Great to hear that you have decided not to paint the brickwork. Can I offer my opinion - I'd suggest painting the garage door and surrounding frame and the adjacent beam and column (currently white) in a dark charcoal/brown to match the ground floor brickwork try Dulux Namandji or Mali. I would redo the retaining wall with large boulders in a more freestyle layout than the current straight line and take up some of the concrete drive near the retaining wall to create a garden on the lower level, curved to still provide access to all of the undercroft unless you wish to enclose part of it with a large full height window. I'd love to see the wrought iron balustrade painted black. My home in the mid sixties had salmon coloured bricks, white window frames and fabulous turquoise gutters! The downpipes were painted to match the bricks thankfully - turquoise might have been a bit over the top! Good luck with your project, would love to see your progress. W

Australia has nice examples of painted and rendered Art Deco homes. If it was a different kind of brick I would say keep it, but I think painting/rendering would really brighten the place. I love the windows. Although all pics here don't exactly match your style, they are all of that era. As mentioned in above comments, there are mix of landscaping styles that suit from conifer/gravel/grass to cottage rose garden to an Australian native garden. Do what reflects you and how much time you have for your garden.

you said you could extend towards the west to replace the laundry but what's the distance from the side of the original dining room to the western boundary and what are your long term plans for the old dining room, kitchen and the space behind the garage? if you expect to extend, as me me already said, it's much better to plan the whole house renovation and it can also be more cost effective to add new rooms than to rearrange existing spaces even if you have to do the work in stages but, as we can't read the writing on your plans, it difficult to make specific suggestions and i don't understand where you plan to add the new kitchen ...does the house have only original rooms or is part of the house an old extension? what are all the floors and walls made out and what is the height of the back deck off the ground? please show room names and dimensions on the plans in larger print and some photos inside and out would help understand the existing spaces but my initial thought would be to have a new kitchen,pantry and laundry on the garage side and use the old dining room kitchen and laundry bathroom as a new master suite..but depends on correct dimensions.

The colours , design and overall execution are really good , and better tghan most 'professionals' who post on here , but again thats a matter of taste ( and to be fair , I'm sure a lot would rubbish my amateur efforts ) . An intelligent use of the existing brick , render , and modern lines and design . A bit too much grey in the kitchen for my taste , but definitely livable ! Three of my pet peeves though -- before photos with no lighting , after with every light on . -- messy before photos , prestine after ones . -- no colour or even owners personality yet showing . There is a cool apricotty orange chair in one of the pictures , and and orange jug in the kitchen , and see how much better those rooms look for it ? I know everyone is different , but personally , I think the primary tones suit orange accents , and I imagine the Wow that would be added with those bar stools in orange instead of white , and then do 3 of the dining chairs in the white , and 3 in a light orange ( or if that is considered too much , go white chairs with light orange cushions that can be removed if you don't like 'em ) -- a bit unexpected , but no too over the top IMO , and all ties in with the brick , the white , the charcoal , the grey , the timber .