Hi Matthew we bought an old doer upper that needs refreshing so I was keen to follow your post. We so far painted the front door replaced front letterbox guerney washed the concrete drive and have bought a panel lift door for the carport. We removed all the overgrown trees. Maybe guerney wash your roof , driveway and front steps, thats our next job (roof) and start with the gardens. If you keep the awnings - spraypaint them in a single tone, paint or replace the driveway fence, Remove that tall shrub or trim it, plant a row of plants up along the drive. Great house, like ours you can only improve it in value. Enjoy renovating!

You certainly have a challenge. Anything can be painted, providing you are prepeared to repaint it when it starts to wear. I think your starting point should be that huge driveway and your window blinds. You don't want to paint those, so you need to work around the terracotta driveway colour and the cream blind colour. It is possible to paint a driveway, but it always wears with traffic and ends up looking shabby. If you have concrete roof tiles I would look at repainting those, possibly a green/grey, to match Colorbond Woodland grey to offset the driveway colour. Probably easiest to repaint the brickwork (rather than render) to match the window blinds so that they are less of a feature. Rendering can be quite expensive, especially as you will need to remove all of your window shutters first, then have them re-installed. I would soften the driveway by introducing some large concrete planters with some hardy succulents along the right hand side. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

Don't try and modernise this home, it has a lovely mid-century character that you should build on. I suggest to all of my clients that they should live in a home for at least 12 months before spending big renovation dollars. Understand how your house works with the change of seasons, and the existing electrical and plumbing services. Sometimes when you are on a tight budget in an old house then boring things like gutters and hot water systems are more important than supeficial aesthetics. Elements that are not original, such as your roller blinds at the front aren't contributing to the look of the house. The right landscaping could provide the shade you need and look much better. Love it for what it is, rather than try and make it into something that it is not. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

so relieved you don't want to spoil a great looking brick home with more render but is there a view from upstairs? when funds allow extending the deck/verandah across the front of the garage would add extra upstairs outdoor space and modify the look of the garage doors and consider painting garage doors and rendered wall in the darkest cement colour (greenish) grey with white eaves and fascias with black gutters and simply pressure wash the driveway to retain the natural concrete colour and add climbing plants to fall down the side of the retaining wall