Hi. I assume you mean large tiles? 300mmm x 300mm? Try searching the Find A Pro section and limit your search to 'tiles' in Melbourne. http://www.houzz.com.au/professionals/s/tiles/c/Melbourne%2C-Victoria%2C-Australia

This is just like our Mediterranean house in Canberra. It was rendered white which never cracked or got mould on it, though I would prefer it to be done in a modern colour like our current home on the Gold Coast which is a rich sand colour with a heavy bagged appearance that has faded from a strong dark sand. With beautiful dark patterned orangey tiles all outside that reflect their colour on the walls during the day it is quite magical. Roof tiles also spray painted after being re pointed. I suggest you amplify the lovely quality of arches and don't go for what is trendy. But go with colour scheme for the house design. At our entrance there is a built up garden courtyard feature with wonderful iron gates and a large water feature in the courtyard that the lounge room looks out to and has the French doors that also opened onto the courtyard garden. Commence the courtyard wall to the left side of the steps and create a flat area at the gated entrance where we had a north single gate and a west double gate. The Pines were planted on the outside of this courtyard wall and gave extra privacy and blocked the westerly afternoon sun. The house always looked impressive, yet was just a simple presentation.

If you want to make the house hotter, then painting the roof charcoal will certainly achieve that. Repointing the brickwork is the most sensible from a maintenance perspective. Once you render and paint, then you have to keep painting (and it's likely to be out of fashion sooner or later). Try to keep passive cooling in mind (i.e. light colours & permeable landscaping) with any of your renovations, and I think it always pays to try and embrace and compliment the original architecture and be unique, rather than trying to look like the latest project home. In my opinion the arch window is actually quite cool, and the excellent mock-ups provided by Geo Toria are along the right track.

It is a great improvement . However I always laugh at all the before and after photo's on a lot of renovations on Houzz -- take the before photos on a dark day with the lights off ; do a reno ; take the after photos on a sunny day with every light ( and flash on the camera ) , and say how bright and breezy it looks ! It's like every weight loss 'con' -- the before photo in frumpy clothes with no smile and minimal lighting -- the after in a bright outfit , huge smile , feet 2 foot off the ground grabbing up for a beach ball , with lots of lighting !