows were there as well ..we did save the veranda, the builder wanted to knock it off as well, we may have had the wrong builder for our home. I am so glad you are able to retain your original features. Good luck and I would love to see your updates

Don't worry, Wuff, my parents haven't changed their French doors on their MCM home, and they look just like yours.

Love this house as is but would choose to render. Then the garden!!!!!!

Remove the tatty hedge and have a look at the sort of gardens that went with that era. Green and white always look great.

@wuff - thanks for sharing the picture. We don't have many houses near us that are the same style (art deco built in the mid-century) - so it is nice to see another verandah like ours. I am glad you have kept it. It looks like you may have what was once a drip line underneath the cement? About 10 cms in? Ours is faintly still there - it's an indent to make the rain drop off vs running underneath. Ours needs to be sanded back and the drip line brought back. Also - our pole, like I said, is actually a drain. I am not sure how much structural support it is giving at the moment...

I would love to see a wider shot of your front if possible - are you going to be doing more to it? I'll keep you updated...but everything is part of a bigger picture at the moment.

So many comments about the landscaping (which I know is currently hideous), and putting in something more of the era. I am stuck though - what is that era? Any ideas as a starting point for plants? We have an art deco brick house built in the mid-century...every time I google, I get such a mix of styles. We will use a landscape designer to assist us (best investment ever the last time we needed landscape help), but to help me start envisioning what it could look like, any thoughts would be appreciated!

Hi marie4509, after looking at a lot of art-deco homes in Australia to get some landscaping inspiration, there seems to be an overlapping theme of rose bushes, cottage style gardens, interspersed with conifers. Mind you, a garden can be anything you would like it to be. Just go with your intuition and do what will please you. Consider colour, types of plants, trees and shrubs you like, maintenance issues, and what will blend well with your choice of fencing and pathway materials. It is after all your home and should be a representation of you.

Great ideas @Day Bukh - you are spot on with indigenous plants. I already have a 200ft gum tree just to the right of the house in our front yard. No need to plant one! I do think concrete would look good and be more in keeping with the house too.

Front at handover what were we thinking, Marie, I just love your home front. I love our floor boards and that the house doesn't have a cement pad, for some reason I find that cool, not common in WA with modern homes

@wuff - you have done so much (I also checked out your before and afters), and such a great job. Your porch now just looks amazing vs this photo. I do think your wooden boards look good with the step down to the garden from the open space. We will keep the surrounding brick low wall around our porch, so I think a tile or cement would work better for us. Thanks for your comments about our home's facade - I loved the look when we bought it and my husband was keen to try and change the structure / look of the building, but he has grown to love it as well. It has character. We also have a curved wall on the inside, which carries through the style to the interior.

We have a curved garden wall as well, but has our house number on it, it all ties it in from the road, still cross I took out those sash Windows

Thanks for positive comments, we have completely changed the pink room to a sitting room. In a different colour .. The house has given us a new lease on life, we are enjoying the process

I would render the forward wall only and add as part of the landscape a painted white pergola and repaint windows white, clean the bricks and restyle the garden, and re-point the terracotta roof tiles that is certainly really it needs without knowing more about your lifestyle needs

Australia has nice examples of painted and rendered Art Deco homes. If it was a different kind of brick I would say keep it, but I think painting/rendering would really brighten the place. I love the windows. Although all pics here don't exactly match your style, they are all of that era. As mentioned in above comments, there are mix of landscaping styles that suit from conifer/gravel/grass to cottage rose garden to an Australian native garden. Do what reflects you and how much time you have for your garden.

Another pic for paint and entry colours

It's gorgeous, don't render! The brick has so much texture where as render makes everything flat, plus you need to keep re painting. A good wash would greatly improve it!