Your ideas here, have really helped make this journey for me a little easier to handle. Your right about the white gutters, i can see what you mean about toning it down, can i paint over the garage door? also are the fence pics you supplied what you mean about a modern picket fence?

I would spend the money repainting the gutters, facades and changing the columns.

Your front yard is great , just needs a bit more planting.

what can you see there in regards to planting?

I eould have the spouting the same colour as the roof. As for a white pikket fence, no!! Go for a plaster fence the same colour as your house with dark slats and a gate to match.

Do you use the grass in your front yard. If not would you consider making most if not all of it garden. Also are you in sandy soil?

John Henson - I love that fence!

This may be a nice idea... ill check this fence out a bit more. I want to make a path up to the door as well and will need planting to do this.

Have you thought about gabbion baskets - I recently saw a front fence with the baskets used as the pillars with Colourbond infills - incorporte the letter box into the fence - you could choose the colour of the rocks to fill the baskets - you could use pickets instead of the Colourbond - I think this would go really well with the fourth picture of the paving

1. I haven't got a photo of that particular fence but if you google "gabion wall design" there are lots of interesting ideas using all sorts of fillings

If you are wanting to improve security, the less solid the fence is, the better. Fencing that screens intruders from the street actually decreases security, because you completely lose the casual surveillance that would normally be possible from neighbours and passers by. If you want to create a visual barrier, keep any solid part of the fence very low, and have light railings such as steel, above that.

"Fencing that screens intruders from the street actually decreases security" I was going to say that. The other thing I wanted to say was in reply to "what do i do about the dirty concrete look? spray paint it". I'm not sure what sort of painting was intended but beware of ongoing maintenance, have it pressure cleaned first and then see what you think. But then I noticed the question was posted a year ago. I wonder what the poster did?

Your budget isnt big so you need to choose carefully what you plan to do.

The driveway is fine and it is pale grey. I would pick up this grey and use your money to get new garage doors that are a darker grey than the driveway.

The gutters and posts are too white; you could consider using a 50% reduced colour of the garage doors as the guttering and post colour. In later years, I would then change the roof colour to grey. But the guttering, posts and garage doors may fit within your budget. Forget the rest - they aren't important.

Putting fencing up is going to make your front yard look smaller. I like the openness of the space.