Running cladding in opposite directions gives a contemporary look. Many examples I've seen seem to vary the profile width each. ie. narrow verticals juxtaposed with broader horizontals. You could clad base in a recycled plastic timber-look product or composite timber cladding. (Colour stable and no maintenance). Stone could look fab too. Painting it the Farrier would definitely be simplest. You could do a contrast with the verandah floor and its edge.

1. I'd probably start with removing the ornate lines on the gables. It seems a bit 'busy' and dated with the brick and gutters. 2. I'd also paint/replace the gutters to match the roof colour or even the garage door colour. Gutters aren't an architectural feature, so no idea why they are terracotta. These 2 things will calm it all down. You could consider texture-coating the board of the upper storey. It's a colour-embedded acrylic render. No painting for 25yr. It gives you the look of render, and can go straight onto board like you have. Unless you have rot or other maintenance issues with it that you need to replace it.

Your new home looks fabulous! Congratulations from the Team at North! I am a visual person so I hope you don't mind me adding some photos to help explain colours. Your home has more yellow brick then red like these homes. However the dark grey, light grey and white framing works well with the brick creating a modern clean look. Darker grey for roof, light grey timber/cladding on top level and light grey down stairs around the smaller square windows. You could add a window frame, to frame the windows in light grey/white around the yellow windows or just leave them as they are. Painting aluminum is not recommend unless you get the professionals in. If you wanted to use panels instead of timber have a look at James Hardie cladding - 13 11 03 is the contact number - They have a fabulous products that give you cladding with a paint finish that will outlast any timber you put on your home and is low maintenance. Need to check with the local council as to what roof colours are aloud some don't allow to dark because of cooling costs. Its suggested you pick 3 colours to keep it unified. Its a personal preference what colours you like? Below the white and blue grey looks amazing! Please let us know what you choose. A project is always exciting.

I wonder how much time you might have to spend cleaning the roof behind the parapet, perhaps the rain will take care of that, leaves?. If you were going to use these spaces as terrace you would need to adjust the height of the parapet or add a railing, if not the height of the parapet could be reduced