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.

Thank you everyone for your tips. I am feeling more confident now, I can start to picture what has been recommended by everyone. I am curious to learn more about some of your comments: GDP Interior Design - you mentioned a repeating pattern on the balcony, could you please further explain what you meant by this? The floor tiles or railing or wall? I am intrigued as we really want to add a little something there. Also, great tip with the eave colours, to be honest, I would have just gone plain flat white but I guess this would be too contrasting with the other colours if we did right? Sammy Elder - I LOVE your idea of the cantilevered/suspended roof. Thank you so much! That gives us something extra to work on! LesleyH - Plantation shutters is/was right up there on the to do list. They are very expensive for what they are but they certainly are popular. Could you please help further describe what you mean with your comment about cladding? I was looking at cladding options and initially was thinking I could clad the top half but there were many comments about how it often looks like you're trying to cover/hide something (bad walls, cracks etc). Thanks so much everyone, what a great community this is! Dan.

I am with you Zara - I think it could definitely be a contender for ugliest fibro ever. I think I prefer the neighbour's house. Why would someone choose to place the bathroom at the front like that? And the front door opening off a gloomy single carport - definitely a mid-century modern touch. My suggestion would be to build a modest addition that would draw the eye away from the boxy elevation - possibly convert that carport to a decked outdoor entertaining area and open the wall next to the front door into the living room (guessing that is the floor plan). Or push something up through the roof, maybe a clerestory window to capture light and air - this would give the building a bit of vertical energy. Then paint the original fibro monument, as fulton & salomon suggested. Or matt black. Very dark colours will make the building look more substantial and work well with the texture of the fibro panels. I saw a very impressive building in North Fremantle once - three storeys + roof garden with a big concrete curved panel falling over the front like a waterfall. It wasn't until the owner/builder pointed it out that I realised that the ground floor was actually a single storey salmon-brick 70's house. The roof had been removed and the upper floors cantilevered over the original walls which had been painted black. The original building just disappeared. Lately I have been fantasising about doing something similar with a fibro beach shack like yours - flying a lightweight, open-plan structure with strong geometric form over the top but keeping the core of the shack for bedrooms, laundry etc.

ask local council if you can remove gutter and downpipes on that side of the roof and install a Japanese style ground level drain so water and leaves wash straight of the roof and collect at ground level where it's much easier to manage and only consolation should be that neighbours have the same problem and may have already discovered a solution or agree to remove a tree that is unsuitable for both of you