Interesting project there........when you're dealing with extending immediately from an existing building there are usually two ways to go....1. blend/extend seamlessly so that there is essentially no indication of any additions, or 2. separate/distinguish clearly between the old and the new. It's usually reflected somewhat in the floor plan as well. There is also a spectrum within both of those categories on how it can be done and whether its deemed to be done well or not so well. The issue I see with the facade articulation resolution (on your drawings) is that it is arguably neither one nor the other. The window/fenestration articulation is an issue because there's no confident consistency or sequence to the proportions of the new glazing areas. If you want "timeless" then you need to pull it into line with a particular style, either remain faithful to the reference/traditions/scaling/proportions of the original, or if that is either challenging or not providing the functional outcome sought, then consolidate the style/breakup of the extended windows to be visually contrasting yet balanced/controlled against the original. It's a similar story with the materials, it needs to all balance compositionally. Usually the decisions in this area come down to how best to balance also in conjunction with the roof form. And getting to the roof, this is again similar in that it's not ideal to mix & match gable and hip forms unless there's good reason to do so or you feature projecting gables out from a primary hip composition like as in cal bungs. I think you'll find it would be a better outcome to confidently work with one or the other here. In this case the existing primary reference is the gable form and this could be really be made the defining building form feature, but you need to decide upon how you articulate the gable forms - it's like there needs to be a clever/clear approach/language developed with some contemporary material to express the garage gable full height so it reads as the single material, rather than being broken up with the garage door and the gable infill - if it was a hidden door and the form finished more consistently the whole thing would look classier, professional and more elegant. There is super potential here to get this right and look amazing. I think the layout is all OK but some harder work is required/deserved on the facade, street presentation and form resolution, which obviously you are aware about since you've asked the question......possibly here, less in more ;) PD

Hi Ash we had the same dilemma, I love our red brick house but many bricks were damaged and the cost of replacing them with newer like coloured bricks and mortar was costly and risky as there was a high chance they wouldnt match the old bricks. We decided to render our house in the end and are happy with the result! We went for an acrylic render in a Resene Triple thorndon cream colour. The colour started off a little green but now one month in its a nice cream greyish colour which works well in our South East facing house. Now we are onto our landscaping and will replace our garage door. We also cleaned our roof - I suggest doing that first and that will help give you an idea on render colours.

Hello Anna. Painting bricks can be tricky because you are going to end up with " painted bricks ", which can look terrible. The problem with paint can be that everything is the same colour, i.e. the brick face, the horizontal joints and the perpendiculars. Once dust settles on the joints and after the first rain streak marks form and you will regret every having spent the money and time doing it. The beauty of bricks are the texture and the slight variation in colour. If you don't like the brick colour, consider staining or lime washing the bricks. This will give you the colour change you may need without loosing the texture or richness of the brick look. The lime or stain appear slightly patchy, which provides character to the finish. Your house may look good with a lime wash as in the photo below. Other than that, if you just hate bricks, then render / plaster it. If you need any more advice, please give us a call at Gap Design. Cheers

Im getting head around it all now, its like putting a puzzle together and realising you’re missing pieces. i agree a deep charcoal/grey would be the best colour with the brick. Unfortunately my husband does not want to paint the aluminium gutters and windows which are brown. . His argument is that if we attempt to do it ourselves it may look worse as it is fiddly and time consuming painting aluminium and not really a job for a first time DIY, especially as it is a two story house. My solution was to match the windows and gutters with a rich grey with a brownish undertone like namadji. It is classified as a grey but looks brown to me. What i am afraid of is doing what your neighbour has done and making the whole house oppressively brown. Do you think I could get away with a deep grey that doesnt quite match the aluminium and then just paint the wooden trims? I would also paint the white brick in the entrance the same colour and the fence and studio. Im afraid of doing all this work only for it to be half arsed. We need to replace the balconies as they are unsafe but unfortunately my husband and i have had a difficult year financially and we don’t want to sink money into the front of house at the moment. The back will need a complete overhaul and we need to preserve funds for that. I suspect ultimately there may not be a solution unless we commit to doing the whole job. Alternatively we could stage it. I am clearly thinking aloud and appreciate all the input and patience!