Thanks Handyman. I simply used acrylic paint and ordinary paint stripper. I used a wire brush to strip as well as sand paper as the bricks have a rough finish and it was impossible to get the sand paper across the bricks without it breaking up. I've added a updated photo of the whole project now finished. The hearth was horrible old slate. It looked awful. I painted it with a tough gloss black marine paint and framed it with a piece of stained wood. It really is the hero of the room. We love it.

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

You say this is a 1990's house . Its made to look like a 1930's house at present . To make it look 'modern' would take a lot of work , and IMO destroy the character of the house . Embrace what it is , tidy it and change the focus slightly , but personally I wouldn't take off the scrolls and those little posts , or even the walkway roof . Just my opinion , but if you want modern , you sell what you have and buy a modern place in grey on grey on grey , with charcoal -- there are more than enough unique points on this house that you either embrace it or you sell it .

Too much of a feature becomes a distraction. 70's / 80's brick interior houses were great then but are clearly dated now. One feature wall with the other walls in smooth plaster can still work, provided you address the feature wall as such, by not cluttering it with stuff. Try keeping the furnishing minimal and selected feature wall type dressing. hopefully this way you feature wall will look stylish. Hope this helps. Alfred Botha. www.gapdesign.com.au