What kind of budget do you have? This does need work.

which direction does this elevation face?

what state are you in?

Subject to the internal layout of your home, I would consider building a new entry area and designing the staircase as an internal feature and completely removing the external stairs from your elevation. This would certainly give an updated and modern appearance to the home. The living area being upstairs doesn't limit you to having external stairs. We design many homes with the living areas to the upper floor, especially coastal homes. Again this is of course subject to the cost and extent that you would like to redevelop your home.

Ah, that certainly helps. Then maybe consider building a large facade just to hi- lite the upper entry area, a new staircase wrapping around a planter and a solid pier to the left side of the balcony possibly clad in stone will lift, modernise and balance out the elevation.

I would put a 1 to 1 1/2 metre deep verandah right across the second storey. No deeper or you will stop Winter sun. I would change one of the upstairs Windows to a set of French doors. Can do it on one of the lower Windows too, depending on the room function.

Hi St Bri, painting the roof would save on costs and allow you to spend elsewhere. As per tribbletrouble, you could add a solar pergola over the right side of the home to protect the Windows, it wouldn't need to be full cover just timber angled to suit the summer sun but allow the winter sun through, again chunky piers to support the solar pergola would dress up the frontage further. The front of your home due to being square would finish very modern :). Julie

Render would be great but is quite labour intensive. Landscaping and good lighting can go a long way. A colour consultant would be able to help a lot on this.

Hi St Bri - Certainly has potential, there a few things that you might like to consider;

1. I think the advice given so for is quite excellent, certainly a lot of variations, you might have to check your planning and building Regulations for some of the my advice and the above advice.
2. I would keep the stair and enclose it with a roof slope that follows the original slope and provide a glass and timber enclosure with bottom interior plants landscaping and lighting to suit
3. I would extend the roof downwards over the windows to get good summer shading but allowing for winter sun.
4. Depending on your requirements and space allocation and existing windows placement I would think of bringing the garage forward inline with the house to give a more articulated feeling to the abrupt edge that you have on the driveway elevation.

There are many more possibilities especially with good landscaping however you would need a competent existing conditions drawings and then some good sketch plan ideas with computer generated images would help a lot, and not that expensive, as they say "those that fail to plan, plan to fail". What ever you do, I would not do it "bit by bit" I would have a Design that you are happy with, then maybe you would stage each step depending on budget, life commitments and living arrangements.

Micheal Manias

Manias Associates

Building Designers

Depending on budget - paint the roof and the trim first and add extended awnings in a solid colour for the upstairs patio area and windows to ground the look - you could also extend it over the stairs to give yourself some weather protection. If you've got a bigger budget add changing the stairs so that the ground floor set of steps are viewable from the street so that it gives your visitors the "go up the stairs" message - at that time change the railings to something more modern such as glass that will open the space that space or enclose it in glass with an aluminium/steel railing to tie in with your white and grey theme. Putting some work into your landscaping is also a super cost effective way to modernize your front cheaply (especially if you go from seed or cuttings from friends and family).

Hi, have you considered Dulux texture paint for the brick in a light grey, and then picking out the ballstrades and window frames in white exterior paint? Paint the roof charcoal. Pressure wash the drive and get a couple of oversized pots with some greenery. You can try to get the grass to grow nice and green and plant some low-cost yukkas along the rock edging and/or around the base of the stairs to cover/disguise the gap under the stairs. (you don't even need to buy them, just snap off stalks from friends etc, wait a week, dip in some honey and then plant them). If you feel up to it, mix concrete and create a little rockery from your existing rocks, with gaps for hardy flowers. Are those yellowish tiles on the stairs? I would replace them with non-slip charcoal exterior tiles to match the roof.

Whoops liked my own comment by accident, haha.

Thanks wuff I tried but it doesn't seem to go away ;)'

if you love grey and white then I say go for it - paint the bricks white and get the roof cleaned up and paint that grey. If you have money, I would build a large deck across the entire front of the property or at least near the door and have steps coming down off the deck. I think a lovely out door seating area on the deck will also change the entire front view of the house. I would also get rid of the stones on the drive way and put a small retaining wall up with plants along the top rim. You could also paint the retaining the same grey as the roof.

Your house could best be described as an ugly duckling but with imagination and a good chunk of moo-la could be made into a swan. From my experience people renovating that say they don't really have a budget usually have a fairly limited one so you need to decide which area you want to start with and how much you want to spend. If the inside is original and laid out like the windows suggest you probably want to start there. If your happy with the inside defiantly make that ugly ducking molt, with a new roof, render, large sliding doors opening onto decking set at different levels, make these areas large to accommodate outdoor entertaining, barbie and spar

Render it MAYBE. Remove the orange bathroom tiles. Replace the rocks with a clean edge.

Emphasise the vertical lines of the walls of brick and the vertical lines that the window can form, being one on top of the other. Vertical narrow pencil trees (? name)

I think that God gave you steps for a reason. You might put narrow pencil conifers at the front corners of that, too. If you remove the steps, you will be broke, and you will replace them with an even uglier diagonal set of steps. There is no other diagonal on the house.

De-emphasise the horisontal. So, if the windows are going to be different colours, have them match one above the other. Use curtains with wide stripes. Do not emphasise the horisontal lines above the windows or the floor of the upstairs landing.

Have the edge of the concrete straight, and in line with the house.

Get rid of that insipid ---- under, and around, the stairs. This house represents the jet age. You need it clean.

Alternatively, don't worry about it. Save your money, or spend the money on an amazing experience. It is hard for a house to look amazing if it is below street level. That is why you do not see houses in magazines below street level (as far as I know.) If you save money so you don't have money worries, there will be more love in the house and that will be more important that the appearance. If you have children, they will not give a ---- about the decoration. At all!!!