I like the bricks in the fence and you don't want to paint or render this, as you would be providing a lovely, fresh canvas for graffiti 'artists' to scribble on your walls. However, you could create a border area just in front of the fence and plant some shrubs or narrow trees. (Just saw a segment on Catalyst on the ABC the other day on types of trees which help to filter out pollution from your home. Silver birch trees seemed to do well, whilst taking up very little space and being quite sparse.) Even a border of mondo grass would be good, though this is very short in height.

Hey Nik Star, I've had a PowerPoint play with oklouise's edits. This is what I meant about garage entry to the pantry and a laundry in the garage. The red arrows are to stipulate to the builder that level access is required. I added extra garage depth to allow for the garage, that would definitely impact your facade elevation. If you remove the wall between the butler's pantry and mudroom you would have a SUPER PANTRY! But a true butler's pantry in that it was supposed to be where you would land with the veg from the garden so you would kick your shoes off inside the door, so I've noted a little bench seat there, then head in and wash it before heading over to the actual cooking area. Then if you get rid of the sliders and reduce the storage to shallow shelving on the middle wall you would have plenty of space to manoeuvre with mobility devices. For the washing labour machines - washer, dryer, dishy - try getting those mounted on plinths so the load on your poor back is reduced. I have dodgy joints so I am researching all the ergonomic ways to design work spaces to help me when I get to the awesome stage you guys are at with getting to build!

Exposed aggregate is not costly when compared to plain. More expensive p/m2 yes, but not costly. When you consider value for money, I feel that exposed is the best value for money product on the market in regards to horizontal surfaces in particular if it is from scratch. As the comment above reads, you will struggle to find a concreter who is willing to do just 2 steps and also doing exposed on steps is a difficult task due to the boxing removal and retardant spraying process which has to be done just right. If it is just 2 steps, I'd be looking into stone cladding the concrete steps (pavers glued to formed concrete) as it is the entrance to your home and really should be finished at a high level. Not sure if you have existing concrete steps and their condition but it may be an option to look at a company like Alternative Surfaces or similar who can change the look of what is existing. Might be the cheapest way to tackle this.

so disappointing for you but i was told that it's almost impossible to match new and old aggregate and with a similar situation i've been thinking about cutting a wider join and laying bricks along the gap and around the edges of both slabs to emphasise the difference and make it look like it was meant to happen... much like the mixed paving in a Japanese garden but other issues have delayed any action and i've learned to accept the difference although i have discovered that for a scratch or chip in the aggregate you can glue the stones back on and make an almost seamless patch but, even if you could paint your concrete and expose the gravel again, the gravel mix will always be slightly different but will be very interested in any suggestions