I see this is a very old thread , with lots of comments . I've just skim read them , but I haven't seen anyone suggest anything like my 'top-of-my-head' idea -- I love the wood , and the white contrast , but pretty boring . Whats your favourite colour , or what ties in with the other rooms ? It might be blue or red or yellow or orange or green , as examples . So paint the skirting board and around the door a pastel shade of your choice , and add a small 30cm x 30cm abstract painting featuring that colour as the primary dominant one , above ( or possibly below , or maybe even get 2 matching/complementary ones ) the control panel . One lighting crowd suggested glass shades -- I'd actually go for someothing large but wooden , in much the same shade as your floors and steps , with LED bulbs -- you can get some stunning ones around 80-100 cm in diameter ( sort of a star ball shape ) for $300-400 . Total budget then $500 plus a painter and maybe electrician , unless you DIY .

It is the ceiling and garden that are letting this picture down. The ceiling needs to be a colour that works with the colour of the bricks - currently it doesn't. The suggestion of the house numbers on the column is good - keep them big or you are wasting your time. But the garden is all wrong. The retaining wall is past its use-by-date and looks as tho it could be removed without the need to replace it. A garden of green would work without the need for any other colour as green against the colours in your home would work beautifully.

We have had the same dilemma with lighter multi colour bricks. We used an interior designer to help.... We painted large sheets of cardboard with colour and put them against the brick... Bought sample pots of colours as cheaper than making big mistake... Monument was recommended against our Sandstone & red/brown fleck bricks... No blue in sight. Other idea is to match a colour in your brick to draw out that colour as per the neighbourhood photo - take a brick to paint store to match. We will use red in brick as feature colour on garden walls.

I assume it is sitting on piles/stumps ( in NZ we can them piles ) -- like bigreader , I would do the decking all along that front , even if it was narrower , and take it around the corner ( I think that is what you are heading towards on one of your options , but I'd have it more uniform , with 90 degree corners rather than different angles and widths . Then I'd have the smaller entrance door flush -- in time , you could add a small clear roof over it , or a pergola full width of the house end , or 1.5 metres square -- basically , whatever suits your needs and style . You never know , in 5 years you might want to do stone columns or leave it as it is , and again like bigreader and dreamer say , it may hardly ever get used or it may need traffic lights it gets that much traffic haha . The other option ( and I'll expand on that in a sec ) would be to make the decision that you won't use it as a door , and put a window there -- that will allow you to put furniture or even your TV in that area . You can still have the deck around there , or you may just put a step or two at the end of the 'front' main terrace , and make that the main walking way . And the thing I'm getting to in a sec -- the windows on at least 2 of the bedrooms , and the hall sort of by default , don't seem big enough -- just a gut feeling that they'll be dark on an overcast day .