You need pop.... I do not think gray would give you enough. Maybe you could paint the door red and replace the awning with something more refined. if you could find some of the of the same or coordinating bricks from the chimney then you could make two poles out of them and a wooden roof painted white. Or for a less costly route just paint the door some vibrant color an all the trim a nice clean white. You could also get some potted plants for a little more color.

If you have some furniture to start with, I would just use the basics for now and live in your home for at least 6 months - 12 is better - and get the feel of the house, the lighting, how the rooms are affected by heat and cold, decide how you are going to live in each room and what your needs will be. This will also help you determine traffic flow, which ultimately affects how your arrange your furniture. It is amazing how many times you can change your mind during this initial period. Most importantly, create your home for YOU, not to impress others, you are the one living in it and happiness comes from the peace and contentment you feel in your surroundings. In the meantime, look through photos on Houzz for ideas, save them in your ideas book for reference and use this to build your decorating.

I don't think there's any problem with that..I'm Asian and well to me fengshui is either practical or superstitious.. placement of the kitchen is practical.. in Asia the kitchen is at the back of the house as they cook with wooden/charcoal stoves and thus need a window /opened space for the smoke to escape.. in the West we can disregard that bit.. another practical one is never buy at a T intersection or below the roads etc superstitious ones are like you never buy land that's wider at the front than the back as money will go in and come back out etc or the front door lining up with the back door..same thing money goes in and then out..

Appreciate the thoughts and this may be a solid option elsewhere in the country but in my circumstances I don't plan to be moving from this property any time before the kids are 18. It is located in Sydney's inner west, and in a specific high school catchment I plan to take advantage of when the kids are older. Stamp duty to buy the property was close to $100k and if moving out even in ten years to a larger property; that averages $10k a year spent on stamp duty. I know 115m2 internal is tight, as is the fixed layout due to existing bedroom walls, ceiling heights, wet areas, and the like - but there has to be a way to make this work... I have read that 4 bedroom apartments should be 102m2 or bigger. I am willing to make compromises where possible but I really want to create that extra separate room "Multi-purpose room" which can double as a study/work area/kids play area/media room/ad-hoc sleeping accommodation". Paul Di Stefano: I don't think these changes essentially equate to 'rearranging a sock drawer' - this is my PPOR so I am not too concerned what other buyers want or resale value if I plan to hold the property for 10-20 years +... (any trends we design for now may well be outdated by then anyway). Many buyers highly value indoor-outdoor integration. By moving the kitchen to centre, it opens up the rear and creates indoor living->outdoor living link. If I get IKEA flatpack kitchen and DIY as much as possible - have a friend reroute the water/drainage/+his licenced electrical friend...hopefully this work would cost sub-$20k. Adding the sliding door to rear is $2.5k. Ensuite, bathroom and laundry I believe I can fitout for $10-15k all up- let's say 15k (again, tiling, raise flooring, showers/fixtures/flat pack laudnry cabinetry install all done in-house without tradies). The only thing I really need professionals for is to move the gas line in kitchen, BIR installs, stone benchtop, and maybe a few adhoc wall demo/construction/doorway moving - lets call that 10k. All up ballpark that is 47.5k? Sirius- If I go with your style plan then I lose the potential 4th bed space and have no where for relatives to stay, babysitter, nanny; etc :( Maybe it is a possibility that the main living space be used for lounge room and kitchen, we can always put dining table in the Multi-purpose room, then when that room is needed for sleeping accommodation, the dining table be moved to the side and kids can eat dinner on island bench bar; lounge or outside table... ? those doors to each side of the fireplace as you suggest - this space is very cramped outside (2.45m width) and potentially would be used to store trailer or garden shed, there is an old terrace built on zero-boundary there and they have a DA to go 2 storeys; which will shadow the whole area. This is why I planned to make the rear south corner a raised deck and try to channel house activity leading out the existing glass french door to that deck, or the rear sliding door. See photo-(my house is on the left, terrace zero boundary on right, and front on is a wooden dividing fence which on the opposite side is the driveway/1 car park and front street.