Many years ago, we had a friend that wanted to make his whole house out of exposed concrete with curving walls................. wonder what ever happened to him?? As for me, ah, no!

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I quite like the idea of concrete sleepers for your retaining wall. They keep the modern mood. Not sold on Ridgi's faux timber look, though. If your drainage profile would allow it, continuing the brick of the pillars would look quite good, too. For me, the biggest landscape issue is the almighty fight happening between the two different sides of the driveway. You have the stick-up-the-rear formality of the camellia hedge fighting the looseness of the grass and shrubs on the other side. You need to decide on a single mood and go with that. Really!! I'd go, actually, with a loose boulder or gabion wall with a planting behind it similar to that on the left (narrower) side of the driveway. Have a think about what you actually use that front lawn for, and if it's only there to keep the dirt from showing, add some trees and shrubs and underplanting. Shout yourself a tame forest! This will take up a lot of water if your climate's a bit wet, and stabilise the slope, too.

Can you look at similar homes in the area? Tesselated tiles were definitely appropriate then, but not necessarily have been on some of the more simple workers cottages which may be more prevalent in that area, they could have just been a concrete sort of material which can look ok simply painted. But if you like the tiles, then go for it, they'd look amazing! Otherwise ask your council's heritage officer or see if they have a guide to the architecture prevalent in the area. Also there's a few good Heritage suppliers in the inner West, they'll have some great options of tiles or will be knowledgable with suggestions.