I completely love the twirly bits, and the window trim. It's unique, special and shows the family within has a sort of fun spirit. If you would be more comfortable with a cottage that looks more "regular", then take it off. But please don't! For some color and inspiration, google French provencal fabric images. I can completely see a little black metal bistro table and wood slat back chairs on your porch with a cloth of one of those fabrics. I would paint it a light dusky blue, with white trim and mid-charcoal accents around the windows and the corner pieces on the front porch. Although the yellow with the blue would be quite right too! The front walk looks to be in good condition. You can do a stone overlay on that, letting a small portion of the stones hang over the straight edge, to give it a little more rustic look. It looks like you have a good collection of Queen of the Nile lilies (guessing here). Were they blue on blooming? You can create some slightly larger and curving beds in the front, and transplant some within it. I would add lavender and rosemary in a mix with those. For some grey and texture, put some lambs ears (a perennial) along the outside edge. Check your local growing zone to see what will thrive in your area! Lucky you. What a find!

I like printed glass, yes I do, but most of what we are show is pretty naf, sorry to sound like a slone ranger, I investigated the product, I had a few different areas I could have used it in this current build, with good design choice (possible) and reasonable price not possible the quotes where all a joke. I have defaulted to either depending on ,thought ,placement, nothing ,or tile, Its a bit like my wood stove hearth,I wanted glass to show the Tasoak floor beneath, I was various laughed and accused of bringing European habits (sounded dirty) I solved the issue but if you live in the pimple on the bottom of the world, design is not an option, costs get too high, availability is a joke, I feel like offering up my rather posh shed (and accent) to companies who want to try the Tassie Market (for a modest fee of course) we are five mins to the airport and I have a background in Finance and design (weird) combo, but I studied art the market was to tight so I turned to banking for my crust.

You could try Wet & Forget on the driveway. You can buy it ready to use and attach it to a hose or buy a bottle that you dilute to use in a sprayer. I have used it and it works - slower than water blasting but it won’t damage driveway if it has some damage? I can’t quite tell from photo if that’s grass clippings/mulch or broken concrete on driveway? If you use it be careful not to spray garden bed. I live in FNQ and we planted seaside daisy - doesn’t need watering but it also won’t die from our wet season. It’s a ground over and spreads out beautifully in a courtyard area that’s get a lot of sun. Just needs a trim from time to time. I see you have Rio (purple green ground cover) which you could separate and plant down the path but it does like water. Maybe for the fence you could try attaching lattice to it and plant another passion fruit vine to help cover the whole fence. It does look like you need to get rid of some woody parts of the passion fruit. It’s a tough plant and will enjoy a bit of pruning. We had one that I thought had died last year and it has returned with no help from me. Be careful with the heliconias and gingers ... they can get out of control if you don’t stay on top of them. Anything tall will cover your fence but it will also cover the passionfruit vine which obviously loves the spot it’s in. Good luck!

I love your inspiration picture, but I have say that if you are considering that door between the formal dining/kids play area and the kitchen I wouldn't position a wall oven there, terribly dangerous when oven is being used, hot and open, a child playing and running through the door would be badly injured. I have had another idea, so as to not take up any of the dining room space plus saving costs of doing this, would be to open up this wall with full height square set pocket doors, when open expands the kitchen and when closed directs the traffic from the dining through the kitchen between the island and doors, keeping them out of the kitchen proper. The fridge is placed so as the family has easy access, you could even add a small sink into the 900 x 3000 island with the cooktop, which gives you heaps of bench top work space My CAD program was produced in 1997 and as you can see that what goes around comes around with the old but new slatted island The first foorplans show the cooktop opposite the doors but I think it works much better to have it at the other end