A small tree, and some colour. I have lightened the garage door and gutter

Def new lights and letterbox. Then I’d concentrate on the garden and give the driveway a good clean. A modern mush garden will give you the look you’re after. The house is fine and is a good neutral base. As Kate suggests a tree in front of the window rather than screens is a more appealing option.

I note I chose a bluish shade to echo the solar panels and doorside window colours that are showing up in photo, with lighter shade on porch step. This brings 3 eelements with this colour: door, letterbox and panels.
I would paint the front fences to match you dark side fence.

You'll hate me for saying this , but to me the 3 problems are the it is almost all cream ; it needs some garden ( both to get some 'life' but also it can distract the eyes ) ; BUT number 3 is the roof sorry . No matter what you do , the roof will look faded , and the solar panels emphasise that .

Live in the place for a year , plant some gardens with grasses and flaxes and possibly even cactuses -- browns and reds and yellows as well as greens .

Ideally , I'd change or re-powdercoat or repaint the windows and screens in a charcoal , to break the cream , and after a year , you'll know if you actually need that front screen door -- I'd be tempted to change to a nice cedar or similar toned front door ( no screen ) and matching garage door .

So I realise you want a cheap fix , and I've suggested at least $10k , but it will come up a lot better IMO -- if staying for 10 plus years , you'll be glad you spent the $$$ -- if selling before then , you'll be glad you spent the $$$ haha .

I would pressure clean the driveway first and also your footpath if its in the same condition. Ask a few local landscapers to come and give you quotes and rough designs if you do not know what you want. I always buy natives from the local nurseries getting their help as I never water my garden but if you want a fence free property then make certain you have something a bit prickly to stop dogs and cats wandering in. Natives are in all the colours and have great textures too.

I can't see if your roof is clean either. It's a great passive colour as it will reflect the sunshine you could change it to a lighter or slightly darker colour. Front door could be wider instead of the side glass panels modernised a bit.

I like the screens too Bunnings and other handware stores have a great range in other colours too you want to harmonise your colours for the house. Thinking of the garden I would go with creams and pastels or the other extreme a feature of grouped plantings of threes in same colour as the decided screen is bring it all together just a bit more cohesive.

Thanks Kate. I like what you've done to break up some of that ugly cream and and to get some contrast happening. The height on the tree is another interesting way to screen out the window. I wonder if some other lust modern plantings might work the same way (just sans the screens?) Bringing several elements with the same colour in also sounds like a great plan. Do you think charcoal or black would work as well as blue?

I like the front door idea Rosemary. When I visit next I might have a measure and think about what size might work. I had wanted to keep the screen door, but I'm guessing Id have to rethink that, as I think it would swing out and hit the post at the door. The roof is not at all clean, its actually a pretty dirty colour, which is why we're thinking a pressure spray might be a good idea, especially given that the roof needs to be repointed in places. The landscapers sounds like a good idea if we have the budget for it.

Potsy, I definitely get what you're saying. I agree that there is no saving that cream coloured roof. At some stage we'd love to get it painted, but at the moment we have the bulk of our money being spent inside. I also like the idea of the grasses and flaxes/ modern planting (as bigreader also suggested) I like the idea of painting the windows, but wonder if the job lasts? Ive seen a few jobs that look terrible after a few years as the colour fades or chips away. Do you have any experience with that? We may throw more $$$ at it depending on how long we end up living there.

Julie, I think Im also the fan of a lush plant up too! I will have a think about it.

Thanks for all of your ideas guys!

Frankly, as I said it’s hard to provide exact colour from photos.

Yeah, its not a great picture. I think I may need to play around with colours somewhat until I decide on what kinds of shades/undertones will work best. Thankyou :)

It's actually a good looking house, paint the gutter black including front door, add white internal shutters to the large window, white and cream are lovely together. Clad the verandah post with timber and match that colour to your side fence and new mail box.

Clean driveway and add an edge of cream parallel bricks to both edges. And work on the garden. What aspect is the front and do you have any views from the front of the house