the house already looks great ..my suggestions include no rendering, move the aircon out of site, clean all the brickwork, clean and consider resurfacing the driveway, is there enough width for a reversing bay close to the house? perhaps square up the arched gateway to match the carport? install a more solld looking letter box closer to the drive and lose the stepping stones, invest in double glazed windows and repair, replace or repaint all surfaces (keep the timber doors, with v dark grey or brown gutters and fascia, add matching coloured double glazed windows with smaller chair rails and then invest in new landscaping to update front garden (lose all the lawn and roses) and the facade will be gorgeous without spoiling the original design

What a lovely space!

Move aircon! or hide it at least. From there I would focus on breaking up and highlighting all the wonderful shapes and angles that your place already embodies. Different materials, colours and finishes will do this for you. I can see with gate and garage door that this has already begun.

The issue is that if you're planning to sell, unless you're doing a great substantial facelift like Cipriano have referenced, you'll often only get back what you've spent (and not including your time and energy!) so I think you're better to keep it simple,just freshen it up aesthetically and DIY as much as you can. Of course if there's anything functional that's shabby (guttering, the lattice etc) get a handyman to repair/replace.

Paint! I quite like the colour scheme, it works with the architecture which is hat you should do rather than mask or fight it! Fresh paint, even in a similar colour will always look great, so I'd do a similar dark blue/grey something like Dulux Ironstone. It'll look modern, works with your brickwork and the timber (which may also want a quick sand and re-stain).

Driveway - would look great painted which you can DIY economically. Berger or Dulux driveway paints are a great option and would make a huge difference. There's a range of colours which would really freshen it up. I would probably go for a light grey or a warm terracotta or warm earthy colour to spare it from looking to dark overall.

Then just spend a bit on landscaping, which again you can DIY. I would...

- buy a schmick new letterbox. As your house is quite set back and doesn't have a front fence, this will be the first thing you see and will make a good first impression. Something like this timber freestanding one will suit and reference the timber in your home. http://www.aussieclotheslines.com.au/perth-wa-clotheslines/WallPostMountedLetterboxes/modenaletterbox.aspx with some smart house numbers. I would even have a couple of plants next to it, the same ones as elsewhere in the garden (see below).

- Pay a gardener a few hours to give your trees and large shrubs a good hack back and neaten up (especially if you're not putting it on the market for a while). They're crowding the house too much, which makes it look darker and scarier than it needs to ; D

- take out the rose bushes everywhere. Your house is a contemporary (80s contemporary!) so your landscaping would look great to be in line with that - the cottagey roses etc don't work. Keep some of your shrubs that are more established as you need the greenery but add some new plantings. Choose say 5 key plants and plant in clusters a bit randomly in the garden bed along the front of the house, in the front kerbside garden bed, and even a couple next to the letterbox. These could include westringia, agave, Mexican Lily, raphiolepsis Oriental Pearl - these will all do ok even if it's in part shade and most have a pretty blue-grey foliage whihc will suit your brickwork and dark blue-grey paint and look contemporary. Then something like a sweet viburnum along the driveway side garden bed will grow to a nice boundary hedge. Try to buy the larger shrubs (viburnum, westringia a bit more advanced to add good filler). The feature plants like agave you can often buy second hand on gumtree from people wanting to change their gardens very cheaply.

- the air con unit - if you don't want to pay to have it moved then you'll need a great (hardy!) shrub in front of it (not too close, it'll get hot!) to hide it and even spray paint with your dark grey colour so it's camouflaged in the garden.

- Aerate and then buy some lawn seed that's suitable for oversowing such as Munn's Emerald, sprinkle it on this summer, water well every day and it should thicken up your front lawn beautifully.

- Finally dig up the little circle steppers to the letterbox.

- Just check it's clear where your front entry is, this helps a lot with first impressions too. If it's behind that gate, maybe some smart wall lights either side of the gate, or some plantings dotted along the edges of the adjacent garden beds along the path to the entry.

Quite a bit of work, but mostly all DIY and relatively inexpensive. I think it'll make a big difference to how your home presents itself.

I would hide air con unit behind timber panel (no higher than unit), ie just like your carport. Agree with landscaping advice.

I think your house looks lovely. Like the person above I would suggest hiding your air-conditioning unit or disguising it by clever planting (can you paint these units?). I would suggest making the trip to the letter box a little formal and maybe incorporating a garden between the letter box and the house. Prune the big trees back a bit (professionally) so they are above the house or give room for planting below. A few small shrubs with flowers will work wonders. Add some pots (that you can take to your new house). To be honest I would not spend a lot of money on this. People will fall in love with the house for what it is and what their vision is. Just keep the house clean (wash the outside if you need to), keep the garden weeded and the lawn mowed.

I agree with others, that the air con unit be hidden behind timber panelling to match carport door. The archway should be squared off, a new exposed aggregate driveway added and more gardens created. Many ideas can be gained from websites, garden centres and landscapers.

Speaking as someone desperately looking for a home to buy, do not spend large amounts of money on anything unless there are serious problems with any part of the house. There is nothing worse than looking at a home that has had serious money thrown at it and still the house does not meet my requirements meaning I would be paying for these updates and then have to spend more money undoing everything and bringing it to my needs and standards.

My best advice is to start now to attend all the open homes in your immediate area to gauge the condition of other properties, the size and attributes of them and the price they are asking and after the house is sold, check the price it actually got. All this information is online. Check features in the house to compare with yours and the whole presentation to help give your ideas when your sale time comes. Take your time with this and even start casual discussions with buyers on aspects of the home to get an idea of just what people are looking for in a home and also just how much people will check for flaws and issues in the home. You will also get insight into the age group and type of people buying into your area. Attend auctions to further gain insight into the demand in your area and again the type of people interested. I did this for over a year before I sold my home and when agents assumed I was an interested buyer and kept following up with calls, I told them I was "researching", they were impressed I was making this effort and I actually got a fantastic lot of help from them. It is not too early to even call agents in now to look at your home, value it and give you tips appropriate to your area and the type of buyers. The agents I dealt with actually appreciated me doing this to give more time for anything really urgent to be done and to help me present my home as well as possible.

Just on face value here though, definitely hide the air conditioner in some way (painting it if you can would be a great idea), but that garden area could maybe do with some smaller plantings to add some colour and the tree could possibly be thinned out a bit so it doesn't look intimidating or a possible threat to the structure of the house - that is the first thing people will be concerned about. In the 3 months I've been looking for a new home I am actually quite impressed with the extent buyers are looking at potential problems and issues with a house than how pretty it looks. Everything is about upkeep and maintenance. Otherwise just keep your garden and lawn weed free and fertilised so it is looking its best come sale time. Pressure wash the driveway to smarten it up. Basically buyers just seem to want gardens established and easy care with non threatening plants and from the front it looks like you have achieved this.

Focus on the inside too and ensure everything is as spotlessly clean as possible - yesterday I looked at a gorgeous house that looked spotless, until I opened a kitchen drawer and the bottom of it was thick with crumbs, fluff, dust and goodness knows what else, I just closed it very quickly, but it made me look much closer at all other areas of the house which also failed in this respect and had me wondering about the things I could not see and what vermin might be breeding out of sight attracted by this lack of cleanliness. These are the things that put buyers off or will reduce the price you are offered. Cleanliness is the most important thing when it comes to selling a house. A house that presents as immaculate is a house that is cared for and gives a buyer confidence the house has been well maintained Keep everything minimal in the house too so the house can shine so start culling now, this takes a lot of time.

Good luck with the sale, I hope you do well. I might add I had 24 potential buyers visit my home, 14 competitive buyers and I sold in 5 days $200K above the expected price.

I would go tuscan - render the house a light beige colour, remove the small wooden gate and replace with wrought iron, render above the windows and possibly fix those permanent window shutters on either side of the windows. YOu already have the curved look. I would even replace the small tree inbetween the garage and side gate with a water feature. And add more plants/flowers to the garden.

A rough photoshop job - resurfaced/painted driveway, wood letterbox/aircon screen to match existing woodwork, paint the fascade blue grey.

I can't for the life of me , work out why the air con unit would have been placed there in the first place . If it was a case that it was a 'package deal' including installation , and wanting the quickest and therefore cheapest install , the house owner would have been better to insist it be placed on the side wall , with the other half of the unit presumably directly inside . Taking Boyds comment then , I'd paint the unit ( maybe put cardboard cut to size over the fan covers etc before painting it . Brown similar to the bricks would be the obvious choice , or maybe a charcoal .

Waterblast the concrete , maybe chemical clean ? I think the roses are dated , but I wouldn't replace unless keeping the house .

The carport or garage , with galv roof , looks a newer addition . Paint it the same brown shades as the facia and roof on the house . As you are selling , maybe just do the front -- I doubt if someone will decide not to buy because the roof isn't painted , but painting the front facia board will create that visual 'one-ness' .

In the google pics , the left hand part of the wood looks a lighter shade -- maybe re-stain the entire wooden slats , or if jarrah or mahogony , varnish .

Don't think I'd go for a more solid mailbox ( who gets mail these days anyway haha ) as you are selling it , but I'd possibly move to the street front , and mabe do a small stone or bark garden with a few low , hardy plants and flaxes -- the letter box looks slightly 'orphaned' where it is .

I know this house and where it is, often walk by. You are so lucky to have it in such a fantastic location. I would consider upgrading the quality of the windows and frames. Move the aircon altogether. The tree - I cant remember what type it is, but it looks wrong in the position. I would get rid of it and focus on the garden. Plant a feature tree such as Poinceana in the main grounds so that you still get your shade. Order a mature one, 10 years old. Gardens and trees and landscaping are where a lot of the value is. Personally I would render and get rid of the garage and replace with a look that is in keeping with the roof of the house/ slanted.

Do keep it minimal - the house is attractive as is and if you render (a lot of work and expense), someone might be put off by upkeep or removing it to reveal brick. Attractive brick (which yours is) is easy on the eye and the maintenance. And yes, don't spend on things that someone might hate and which most likely won't add to the selling price. Attractive entrance, cleanliness and make sure painting of outside and windows looks neat. And garden is welcoming. Style won't appeal to everyone, but others will love it. People want to make their new house their own, so give them a canvas to do so, not a finished painting.

Rethinking Dilemna...since its not long before your house hits the market, don't think tree removal is easily doable, especially since you don't know what it's roots are like underground. You could open a whole can of worms. Just trimming the lower branches of both trees will improve the view of your house.

I still think there must be a way to obscure the view of air con unit from the road. How far away would a slatted Half-wall need to be to not in any way interfere with the running of the unit? Maybe Boyd Meagan can answer this question? Couldn't the slats be vertically angled to allow air flow?

Don't know cost of moving the unit, but a plumber or electrician would know, in case the above is not an option.

Between house and garage is a raised garden bed with small tree planted. Is it possible to plant a couple tallish bushes (or similar) on either side of tree without damaging tree roots? Otherwise a couple of tall pots with tall plants arranged in this area would help soften/obscure the transition between house's sloping roof and the relative flatness of garage roofing. Much cheaper proposition that a knock-down-rebuild of a garage.

Apologies, I didn't realise you were selling it as I thought you had just bought it.

Sounds like painting it is a risky business and it would not be a good selling point as any prospective buyer could pick up on this and the possible implications of it not having been done correctly.

In my search for a new home, I have seen so much dodgy building work it has made me highly suspicious of anything and everything. I'm meeting the same people at open homes and it is almost becoming a game between us spotting problems and quick fixes. This is why we have people fully employed inspecting homes for pest infestation and damage and structural integrity for buyers to fully know what they are buying. Issues found in these inspections are what makes or breaks a sale, they are the issues that can be ridiculously expensive to fix if they can be fixed at all.

We seem to have become fixated on presentation and prettiness, that MIGHT attract a buyer, but it does not sell a home. When people look for a home to buy they look for location, amenities in the area, size of the house and the accommodation it offers and amenities within the property. They are the things that can't be changed.

Your house is what it is, let a buyer just be grateful he has air conditioning already installed and leave him to decide how he wants to live with it. Maybe it won't be an issue at all, nothing is perfect and everyone has different ideas of perfection anyway. No realistic person expects perfection in a ready built home either there are always adjustments to make, things to be altered or upgraded and most people will factor this into their buying budget. Besides, the air conditioner does have a use by date and will need replacing eventually so a new owner can then decide where he wants it.

The most important thing people look for in a house is how liveable it is - can they move in, unpack their belongings and live. How will your home look when it is totally devoid of furniture and accessories? Think of moving day - an extremely stressful day at the best of times - can they put a meal in a spotlessly clean oven and cook it, can they jump in an immaculately clean shower, can their children play on a spotlessly clean carpet or other flooring, are the shelves in the cupboards pristine for things to be put straight away?? I know most of us still like to clean to our personal standards, but it is so much nicer not to have to start totally from scratch. If you have pets, offer to have your house fumigated prior to moving out and provide the buyers with a certificate so there are no issues with any allergies or cleanliness concerns. After checking the structural integrity of the house, these are the most important things to buyers - a walls can be repainted, flooring replaced, even kitchens and bathrooms upgraded to the buyer's own personal needs and gardens can be re-landscaped.

Excellent advise, olldroo.

Learning the hard way Ann, buying is far more frustrating and stressful than selling.

following olldroos comments i would much rather buy a home in original condition than anything freshly painted as the freshly painted surfaces are often used to cover a whole range of problems and, despite the expensive so called "building inspections" we've been regularly disappointed with problems overlooked and in fact one inspection identified a double brick concrete floored house as timber framed!!...i suggest we should always aim for quality work and make sure that homes are clean and tidy when selling and not try to disguise anything

I agree with olldroo - good advice. We've also spent over three years trying to find something suitable to downsize to, and being a buyer for that period teaches you a lot about possibilities. One thing we kept being told is not to replace a kitchen at great expense as too often, someone hates it and replaces. Being able to just move in and live (even if later you want to change things), a good structure, good condition, cleanliness all help. But it's things like location, the size and basic facilities of the house which sell it - other things might add to the price, but not be the major reason for purchase.

Couldn't agree more Louise, new anything in a home is going to increase its value, and while that is great for the vendor, it can also hinder a sale if all that work has to be redone at even more expense to the buyer. Thanks for the warning on building inspections - they definitely are expensive and I understand how limited they can actually be, but to get something so blatantly wrong is not acceptable.

Gosh, Jennifer, I thought my 3 months of looking was bad, I have been getting so frustrated. Like you too, I've looked at a lot of homes with a view to how I can make them work for me without overcapitalising. When you get out of the City and homes are much cheaper, there is not a lot of leeway for renovations. Unfortunately, because of family circumstances I can't actually downsize but I've just found a house that gives me the space I want, is in my ideal location but the design is compact for easy maintenance. Even better, it is 20 years old and has never had a thing done to it, even the garden has never been landscaped, so I have a clean slate to really create everything I want and I'm looking forward to that. .

Oh olldroo, sounds ideal. We weren't in a hurry as we love our current house (sold it about 10 days ago) and we wanted somewhere in the right location and with spaces that suited us (my husband would have stayed here forever and I understand - we've loved this house). Our new one is 30 years old. Many of the new builds had the pokiest living spaces with high quality black/white/grey/taupe finishes which we hated. So being able to make something ours was important. Luckily the garden is OK, but with a few things I can change to suit me without a huge outlay or work. But the original cheap builder installed kitchen with avocado bench tops was the ideal excuse for a new kitchen. Sometimes having something to change is a bonus rather than an impediment.

Yes, Jennifer, it is a wrench leaving a family home and I don't think my family will ever quite forgive me, but city living was just becoming too stifling, I felt I was losing my life with the time it took to go anywhere and the hassles of parking when I arrived. Public transport was seriously lacking, so a real sea change it was, amongst many other like minded people who have also "escaped".

I too find the new builds seriously boring, even layout and design is just a variation on a theme, there is just no creativity at all and I think this is highlighted by the fact a new build here can take months and months to sell. I l-o-v-e-d avocado bench tops, back in the 70s where they belong. It was my favourite colour. I'm hoping all the work I want to do on the house will help keep me active and alert too, we need to keep moving and thinking. Good luck with your new home, I hope you will be just as happy there.

Thanks for the good wishes - I hope you'll also enjoy your new place; I understand your reasons for moving. I think we'll be OK - we used to live in another townhouse in the same complex before we moved to our current house, and we loved the area and the layout, so at least we know what we're getting into.

I'm glad you found a suitable house, olldroo. And best wishes to you in your new home too, Jennifer.

Thanks Ann, just hoping now I don't get gazumped.

what a terrible thing to happen to you and the baby and i'm sure all HOUZZERS wish you peace and strength for the future

Oh Jessica, I'm so sorry to hear that. Such a big project for you to undertake on your own with a baby so I hope all goes really well for you. Do let us know how things go. Prayers.

Jessica, I too am so very sorry for your loss, and for your baby's. Thank you for sharing that with us, such a very hard thing to do. Please know you are in my thoughts and prayers. Take good care. I am glad you have your parents' support and love. Keep posting us. You are not alone.

Yes, with the others, I'm so sorry to hear of the death of your husband. Best wishes for you and the baby and I hope it all goes well for you.

Like everyone , sorry to hear of your loss .

What I can't quite understand though , is that if you are looking to sell in a few months , why have you added the expense of a pool and then landscaping on top ? Maybe it's just me , but due to the upkeep , I wouldn't pay extra for a pool , especially in the mid or lower priced suburbs . I realise it may have been a decision made before deciding to sell , but I just hope it wasn't 'wasted' .

Cloudpants - what a beautiful story. Life is definitely what you make it but what I love most now is that there are equal opportunities for women to achieve and to achieve it with children. Back in my day, in many fields of business, woman had to resign their jobs when they married and once you had a child that was the end of any working life. Child care was barely available but employers considered you high risk and didn't want to know you.

Jessica, I really wish you well for the future, you sound a very sensible young woman and I'm sure will find your feet in time. I think it is a good idea to finish the pool if you can, but don't stress about other things too much, remember no house is perfect in someone else's eyes there will always be something to be done or changed and leaving something for people to put their own touches to is not a bad thing.

Please keep posting.

Hi I'm a professional. Are you in Perth?

Check out these Before and After pics of a City Beach home that may give you a few ideas:

BEFORE

See more pics and read the story of this home improvement project here.