The Dulux Stepney is a nice grey and would look great with the trim in Dulux Lecicon, you could paint the lower timber in Dulux Raku or Domino to ground the home. Grab some sample pots and try a few boards and some trim areas to get a feel before you purchase the paint for your complete home. Browse some of the exteriors in the Houzz photo's area. Don't forget to let us all know what you decide to go with and post an after photo for all to see. Happy painting Regards Paul Wales

I would start with making a decision on the carport first. Start by talking to the council as you may not be able to do a double carport (and the single carport at your neighbours looks like a tight squeeze!) Also as Missmel said you should probably also make a decision whether to paint or not early on. If you are going to go with carport, paint, new awning and possibly porch windows you are getting into a whole new look so I would start talking a professional about the best way to design it. As an alternative to the porch enclosure could you get the front windows double glazed to reduce noise? If it was my place I think I would only be changing the awning, paint the fences, landscape, and maybe do a single carport if its really needed (plus the tiling etc that you mentioned). Some new fretwork might be nice too. To me the main thing to change is the bullnose, as you said its not original and it looks heavy and dominating. You will have to post some pics when done I will be really interested to see how this all turns out.

Hi Lizey There are a couple of things you could do to the elevation.... It just needs a direction (style) that you like, eg contemporary etc. A Hampton's style renovation to homes are very popular here in Perth and it hasn't been overdone yet. Your home could have a simple gable to the front, paint the garage door white, weatherboard clad/render the facade etc... these are simple detail works that shouldn't be a big deal with builders in the family. To see what I mean, do a google image search for a Ben Trager HAVEN (no affiliation) home elevation to get the gist. From there you can do an image search for single storey Hampton homes and you will see lots of ideas. If you want to add structure then of course the driveway allows a whole raft of opportunities... Cheers and congrats on the new home...

Are you sure the roof is stainless steel?? That is VERY expensive and only used in very exposed corrosive coastal locations since it lasts forever. I think it might be Zincalume, a low cost but very durable and very common roofing material that has a light silvery surface and should last for 50 years. Definitely do NOT paint the roof black (or any dark colour), it would add more than 10° to the internal heat load, and you would have to spend so much more on insulation and on-going AC costs just to get back to where you are now. Have the roof checked and repaired by a roof plumber instead. If it's an old leaky galvanised iron roof at the end of it's days, replace it with zincalume. The porch roof looks like it needs replacing, but I would replace it with new roofing, possibly the insulated sandwich panel kind, that has a smooth white underside, then add a gutter to the front edge so you don't make your visitors walk under a waterfall in the rain. The canvas awning suggested earlier would not last as long without looking tired and would require the removal of existing roof structure, so I think it would be the more costly option (and you would still have the waterfall problem). I would leave the front fence as is, it ties in nicely with the house, but trim the tree. The back deck could easily be roofed to match the front, and be more useful to tenants with weather protection. It would be good to make all trim colours the same, and against the cream brick I think the dark grey you have on the front door and columns works quite well. I would make the other windows and trim, as well as the weatherboards over the back door match that if it just involves painting. However, it's not essential and if it means changing powdercoat finishes it would be too costly to be worthwhile in a rental.