Your door and garage door add the warmth that is missing from the other side Of house. It all depends on your budget, and do you need the concrete apron for car turning or parking? Start with landscape design.

Yeah we use that spot a lot for parking and getting out of the garage and we will have to extend it on the other side at some point as well.
We don’t have a massive budget (maybe 25k?) but we also won’t be doing everything at once to make it a bit more manageable. I read that rendering doesn’t cost that much? I think I was quoted about 7k for render and paint does that sound about right?
We are also looking into getting a landscaper to work with us on the front as it’s such a big slope and we are completely lost on what to do there.
Front doors also now have a black security screen over them so doors are no longer visible which is a shame.

Since the real estate photos are 11 years old, would it be possible to see a current picture of the home. Landscaping is very important. I would leave any rendering of home until after a landscaper has come into the yard. Obviously your family requires something that is low maintenance, if you have not done anything in the front yard, in 11 years.

I would also change the garage door to match the roof colour. Keep it a deep blue colour.

if you can't see the front door because of security screens now, okay. But I don't think the front door in the photos does anything for the home, or maybe because the front door wood colour is different to the garage door colour. These should either be the same colour or completely different. For example wood front doors, blue garage door.

Garden is completely overgrown now so will be ripping it all out. We gave up on the house due to financial struggles and just not being happy with how it looks. We mostly just focused on the backyard.

We are happy if it’s a little bit more high maintenance we just want it to look nice since it’s always been very bland.
We were actually considering going with a dark grey for the roof and gutters because we felt the blue felt a bit too outdated. You think stick with blue? We want it to be quite modern and have a bit of wow factor so thought the dark roof was a better option

Oops actually my mum has just said no more blue she says she can’t stand it anymore Our bathrooms are blue, we have a room with a dark blue feature wall and carpet so she says she wants it all gone. My original idea was to paint the garage door blue exactly like the one you just showed

Firstly , it is not an ugly house -- it has a couple of interesting features , a few nifty bits . It isn't grey , there is no Mission Brown . THEY are ugly haha .

That entry portico really makes the house !

But you also aren't really helping yourself -- look at the pic of the front door . The white above the door is clean and crisp , then there is 70's buttery yellowy beige , and the blue roof . And the plants definitely don't help -- they look 1940's sorry .

I spotted the 2 different stains between the garage and the entry doors , luckily I like the garage more , lucky because it is bigger and harder to sand haha , but also its easier to stain up a lighter door -- it may be varnished , which may slow things a bit , but set aside a day and have fun . Get the 2 looking the same ( even if only from a distance haha ) . There is no way I'd paint stained doors , even less likely I'd go that blue if you don't like the roof . Stick with what it is -- not quite a mahagony , darker than cedar -- just a contrasting , warm wood . Nice .

You've dug up the gardens ? Go modern -- well , what everyone has done for 50 years . Do bark or stones , add low maintanence bamboo and grasses and flaxes and cactuses -- nothing that flowers too often ! Green , brown , red , yellow ( leaves or branches , not flowers ) . Mix up the heights , the styles .

I'd probably go a lightish silvery blue roof -- is insurance paying ? Gutters to match , or gutters in charcoal/monument to create a break . Everything that is butter , go an off-white . Surfmist has a blue tinge , but that might be getting too close to the silvery roof colour , especially if you have done the gutters in it too . Then landscape ( or re-landscape ) the front , maybe a big white shiny sculpture somewhere in amongst the plants -- 1.2 metres tall for under $500 , it's a bit like the portico -- it adds interest .

In time , you might add downlights in the portico , uplights on the walls , etc , but just start with what you have and work to a plan .

Actually , just as I clicked out , and looked at the pics again -- see how the screens on the entry , and the dark vents on the portico above , looks great -- do the garage door in a charcoal stain too -- stain , not paint , so that the grain shows through , not so you wonder if it is paint , vinyl or powdercoated -- make it obvious it is timber !

Yes insurance is paying yay! were hoping to go with a light roof for heat reasons and it looks nice and bright but found that monument and night sky make it look a lot fresher. There’s a house up the road with the cream brick and black roof looks really nice.

Our garage door is a metal wood lookalike so it’s not actually made of wood and when I googled about painting it a lot just said to replace it.

In one of the above pictures there’s a display home with a small deck at the front door I thought that would (kinda) match with the dark garage door and make it a lot safer as the tile is super dangerous when wet. Worth it or just rip it up and replace with something else and change garage door?

Is the garage door in okay condition ? Keep it if it is IMO . Is the entry door okay ? Keep it if it is but stain it darker . Are the entry tiles slippery ? Put a washboard over them , stained the same as the garage door , entry doors and washboard . However , wet wood can get slippery too - just a warning to clean it every few months .

I wouldn't go dark for the roof unless you are in a cooler climate ( and even then I'm reluctant ) , but the vent and gutters would look smart in charcoal IMO .

Just one other thing -- I wouldn't render , but see the showhome pic with the stonework on the 2 pillars -- that's probably less than $7k worth for the stonework . Rendering won't give a huge lift IMO , as the features are already there ( the portico , the wooden doors , etc ) , but the stonework with the timber ( and fake timber ) will lift things . The other slight thing is that the windows are okay , but of a certain age and style , rendering will highlight that , whereas now it all matches , if that makes any sense to you .

Garage is is ok condition (mum has reversed into it once but it’s only dinted on the inside), front doors are not though they have water damage so we will replace them but will look for a colour as close to the garage as we can get instead of painting them.

Our front windows by the front door will be getting replaced through insurance as well because they weren’t installed properly and flood the house (also getting new flooring yay!) and I’m definitely painting the window trims anyway since it also dates the inside. either white or dark grey/black to match if we go with the dark roof. But you all reckon go with a lighter roof colour? Driving around all the nicer houses all have the darker colours. I would have loved a light colour but all the houses I’ve seen with them so far just look a bit off to me.

Our goal is we want the house to look quite new and modern and we are trying to get rid of as much of that creamy beige colour as possible or as my mum calls it, puke colour

Would you say if we changed the window trim colour we could get away with rendering? Is it also more than 7k?

Also unsure what a washboard is is that like a small deck thingy? I can see how the wood would get slippery as well but the tiles we have atm are very smooth and so dangerous. Would it cost much more to just rip it up and put proper outdoor tile down compared to doing a small deck? The idea with the deck would also be that it brings it up closer to door level as there is quite a bit step.

Washboards were what our grandmothers and great grandmothers used to wash clothes -- they were ripply boards designed so the water , soap and dirt ran off . The board on the showhome is more like the ones in shower blocks at the swimming pools and similar , but they all do a similar job -- allows the water to run away , and add a bit of grip .

Roof colour is up to you and even whether you go for tiles is up to you . I just like the look that timber adds -- a co-ordinated garage door , entry door and washboard adds to everything , but both dreamer and I and no doubt others have noticed the different tones when you get it wrong .

Just one thing with the doors -- I'm guessing you'd be $2500 or more to replace the two , and unless that is insurance too , I'd be tempted to sand and restain darker to match the garage door -- if the stains still show through ( you'll pretty much know as you are staining , maybe even when sanding in preparation ) , then do 3 or 4 coats of gloss paint . Black gloss looks good up close , but I think it looks a bit dark and negative from the street . Having said that , what other choices if you can't stain -- maybe sunshine yellow , maybe a teal although that might look 50's , maybe an emerald green ?

Ok yikes maybe we won’t replace the front doors just yet!
So painting them might be the best option and wood over the tiles at the front door stained a bit darker to match the garage.
Our back patio is also dark grey tile with timber poles so a metal roof in monument might be the best bet to match with the dark grey tile and darker stained wood and garage but also contrast with the light brick.

You could tie the front door decking into a timber step decking garden installation, starting from the end of the concrete hard stand.

That’s pretty much the height we were looking at going for so it’s an obvious step up and matches with the front door height.

Good point about the front door we will probably install new crimsafe so you won’t be able to see any of the wood at all. Yes landscaping is the biggest thing we need but we are so clueless we just shoved plants in but it clearly didn’t work lol

We will be planting along the driveway and putting in lights along it as well and there is a (very messy) hedge hiding the concrete in front of the door- which looks even worse right now because there’s marks from the hail.

Our biggest problem is we live on rock and it’s such a steep incline so everything we plant grows weird or not at all I would love a beautiful lush front garden:(

Is there anything we can do to the concrete to make it look nicer? If it’s painted with some kind of textured paint would that be too slippery?

You could hire a pressure water cleaner. And pressure clean the driveway. You will be amazed at how dirt comes off and almost turns the colour back to new.

if you paint the driveway with a textured paint, it would not be slippery, because of the sand like component in the paint. However if you paint it, this will give you ongoing maintenance to keep it looking fresh. I would pressure clean the driveway first anyway, as that is required, then make a decision. Again all of these things do not make any difference if your garden is not maintained.

Your front yard needs good retaining walls, and terraced down to the road with retaining walls. As my previous photo, you could have timber or composite Steps going down the front of the terraced front yard. If the yard is rock then this is where your budget would be spent.

you could get a new garage door in the lighter timber look colour. Install timber inserts into the front portico. The insurance is covering your roof, so go your monument Colorbond roof.

i would not spend hard earned money on rendering the bricks.

I really like the idea of the wood at the top like that picture it’s much nicer then what we have at the moment!

And Thanks for your input guys! It’s nice to know people don’t think that the house and brick is really that ugly and that there’s other cheaper ways to improve rather than spending a bunch of money on rendering. So now instead of looking at colour schemes for rendering I’ll start trying to draw up what we can do with the yard because you’re right it lets it down so much.
Thanks guys:)

We have painted brick (they were like that when we bought the place) and I like the options it gives.
But I recommend composite decking such as this one by Duralife (called garappa grey). we've replaced all our timber decks with it and it looks fabulous.

That looks so nice!
We actually had a huge deck out the back when we first moved in that we had to rip up because it was falling apart.
We recently went to the home show here in Brisbane and were looking at putting that exact deck back in! Same colour too! It’s such a nice colour and feel and won’t be destroyed by the harsh sun here I love it