As your house is a lovely grey I would consider plants which harmonise with that shade. So consider a range of grey leafed plants such as olive trees (these look great at night as the leaves have a silver backing), wattles, feijoa, euphorbia, lambs ears - an interesting textured ground cover, as is snow in summer. Then a striking deciduous coloured tree or large shrub such as a maple with red leaves, smoke bush, or crepe myrtle. There is no need to build a fence unless you really want significant privacy, shrubs do provide adequate separation. As the home is tall and quite imposing I would also plant three pencil pines neat the front of the building, these will soften the edges of the building and help it relate to the garden. Most grey leaved plants are very hardy. wind may prove more of an issue than sun or soil, I recommend that you look for plants at are labeled 'suitable for seaside locations'.

Hi Anna, just looking at your layout... I would move your pedestrian path over a little so that your pedestrian gate is lined up with the archway closest to your front door ( Arch 1). I would remove the screen as this breaks up the space and interrupts the flow from street to front door. Moving the path over will also allow for thicker planting alongside the edge of the driveway which will make your courtyard quieter and more private. I think the next step for you would be to then consider the shape of your lawn. As your house has a Mediterranean feel, a strong geometric shape would work the best - square, rectangle, or even a square with a half circle at each end. Leave a minimum of 1.5 metres to the boundaries, particularly if you want nice thick hedging. Finally, consider a couple of features to add interest and draw the eye - keeping with the Mediterranean feel, a couple of lemon trees in pots would look fab! Hope that helps and good luck with your project!

Hi arcmaz Great house - fantastic 60's modern look - Harry Sidler (Modernist Architect 1923-2006 exponent of the Bauhaus style in Australia, mainly Sydney) would have loved the interpretation, its a good style, don't change it will pay dividends in the long run. It would be good if there was a plan of the house,and a plan of the block this would allow some relatively accurate planning proposals. If you had the real-state plan with the block plan it would help a lot. In terms of making the place bigger and retaining the style I would suggest that the extension (maybe one room and an en suite depending on a budget) be a block in the today's current style, but linked to the existing house via a "link" (Link =small walkway). This would allow you to retain the style, but not be dominated by a past period, I have done this a few times and it has worked fairly well. If you are looking for three bedrooms it might be best to add a master bedroom with a bathroom, and then maybe living areas with back yard access. There may be other approaches depending on the current layout that could be considered, but I would retain as much as the original as possible, and only make small cosmetic changes until you are ready for a worthy development. I hope this is of some help, I would be happy to comment further or work on this project. Regards - Michael Manias Manias Associates Building designers - mm407p@gmail.com

Always, always these things/decisions/projects will come down to how much money there is to work with.........don't underestimate the knock-on cost effect of renovation..........the thing is, does the house need a complete overhaul anyway? If so then potentially there is opportunity for reconfiguration, but don't be surprised with the general scope of what you are thinking about will equate to $300K for pulling the whole thing apart and putting it back in a similar but different format within the general existing footprint .......if you are thinking under $100K then really the only options are strategically consolidated refit updates to critical areas without any significant structural changes......... Finally, as always it pays to get some professional design advice when you are this stage of the process, even just to give you the accurate information and options to help you make informed decisions for your investment.. Good Luck :) PD www.pauldistefanodesign.com