It's a lovely house and looks like you have plenty of yard space, so some more gardens would be nice.

Do you plan to add a pergola? It could really enhance the front & entry area too.

Fishermans Cottage Flinders · More Info

Why modernise such a beautiful character home?

I'd landscape only and leave the house as is.

maybe just a paint job, cream or white with green guttering and some outdoor awnings, then id transplant those two large bushes to each end of the garden bed and plant some colourful shrubs, the driveway id put down some pattern paving

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.

I'd add a very wide, low, golden wooded wrap around deck to extend the living areas and make a statement entrance. A pergola and opening the windows to French Doors (depending on the layout of the house) would also work a treat, as marcros2 and Louie T have suggested. Gardens are a must and a joy to do overtime. I have a similar house and that's what I plan to do.

Your house's design features 'picture windows' intended to create framed views of the front garden. So I'd be trimming or removing any bushes obscuring views from windows, and getting advice on planting and landscaping in a way that gives you pleasing views from indoors. When you feel good about living in the house and going with its better features, you'll be less inclined to rush into alterations that would 'modernise' the house but soon look dated. Studying plans and photos of 50s and early 60s houses will give you ideas for enhancing what you have at a moderate cost.

depending on how extensive you're looking at, you might be interested in chatting with Eco Windows & Pro Clima about how they can help. Weathertex is a great low-maintenance - long lasting cladding that would be ideal if you're looking at more comprehensive renovations to the cladding. Decking and Pergola are a nice feature, but depends how you use the space. If you are more an inside then outside person, I'd be sprucing up inside the house to make it comfier before doing anything dramatic outside.

As has been shown by others - white and grey. Although I don't know why people insist on having their gutters and down pipes stand out. I would paint the gutters a similar grey to the roof, the gutters the same colour as the walls and the window frames white.

I would be pulling out all of those plants around the house and start again.

One way to modernise these lovely old houses is to create a monochrome colour scheme. In this quick example, you could paint the whole house white, including the roof and gutters, to create a stylish modern looking home for relatively little expense.

Fences and outdoor living areas added to the front could change the feeling of the house. These photos are of my daughters house where we changed the most boring house in the street into something with a bit of presence.

(please ignore the darkness of the photos - taken with a phone on a dull day.)