Thank you so much for your comment after all this time. The colour you have suggested brightens the front door area beautifully and if the two red pots were painted in a tone to match, we think it would look great. Not sure if you can get Crestview doors in New Zealand but there must be something similar. We like the idea of going away from another cedar door - mainly because it would stand out too much while it was weathering. I don't know whether we would have been that brave but the tangerine works so well with the jade green of the joinery. I have re-laid all the stones and put a new wider front step in. The timber colour will soften down in time. I put a big pot in the garden to draw visitors to the front door and have added some colourful bromeliads to the garden alongside the house to make the area a bit more cheerful. We can't make a decision about what to do with a larger 'overhang' to protect the front porch yet - it is a project in progress. Thanks again for your post.

There is no common link, no continuity that each dwelling share. i would introduce an element to both structures, borrowed fm the other, so for example the red brick and windows are the most striking design elements in the house, however the rendered garage with a parapet and no visible roof may as well be from another planet, I would brick up the front piers aside the door, with matching red brick, and then I'd install some post and beam rafters that could extend over beyond the garage door, almost like a flat eave, however just beams, no roof, and paint it chacoal, I'd then link a path from th garage to the house, and create the same detail at the porch entry of the home, same beams, colour and materials, so it looks like they belong on the same property. also, perhaps a little scary to consider, i would render the wall in between the door and the first window only, and paint the front door in the matching blue. Windows I'd go charcoal as per th beam structure, and apply a stained timber batten to the flat parapet above the garage, so paint that black, then fix timber battens vertically wh enough spacing to see that black shadowline, it will modernise it, emphasising the elongated design, which is both contemporary and popular, and tie this timber detail into the house with a generous deck. Both timbers will link, over scale th deck, perhaps stagger a step or two, as the garage is over scaled also. remove the fence, and landscape the corner with over scaled shrubbery, a meandering path to help invite ppl between the two structures., the visual disconnection is the fence, but it translates into everything else. if a fence must be, then consider a half height one, or an informal row of sleepers as uprights, to softly define the yard.

Having been brought up in a Lockwood home I can appreciate your love of the wood. I notice you have a light green bench and that would blend nicely with some similar colours in the room. I would consider having your cupboard doors replaced or sprayed to compliment the bench or visa versa you can have your bench updated with a new finish to modernise it. Perhaps you could just price out the cost of a new bench and leave the rest of the kitchen as it is. The odd bit around the dishwasher looks weird and that might be able to be fixed by curving a new bench into a small breakfast bar type set up. If there is room I would also reposition the microwave to the right of the cook top and use the existing space for a display or a lovely pot plant.

Hmmm, I see what you mean. There are two aspects I would focus on - the door surrounds and the garden pathway/approach. For the doorway itself (depending on how much you want to spend), you could put a small porch over the door for shelter (with a light for evening visitors). Maybe add a (wider than the doorway itself) glass or trellis surround on the RHS of the door, or add a small deck/steps (over the top of the current ones) that extends the doorway outwards and sideways and provides a sheltered platform for people to stand on while waiting for you to welcome them. The trick would be keeping it in the style of the (stucco?) house - maybe use the blue trim alongside the doorway to add visual width. The second aspect would be creating a pathway leading to the front door. I wouldn't take it in from the street but rather curve across from the driveway. Maybe large pavers spaced for walking, set into a gravel pathway, with some small outdoor lights alongside, and create a garden with small shrubs on the LHS of the door out to the edge of the path to define the pathway to the door. Or if you were going to concrete the driveway at some point, you could make some matching concrete pavers, with a rougher aggregate surface, with some extra concrete. And finally, the door... the door itself doesn't show in the picture, but after you've created the doorway, you could either get a new door (with some glass in it - more welcoming), or just repaint your current door to match your doorway - possibly in the same blue as your trim - lovely! Good luck