@kymryan..just having another look at your cladded house...Why do you want to remove the white cladding.? Apart from looking into recladding with colourbond as an option...or anything else....I think you might be wise to make sure of exactly what is under the present cladding...if you have not done that already. As cloudpants here says, your place has loads of potential and I am sure you would want it to be timeless so all you have to do is the maintenance. You mentioned that there are weatherboards under the cladding on your house. Do you know that for sure? Usually when they clad old weatherboard places the weatherboards are removed first because they cannot just be c;lad over. Check! Underneath your cladding you might have what I think was called ' wide chamferboards' or even a narrower kind used about 1950-60. These were PINE and the reason for cladding was usually because they were weather-worn or rotted. It might even be that there are no "boards" of any kind under that cladding...maybe fibro or cement sheeting.....or, if you are lucky...the house framework...onto which you can put any exterior cladding. I'd advise you to check this if you have not done so already. The tiles on the roof suggest to me that the original outside of the house may have been these pine boards or even the cement sheeting...but I think the former. I do not think that there would be the older style hardwood weatherboards under that cladding...the house is of the wrong era for those....it would need to be much older.. Another option...some of the really old weatherboard houses around here (in country Queensland) have been rendered using a very old system...All of these houses were on wooden stumps. Before they started they stabilised the stumps as I have described and then built in all around the sides of the underneath with bricks. They covered the house with insulating foil or tar paper then they covered that with chicken wire netting!!! Over that they simply applied a cement mixture and they trowelled it leaving swirls...a bit like the Mexican adobe. Then they painred it. Its a very old technique. It is materials cheap and labour intensive. If the old house on stumps inderneath shifts a little there's no problems with cracking of any kind....due to the cement, hand applied "render" having the (chicken) wire reinforcing bonded throughout with the cement. The finished house looks as if it is built of stone or concrete! ..The insulating properties are great. Its a very old system that lasts the test of time....the early Italians brought it in when this area was opened up for orchards, There's an old weatherboard house just opposite mine that was "rendered" in this manner about 50 years ago and it still looks new.....been pained occasionally of course. Recently its had a verandah added in keeping with the style of the house and they've "prettied up" the facade under the roof with some ornamenral work. You could research that I am sure...you might even find out "How To".

I agree with several other commentators. I love the look of your house, arches & all. Retro is in! I would pretty much leave as is & concentrate on cleaning concrete & landscaping. You will be amazed at what a difference good landscaping will make to the street appeal. With the right colors in your planting you might even come to like the look of your home like most of us already do. In a busy world the last thing you want is more upkeep & I think you would be making a rod for you own back if you render or paint the brick. And keeping it true to the era could add to its resale value. The only things I would change is the color of the garage doors & facia to either Dulux Natural White or Antique White USA whichever you prefer & the gates black if you want to be safe or a bolder contrasting color. As for the window frames I keep tossing up between the black & the white. Maybe black window frames with black gates would look good. Good luck with it all & look forward to seeing the finished result. Cheers Jenny

With a North facing house the sun makes the front of house quite hot but only on those few days a year when it is over 40 with no sea breeze and I love the heat so ceiling fans work for me. The back of the house is much cooler and the winds generally come from the ocean side but can be from all directions at times as we know. On the west side of the house it is only app 1m to the fence line and so the option of having the garage on that side isn't viable. Sorry I am not up on terminology so when I said the set back was 7 odd metres that is the current set back from the front of my house to the road. The council requires 3m for house and 4.5 for garages. I have been looking more at mid century modern design and I don't really like it so I am looking at ways of changing up the bland facade to disguise the fairly flat roof line. With those in the know could I add a front porch and somehow blend the roof line into my current one to look more like this style? I realise it means saving more to afford it so on top of my current budget. I am just not sure how the roof line of the porch would look at the back end (how it would attach to my roof and look from the side and back) I wouldn't want it to look like it was just stuck on at the front. Would I carry that through to back of house so end up with a witches hat roof or is there a better way you can see this working. Once again thank you for all of your input I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to help me :)

The 2 brick photos still look slightly different to me , but thats not overly important . Most of the fence is very basic , and not looked after . The front fence is 'sort of' artistic , but I don't think even that is well done . And then there are those panels 'stacked' 3 high further back , where they can't be seen . Oh , and the letterbox is really basic . In fact , the whole place looks like what I call a 'rental' -- lacking a bit of love . Do you know if those bricks ( either colour haha ) are readily available in your area ? Cause here's my suggestion -- if the budget stretches , and the neighbours agree , do the side fences with brick posts , and brick up to 500-600cm , maybe even a metre further back , with a single panel above . The front fence -- brick posts , and panels similar to present , but you'd need 1 less panel wide as there would be 'those' brick poles in between each panel , and of course do a slightly taller 'post' with a letterbox ( probably using the same brick , with a stainless steel letter slot and numbers -- or maybe keep it low ? ) . That would add a heap more reference to the house , the bricks , the carport , and the panels . Presumably its more $$$ than you intended , from your painting comments , but it would add a lot IMO . Just a thought . . . . . . . . . . .