Hello Down Under! I love your house. Beautiful and I agree with keeping the color. Really nice. How about replacing the metal staircase with a nice raised deck to fill in that space and give a place to sit and put plants. Then turn the stairs toward the street to make them more inviting. Wooden stairs. As for landscaping after that, well, how about some of those fabulous English borders with lots of perennials? Replace metal awning with wood? Or fabric? Also, if I were you, I would keep the fence. It is ugly but it has great value --especially if you have a dog. How about planting English ivy all along the fence. We have it in our yard growing on a large rock and by the second year it was taking over. This can cover your fence completely and make it look, well, English. It will even grow up the cinder block wall--if you can handle that much ivy. There are some pretty green and white ivy varieties that would look great with your house color. I have another one here that is pale green and white. Not a fast grower but very pretty. Anyway, great house. All the best!

Beautiful work! This is an amazing renovation..

Sorry but the original facade has more character. Each to their own. Just a shame that many period houses in Melbourne's eastern suburbs are being knocked down or renovated beyond recognition of their era. They might as well knocked this house down and built an off the shelf house. And yes I live in a period home, lovingly renovated with all the modern comforts while honouring the craftsmanship. It's not difficult when you make an effort.

it's a gorgeous home with lovely garden and well worth upgrading but your proposal adds about 25 sq m of extra floor area but will lose much of the valuable original charm without creating much more usable space eg converting the front verandah would be more expensive than adding a new room of the same size because the old floor, walls, ceiling and roof would have to be completely replaced, the office is too small to be called a fourth bedroom and reduces useable living area and etc...my suggestion includes a simple 36sqm extension with matching wall cladding at the same floor height with a skillion ("flat") roof matching the height and angle of the front verandah and includes two bedrooms and a bathroom..the existing master bedroom is opened up to the old dining area and the backyard, the old living area is a separate lounge or private dining room, the existing baby's room becomes a (small bedroom sized) office... add a new carport (recycle the old carport?) with tall posts to be higher than the kitchen window and towards the rear of the house with covered access through the laundry and the original front verandah (with repairs) and the fabulous palm remain unchanged...despite being a bigger renovation than planned, this extension will be a much better investment, will look more original and can be completed in stages as funds allow ..discuss with builders and real estate agents for quotes and opinions this is a very rough image of the extension from the front