So where on ground level will your entrance door be? Or are you intending to have access via the garage only? If so, then how will guests enter your home? the back of the house very obviously faces the street. The bathroom windows in the facade on the upper level and mismatched windows above the garage give it away. If I wanted to lift the facade I would actually spend the money on creating a front entrance portico for the house so it no longer looks like it's back to front on the block. Something a bit grand and then you'd have the option to do that in timber and tie it in with the rest of the house with similar trim colours.

Not sure why you'd want to weatherboard over a brick face? Seems like a waste of money to me. Weatherboards are all the rage this year but brick will come back in vogue soon enough. Rendering is something I would only do if the brick was hideous, like red velvet or a white textured brick. This is a fairly nice brick that will go with many colour schemes.

I'd buy an umbrella !

No matter what you do short of spending $200k , its going to look added on , and will restrict light to the upstairs windows .

To match the roof , you'll presumably do iron roofing , as you'll struggle to match the tiles , and then lay them at the various angles ( flat and sloping ) you'd need to get them matching . So if you go with iron , you'll have to paint to match , or recolour the whole roof .

Then enclosing the stairs , you'll need windows , thats going to look weirdish , and like you said , cladding won't tie in , plus to fully enclose , you'll end up with some fairly complicated shapes at the top of the stairs -- not impossible , but you are trying to mate timber framed walls and cladding to metal railings etc .

Then at the bottom , you will have to do a walkway or a narrow roof or a double carport to get that looking slightly acceptable , and I keep coming back to the fact it will look added on .

It can be done , it could even be done well , but it couldn't be done well cheaply , and in my mind , I just think why ? It will cost a lot , and probably detract , even if its all done well it will not look like the original design . You could render everything , at a pretty big expense , to try and match , but it still won't IMO . Okay , I'm cheap ( sorry , value for money ) but I'd give up personally .

Pottsy, I think they said they were deleting the stairs. ....
So this tunnel you are talking about with Windows, ??

In order to have an internal staircase, if that is what I am reading, what are the internal floor plans, and what is the internal floor made of. Is it wood or concrete?

Where is the front door?

From the description , I got the impression Dee wanted to make the existing stairs part of the 'interior' ( enclosed ) . If they had wanted an internal stairway , she ( I assume Dee is a she -- apologies if not ! ) wouldn't have mentioned the external finishes , and would have posted a floorplan ?

But I could be wrong . . . . . . . . .

I'm not sure either?

I don't like some of the proportions and spending on colour/material changes will do little to improve that.

Oh, u think she might make external, internal. Yes, sorry I get it now

So these are the existing plans against our first draft of proposed plans. We want to create a new stair internally and get rid of external stairs altogether

Ground floor is concrete slab and first floor is timber

So this is the plan posted a day or so ago that okl put a plan to

Yes that’s the one. My question this time is in relation to materials to improve the front facade!

There will no improvement to facade, if you do not address the proportion of window size. No matter what materials you use.
And if you are going to change the facade anyway, if you install an internal staircase, then our comments are irrelevant. Because the front would be different to your photo. Sorry....

This will be an exciting challenge! How about starting with which style you would like. Hop onto google and search around before and after pictures that might help you decide on a particular look you wish to achieve. Pinterest has ideas too, and just type in “house facades before and after”. Do you want modern, or beach or Hamptons? Etc. The style should reflect your internal decor style for flow and a bit of harmony.
Once you have decided on style, examine which aspects of the current facade you would like to enhance and that definitely don’t work. I would enrol an architect or exterior design consultant to discuss these aspects and perhaps get ideas.
Start by considering a focal point - you lack this in your current facade. Could be an entrance, a large window, veranda etc and something that provides depth to the facade. Consider balance and symmetry: you have large garage doors that would benefit from something that balances that. First impressions from me are that the windows are small and shuttered: these might be within budget to change. The house facade is very flat: perhaps features such as a porch addition might break that up. There is no entrance that invites you in and as such it looks shut up. Could you work in a welcoming entrance here? Paint would work wonders and if rendering is too expensive, a good paint job could transform the look. Timber cladding adds interest, a little warmth to a cold brick facade, and charm. Would that fit with the style you are aiming for?
It’s a big job but simple tweaks could transform this. Best of luck

using my suggested internal reorganisation with new front entry porch and internal stairs my suggestion for the exterior includes an extended balcony and entry porch with just the walls in the balcony painted to match new colour for garage doors, entry porch and trim..my suggestion uses very dark grey, black and white with new glass entry doors and refreshed landscaping (although my vintage CAD program has limitation that can't include the slope of the block and the paved driveway) you could also have stairs from the end of the balcony to the higher ground level

I like oklouise mock up photo. And plan posted on the other post. It is showing the balance, with colour, with double garages and first floor balcony and painting. No need for cladding or bottom floor render.
And in my opinion the double garages should stay.

wow! oklouise, that picture is really well thought-out.

the proportion imbalance has been resolved; the bricks remain; and a textural change with the dark cladding are all attractive.

The veranda is very usable space, and the imbalance above the garage doors has been camouflaged.

Also as a security point, the occupants can check who is knocking at the front door from above!!

Thanks oklouise, really appreciate you going to so much trouble. Love your ideas, especially like the contrast of black and white against the brick. Thanks again

great Render OKL

I was going to ask if you have the proposed floorplans do you have the elevation drawing to go with them? Colours and materials work differently depending on how they are used proportionally and without properly planning that aspect the result might be less than you are hoping for.