can you take a wider view of the house, it's already a great looking house and is the house already on the allowed set back

A quick mockup, with a Parapet and pergola

that is food for thought, i will play around with that concept

i think the fence doesn't match the style or vintage of the house.. it's much too dainty...following on siriuskeys' idea consider adding horizontal boards to the fence instead of the fine mesh

I think that painting or rendering the bricks would be a mistake. You're taking a natural and low-maintenance finish and making it look fake with added upkeep. Celebrate the bricks, they are an asset!!

Right now the carport dominates because it's the brightest element - I would prioritise painting this a dark colour to make it recede.

I agree with @oklouise that the fence looks quity dainty, you could improve this by planting right up to the fence and having flowers/shrubs poke through.

It's hard to tell from this far away what undertones your bricks have. We're in a clinker brick home and we painted our windows Dulux vivid white on the advice of Dr Retro (he posts here often). It looks crisp and smart.

I'm a landscape architect so I'll look at the garden. I would plant a hedge or a similar row of plants behind the fence to provide more privacy for your front garden and to allow the house to not be seen all at once. That provides some intrigue...

Planting both sides of the property along the fence line would also add more greenery to the picture.

Alex @ Earth Essence Landscape Design

thanks for the additional comments. I need to lick my wounds a bit on the fence comments since we just had the fence put in and chose the style ourselves, but i take the point and adding some hedge plants against the fence (house side) will give it more presence.

I added more photos: wider view angle and close up of brick tones

Feeding off siriuskeys' suggestion, what if we extended the "porch" the full length of the house, removing the garden bed and that becomes the porch floor. it would be approx 1.3m wide on that side of the house, so it won't be too narrow and look pointless... just spit-balling for now. If we match the colour of the extended porch box frame, posts as well as window trim and front door, same as the fence, so darker than the roof?

I also wonder about removing the solar panels too, really don't like them there (they were there when we purchased)

Add a small tree

$80 -- paint the gutter and barge board white .

$150 -- paint the gutter , barge board and front fence white .

Don't render , don't go darker , don't spoil the character of the wooden windows .

Easy -- look at your pictures and what are the first things you see ? The white to the left ; the 2 chairs ; the silver car . The lighter bits . The bricks and roof and garden , and even the front fence to a certain degree ( I actually think it will look better in 6 months with a bit of weathering ) , are quite pleasant , but it just needs something to break it .

solar panels can be moved without losing function by mounting on an angled frame on the rear roof and love the idea of the deeper front porch and the garden beds would be better along the front fence and, unless you need front lawn for parking or outdoor activities, consider much bigger garden beds and even move the front entry gate to driveway...your front fence is excellent but not for this house

You could add some batons to your fence while you wait for the hedge to grow

Don't paint the brick! It's gorgeous.

https://www.decorativeimaging.com.au/building-products/decobatten/

House looks ok, fence is ok.

Paint the carport the dark grey house roof colour though, it grabs your eye too much.

As fence is a very old design style I would also just landscape that suits the fence - I see quite a formal garden with some box hedges, crunchy gravel path, etc.

House is fine, landscape, landscape, landscape.

I agree you should move garden beds next to fence and away from house, plant a tree where there is that bare patch of grass on the left. I think creating verandah on right hand side might make it too dark in those rooms. I would consider decking all along the front of your house (on the ground) and maybe extending as a pergola arrangement.

You could even add an arch over the path with pretty roses... It's old fashioned but its homey and its romantic.