where is the front door? a plan of the block showing house, pool, street frontage and front door would help explain the problem the entry problem and love breeze blocks but would have all the trim white and keep the brick walls unpainted

Hi oklouise, thank you for your advice, much appreciated. Here are some plans!

great photo! do you have any long term plans for the raised area next to the driveway?

It was really just to keep the gravel and wait for our plants to grow.

For some reason I couldn't see the rest of your comments about the self contained accommodation until I checked my email. No, we don't need the self contained accommodation and we enter the house walking on the driveway to the double doors in the middle of the house on the lower level. We could enter through the kitchen but there are rocks as steps which are a bit hazardous.

You can't really see them, but we bought some Bunnings steps to access the double doors until we work out a proper entrance. It does the job but they look hideous..

with a serious investment i'd be inclined to dig out the gravel enough to have a parking area reversing bay and/or (subject to council regs) a flat roofed carport) or at least a flat roof out from the entry and kitchen to create a proper entry porch with the ground levelled or terraced down past the end of the house ...there are numerous examples of mid century homes on HOUZZ for inspiration and even if you can't a have a carport a flat roofed entry porch with some breeze blocks could enhance the entry and, unless the driveway needs replacing i suggest that gorgeous crazy paving would be wasted in the driveway and you could consider a respray of the existing driveway with a new colour

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That is definitely the ideal but just not in our budget right now....and you won't believe how much time I now spend on this site!!

good idea...the more you plan long term the better long term result you'll achieve, and, as long as the house and surrounds are structurally safe and sound don't be in too much of a hurry as nothing worse than having to rip out expensive quick ideas when better options and funds become available so, maybe save the breeze blocks and new paving for now ... it's would be so much better to have safer more comfortable access to the house... in the meantime consider some decking for better steps to the entry and kitchen doors and a simple pergola at right angles to the house to shelter the steps and make the entry more obvious and identify where the driveway ends and the entry begins.... deck and pergola would be a relatively quick fix that can be easily dismantled when a better idea is affordable... in the meantime some fresh new paint is always worth considering, black or dark grey for the cladding and black or white for the windows, keep the brick walls and consider respraying the driveway in a colour to match the darkest bricks and add some more big pots across the driveway...it looks like a great house and you have such a generous backyard to enjoy

Thanks for all your comments oklouise, we will definitely have a good think about things and what we can do in stages, thanks again!

Lisa

Think about the iconic '60s colour - orange- for the timber areas of your building

Porter's 'Gusto' or 'Blood orange' Either colour would coordinate with the fencing & brickwork

When the plants grow, they will look great against orange

The driveway is a bit strange! By removing the back area and having 1/2 a driveway - the back area could step down to allow access to the double doors - and more garden

Breeze blocks are great and crazy paving is appropriate to the era

Have fun with the long term project you are taking on

Let us know about the progress

Hi Julia, wow! Orange is a colour I never thought of for the exterior of our house but I have seen it on the timbers of a flat roof house and it did look amazing. Would you do the pitch gable side of the house timber in orange too? The neighbours won't know what's hit them. The homes around here seem to house white bricks and black, grey or natural timbers for the cladding. Yes, you're right the driveway does my head in! We will probably excavate with steps to the entrance. We did at one stage think of doing an inclined ramp entrance to the 2nd level (like Rose Seidler House which is just around the corner from us) and try and hide the lower section of the house with plantings etc. I will get my breeze blocks and crazy paving in somewhere as well!

Thanks again for your insights, much appreciated,

Lisa

Lisa

Pleased you have your imagination going!

I think bargeboards need to be the same as the guttering so they 'disappear', as they are not really a feature

The gable end looks OK as is. Perhaps the same colour as the fence? You don't want the gable to be a feature either

Let the orange (or olive green) 'do the talking' at the entrance to your home - follow through with orange flowering plants - Bird of Paradise; Prince of Orange; hibiscus

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Really like the idea of this growing over the pool fence!

Now my imagination is firing too!

What if you replace the pool fence with breeze blocks and continue them across the driveway to form a right angle Install a gate (black metal) to signal to visitors that this is the entrance

Steps down to excavated area behind the breeze blocks could reveal a crazy paved seating area with pot plants and lots of greenery leading to the front door Consider some kind of covering - pergola? hood? awning over the door to give it some prestige

Install a bell or gong, add a lovely big coir door mat

I'll come for a visit!!

Not sure if my comment came through but yes, I have tried to use the Delux and taubmans visualisation tools but I end up covering the whole house in one colour, maybe I need to practice. Thanks again

Julia, the imagination has been firing for 18 months! Originally we wanted a breeze block pool fence but this was ruled out due to non-compliance. Anything climbable is out, even plants. Unfortunately the pool fence stands out as it the first thing you see when you round the corner. Maybe a mural??!!

This might be a compromise - breeze blocks covering the metal fence at some distance

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Yes, a painted hedge with orange flowers!

How about a brick fence with arrow of breeze blocks on top?

Do the same across the drive way with the gate at the extreme left to avoid any foot holds

Hi all, you've been really helpful with our house, thank you. One last question, you mentioned excavating the gravel area, oklouise, but I would firstly be keen to level the driveway (and leave the gravel area till later) as it just makes no sense to the property access or aesthetics. The driveway is what stops us from working on the facade! Would you have any way of working out costings to dig out the soil or whatever is underneath? Thanks in advance, Lisa

A completely different angle, Lisa!

What if you changed the use of the rumpus room and made it the entry? An opening could be made in the wall through to the lounge room for access

The original entry could then be the rumpus

This would give access to your home at the beginning of the building

After that the garden area will fall into place, as the building will now make sense & the driveway can be adjusted accordingly (No where have you mentioned a garage or car port Do you have one?)

Yes, we tried everything with this house! The reason we're not using the rumpus (it's really the study/guest bedroom) is that we are repositioning the internal stairs and we thought to combine the entrance with stairs to the 2nd level which seems to work better cutting into the 2nd floor study (which we think was an add on meaning we can remove those walls and expand the 2nd level living area). Repositioning the staircase means we can have an open plan kitchen/dining/lounge and maximise the beautiful bush views from most angles of the house. And no, we don't have a garage or carport, just an off street car spot. Not ideal but we need to keep funds to repair a two storey deck on a steep block in a fire zone!! We may have to excavate that blasted driveway by hand..thanks again!

...digging out the old driveway could be relatively straightforward but doing it without damaging the retaining wall so the slope doesn't end up in the house is a job best left to experts...the existing driveways is probably atthe higher level because of the suspected cost of excavation...my suggestion would be to do all the earthworks, drainage and retaining walls at the same time and i'd expect a minimum cost of $10,000 - $20000 for the basic demolition but there's probably many different options that might work better..could you move the pool fence and create a new front entry? some more photos could help but an on site inspection by an expert specialising in driveways and retaining walls would be a worthwhile investment

overlapping posts!! i just read the info about internal changes and it's always best to plan the changes for the whole property even if the work needs to be done in stages...are you still thinking about inside or have you already started the work and what's on the wish list for the perfect reno and would you prefer the living areas upstairs (with Siedlers' ramp) or downstairs?

Oh boy oklouise, this is dangerous territory when you ask about the perfect reno! We thought we did have the perfect Reno we could afford in stages but we got just about ready to lodge with council and our architect surprised us with the costings going over by $200K and giving us a lovely flat roof and new cladding for our first stage budget. We now have about $10K less after this process and are really feeling vulnerable I suppose. So we are back to square one but the essentials are: repair the deck on the steep slope at the back, remove internal walls to open the space downstairs, reposition the staircase, new flooring, new kitchen and provide an aesthetically pleasing but functional entrance. Wish list would be garage/carport & driveway, flat roof, new bathroom upstairs, new laundry & WC downstairs and landscaping. $100K for the first stage (which probably means just deck repairs and removing walls?!) then we would be looking at refinancing and seeing what we can do next. The architect designs were beautiful but unattainable unfortunately. Anyway, I advertised our job about a week ago and I think someone is interested in meeting with us and I've also left a message for Dr Retro so I don't want you all to spend too much time on this although I really really appreciate and welcome your advice. Thank you again oklouise, Lisa

Sorry just saw your comment about Seidler's ramp. Definitely living area downstairs. Bedrooms, 2nd living area upstairs with a nice entry maybe

And thank you too Julia!!

glad to learn you are seeking and receiving professional advice...look forward to the progress report

Hi Lisa, thanks for your enquiry, I just left a message on your phone. I would be happy to do a Skype consultation or a visit the next time I am in Sydney.

Dr Retro

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Thanks, we are feeling very positive again, be in touch soon, Lisa