Keep the brick, please don't paint or render. Both eat into your budget (rendering in particular is not cheap), and will mean more ongoing upkeep (render still needs to be painted on a regular basis and with a two-storey house, that is a lot more work). Our house is rendered and we would never have it again. Whenever the house moves, the render doesn't, so is prone to cracking or, over time, pieces even falling off. Even subtle movement can cause hairline cracks, which means regular patching and painting. Quite frankly, most people render an older house to make it look modern, but when rendering becomes passe (which I think is already starting to happen), then the house will look dated again (and render is almost impossible to remove once its on). Also, if you're in an area prone to termites, termites can get in between the render and the brickwork and you won't see the telltale signs of "mud" at the access points to let you know they're there. As far as the rest of the house goes, I totally agree with what Timandra Design recommended.

Hello, Painting the tiles will only result in it scratching off and looking worse than when you begun. To upgrade the look of your space with minimal effort and cost I suggest the following: - Change the shower curtain to something more stylish - Change the light fixture to something more modern - Add blinds - white wood or light wood to tie in the white and hide the brown windows - Change the fixtures - towel rail, toilet roll holder, taps. You don't have to spend a fortune to bring the bathroom out of the past - You could DIY a box to hide the top of the toilet, creating the built-in look. New buttons on this plus creating space to decorate. You could do this in wood, paint it or any other material that is economic and suits your style. - Maybe paint the rest of the walls an antique white, the yellow tone in the existing walls is out of date and not very 'fresh' - New door handles - an easy way to accessorise a room Hope this helps!

As I was using the same tiles, vanities etc and tradesmen at the same for both the bathrooms downstairs, it helped reduce the cost. I would say roughly $15,000 per bathroom and that also included getting the expensive Italian feature tiles and the scones/ wall lights weren't cheap either. If you design cleverly, you can purchase most items at a good price, then shell out a bit for the wow factor pieces!

I'm still concerned that the covered alfresco area is located to the NE, it will block much of your winter sunshine from entering your living areas, making your home colder in winter. Personally, I'd try to locate your alfresco o the eastern side of your living areas (& somehow moving the master further SE). However, if you are going to stick with your current alfresco location, I'd recommend you change from a hipped roof alfresco, to a gable roof alfresco. If you make it an opened gable, & have a cathedral ceiling you'll end up with quite a bit more winter sunshine entering your house. Similar to the images below.