I think the colour used on these cabinets is great. This is a colour which is unlikely to unsettle anyone who sees it and is teamed with very neutral walls and furnishings. This room looks modern, with a little retro or Scandinavian twist.I believe that if you really love a particular colour, why not use it as a colour block on cabinets. Just keep the main elements in the room neutral and the accent colours to a minimum, like the orange accent used here.

I wonder if you should look into this a lot further. I find it hard to believe that you can't sell a house in the kind of location you describe, walk away, and find a nice place maybe in one of the more peripheral areas, that will meet your requirements, give you cash in hand, and not touch your $100,000 nest egg. No, you certainly wouldn't end up in the inner city but you could end up in a situation that provides the facilities you need and gives you a financial cushion. That said, my real concern would be how to make this house workable for boarders while preserving your privacy. I think you need to provide a floor plan of what you have for anyone to make anything approaching informed advice.

This is an idea that will increase the usable space. Place the plants on one side to create the height and depth as mentioned in a comment earlier and then draw the timber closer together in an area to have extra sitting area. Between the others place plants like native violet that will cope with the shade. With extra space on the timber you can now have room for planters on the concrete. Paint the fence dark if you want but you could just cover with plants as it looks dark enough. Creepers like native wisteria could work. Local nursery will help as mentioned.

What a find! Most houses of this era in Sydney have been gutted and renovated or bulldozed. Agree with all previous comments on keeping the general era as is, just freshen up. Definitely do the left hand window, either a tart up or replacement. Only disadvantage with pulling up carpet for the (no doubt beautiful) floorboards is that they didn't exactly have the same building standards back then! There may be gaps between the tongue and groove, or patchy lengths if they were always going to carpet over the top. You will probably want to insulate under them too. Possible better to keep the carpet until you have the money set aside for any eventuality of replacement work. If you don't want to keep the interior trim timber, just make sure you sand back the layers of estapol that would have been put on the over the years. The original was probably an oil based stain with shellac over it and others would have been added over the top. Many undercoats or stain blockers or even ESP claim to 'cover up' old stain etc, but in the 6 houses I have done for myself, and 13 houses I have flipped, I have not seen any of them work properly. Colour from underneath still bleeds through. I use a Black & Decker mouse with 80 grit paper to rip the top off, then go back over it with 120 or 140 grit. Make sure you have a P2 mask on while doing it! It is a bit of work, but worth it in the long run. The finish will be smoother, the colour more uniform and you won't get bleed in the future. A Pascol undercoat on the trim, then Dulux Natural White (which is a soft white with warmth) low sheen on the walls and an Aquanamel in the same colour semi gloss (or gloss if you like that) for the trim. It is a colour that takes on the characteristics of whatever colours you put with it, unlike a stark white that screams against anything competing with it, or a tinted white that you need to compliment. As for landscaping, I agree with Annie Cass. Homes like this were of the traditional English era and were complimented by an English country garden. Quite formal with borders, roses and flowering shrubs. Very thirsty too! Annie's suggestions are the Australian version of that though you will have to keep the cyprus' down. They do grow quite tall and will block the view/sunlight from the front. The RHS of the driveway looks ripe for Jasminoides (star Jasmine. They require little are of soil for planting and little water once established. Green all year and have the most glorious scented white flowers. Unlike Ivy or some other climbers, they are not invasive. Run some steel cable along the fence through each of the uprights (drill holes and thread through with turnbuckles on the ends) for it to climb on. It will be the only thing you need down there as it should take off nicely with all that sun! Just make sure you poke the tendrils back and train them regularly to keep it on the wires and keep it trimmed back so as to not block your driveway. Most of all, have fun with it!