I like doors with panels and I like the doors to match the base boards and window + door trim (usually white). Zebra wood is very unique looking. I like art and rugs to get the attention in a room, not the doors. However, I came across gorgeous photo that appears to use flat veneer zebra wood. The baseboards are white. The multi-color slate really enhances this zebra color, too. I could not find the gray hue zebra wood. Do you have a photo or link?

I'm a first time poster and have managed to post twice by mistake!

Hi Ang, I thought I'd follow up my earlier comment with pictures of before and after of pine cupboards I specified to be painted in a budget makeover. My clients tell me people presumed they had purchased brand new cabinetry, so startling was the makeover. Somehow I have put the "after" on the left and "before" image on the right!

With any post war house built in the 50's the connection from in to out is non existent. Depending on where living rooms are located i would take some of the fantastic windows out and replace them with French doors, or bi folding doors and connect the house to the site. The colour scheme from Karen is perfect to lift the kerb appeal and give it a modern twist. With land costing more than houses these days and the fact that you seem to have quite a big block, after looking at paint colours, opening up the living dining kitchen areas to the outside with a roofed area. Even combining a flat roofed carport which will widen the house to the street making it seem a bigger house, can carry the new look with say an enclosed section for garden equipment, to the opposite side to the house, and if you are lucky enough to have that near the living area it can be used as both car cover and outdoor living. I always think a good landscape architect is worth their weight in gold, to give you a landscape plan, to suit the soil type, your skills level and your preference in planting. Divide up the exterior space to provide outdoor rooms under a tree, paths that lead to some special spot for kids, maybe even a veggie patch with a chock run, and make sure that you use the entire yard, front and back by enclosing part of the front yard in fencing which suits the style of the house, while providing some planting to the street. If allowed a gate structure to blend in with the house, a dedicated pathway with planting each side to the front door, fantastic fencing and consider natural materials like a hand laid stone fence with timber or powder-coated aluminium inserts, to give this house an entry, not sure where the front door is now, so that is not a good look. Gardens always enhance a house, they are never a wasted effort, and if you are not gardeners, make sure the landscape architect knows that and he will be able to select low maintenance plants. All the paint in the world will not give the desired effort that the garden will do to that paint work.