Hi Deb, If this place were mine I would be going for a timeless Australian look to blend with your native and European plant choices that's durable for our climate. I would start with a portico built over the entry in hardwood with a colour bond pitched lined roof trim all the wood in white. Clad the walls with Hardies weather boards or flat planks, building a wide timber trim around the downstairs window to create a feature. I'd go with charcoal walls to compliment the white trim classic colours that will endure time. I'd clad the retaining walls all with a stacker stone tile that resembles old English mortar less stone walls. Some outdoor lights by Barnlighting Autralia are classics. If you want a cheap alternative creeper over the bricks, be aware that all vines will erode the mortar and attract spiders, yet my favourite creeper for this application would be "ficus pemula" it sits really flat and can be trained as a solid wall. Perfect for privacy. You could pave the entry path with "Millboards" wharf style boards so it looks like a beach path, they will never rot or need maintenance, otherwise you can use concrete moulded timber look planks. Some flax grasses to add to the coastal look. As for this upstairs Windows, what was the building designer thinking?.. There's a couple of choices, you can create one way visibility with white shutters inside or out, line the glass with sunblock film or have some exterior screens fitted outside with laser cuts screens, timber etc or replace the windows and create a more balanced frontal feature with higher rectangular windows. This cladding can take to a contemporary look, coastal look, bush style etc. the best feature of this cladding is the additional insulation and uniformity. Have fun

Yes we possibly could have, however then the Entertaining, Living areas of the home would have been on the First Floor which would have meant incorporating a larger Patio on this level. You also must remember over 80% of owners of Two Storey homes prefer bedrooms on the First Floor, so you we need to take this into consideration for our clients potential resale of their home.

Hi Lindel Love the design and view! There are a couple of solutions here, depending on what the requirements are (ie cost versus energy efficiency). To your original query, the Colorbond will give a better maintenance long term but obviously the energy efficiency is zilch. The structure behind needs to do the insulation work as well as be structural. From a cost point of view timber framing is cheaper but the wall insulation is limited. You can however use a structural insulated panel to be both the structure as well as the insulation for everything from the upper floor to the walls and roof.... We are doing an extension in this at present which will actually look like a 1930's character style to match the existing home. I'm not familiar with your BAL but we have found that when we get such high insulation ratings from the walls and roof it has usually enabled us to cover the losses from windows and given the ability to have larger windows without the need for double glazing. Regarding the timber, I would be considering an artificial product unless you want to do the maintenance. Cheers

The issue is not so much the cladding material, but rather the articulation of the extended building form. This could be a simultaneously exciting, interesting and sympathetic extension utilising shingle cladding that wouldn't necessarily reference Hampton's. If there's anything too Hamptons going on here it's the small proportioned windows with the external shutters that give it a bit of a "dollhouse"popped on the top look. You've got a stunning beautiful home frontage, but the extension form is kind of sticking out/up the back and the fenestration looks out of balance by being perfectly symmetrical. Federation architecture is not symmetrical like the Victorian era predecessors, rather it is an asymmetric compositional balance that in your case should be recognised and countered appropriately with the design of the extension. When selecting appropriate extended cladding material it should be working towards texturally balancing the building and being complimentary overall. Professional recommendation you revisit the articulation of the upper extension, at the very least loosening up the fenestration with more glazing and potentially a more complex roof form with a smaller projecting gable (offset) as a reference to the frontage. The cladding choice becomes less critical, and shingle texture that ties in the roofing texture could work well. Weatherboard is bringing something new in, and if you go flush panel without a more contemporary design and articulation it will look wrong Good luck PD :) www.pauldistefanodesign.com