Hey Mathew,
I'm excited for you!render front and spray rest of the house same Color.Definately deck front from door across to the end of the house.Take off extra bricks off fence to make it a long low straight wall and render the colour you spray your roof.
I'd do something simple with your landscaping,to maybe two or three lime acacias in a clump or triangle placement then maybe clumping some dark flax some and ornamental grasses.i know this isn't the shape of your home but white with monument or woodland grey accents are fresh and look great with a lot of greenery.

Hey Mattew

I would definitely agree with your planned set of actions. You've obviously put some consideration into this. With rendering and painting the front, were you thinking of going bright and white? Or something like an urban gray?

This might not be necessary due to the difference in scale, you could always used mixed materials and clad one of your fronts in weatherboard to break things up like these people did if it looks a smidge monolithic

Thank you both for the feedback.

The permissions we have for the rear unit is for grey brick (of some kind. Shade, etc, is up to us). So my thoughts were to match that with an urban grey, or a blue grey. Then, having the natural finish timber decking & railing out the front would offset that and create somewhat of a feature, provide something bright against the grey.

The weatherboard cladding idea is certainly something different that I hadn't considered, although I do wonder how that might look with the tiled roof? I've always thought weatherboard looks much better with a colorbond roof.

The one other thing I was considering is removing the angled bricks that sit under the window sills, and putting newer, more modern windows in.

The weatherboard/terracotta combination isn't the most common, but you do find a few of these in the fringe suburbs of Melbourne. A lot of these areas were considered undesirable in the 1940s, 50s and 60s so a lot of the houses were heavily influenced by the Craftsman/Arts and Crafts movement.

Here's an example. This one is apparently in Coburg and was built in the '60s. It's not for everyone, and I like the idea you already have for making a front feature with natural decking etc to break up the facade.

Hi, our house is similar vintage, it was bagged and painted before we purchased it some four years ago. We re painted it as it was painted in many different colours, I am happy with the results, we have a travertine French patterned paving in the front ..

I think I'm on the same page with the suggestions here. I did some searching around to see if I could find something that fits the bill, and I think this is probably as close as I can get.

I don't think Matthew is at all under the illusion that people from the street would mistake the heritage of his home. Why would you assume 'modernising the front' indicated that? Most homeowners prioritise experiencing happiness when looking at their own homes over adhering to the standards of the decade in which it was built.

A grey rendered home with a modern grey brick unit is going to be far more visually consistent and appealing than a red brick home and grey brick unit, irrespective of how much one has cleaned up the existing features.

I thought Matthew's home seemed familiar. Looks very close to the one celebrated by Australian artist Howard Arkley in his well-known screen prints.

Spon on Rebecca. The 'modernisation' is more about consistency than anything else.

Also, love the artwork! haha. Is it strikingly similar.

I agree with Dr Retro in this case. Rendering this beauty will do nothing. The newer build will always show it up and no matter how many ways you try and "modernise" it, it will still look try hard. Use the red bricks to your advantage, celebrate them. Use the money and do some kickass windows and landscaping, bring grey into the mix via painting the roof. Just my 2 cents worth.

Hi Matthew we bought an old doer upper that needs refreshing so I was keen to follow your post. We so far painted the front door replaced front letterbox guerney washed the concrete drive and have bought a panel lift door for the carport. We removed all the overgrown trees. Maybe guerney wash your roof , driveway and front steps, thats our next job (roof) and start with the gardens. If you keep the awnings - spraypaint them in a single tone, paint or replace the driveway fence, Remove that tall shrub or trim it, plant a row of plants up along the drive. Great house, like ours you can only improve it in value. Enjoy renovating!

I wouln't paint low maintenance brick. Tidy up as suggested above. Add plantation shitters to the front windows which will give a hint of luxury. Put your money into lanscaping instead.

Hi Mathew

Many years ago in one of our first reno's (whilst trying out ideas) we had the same issue with a duplex vacated by someone with an attraction to certain substances and poor personal hygiene (it was putrid inside)...

We rendered the front and actually enclosed the entry to create a bit of a different look along with creating an additional bathroom, outdoor areas etc.

Here is before

Here is after

It's not everyone's style but it sold quickly...

Cheers

Looks awesome!

Afraid I agree w Dr Retro in this case.

while the owner can of course do whatever appeals to him

Rebecca - might appeal more to you, might even appeal more to owner (fine), DEFINITELY does not appeal more to everyone

Yes, I am aware it is an old thread, but for anyone else searching and researching.......

Don’t render. Clean the roof, get rid of the awnings, landscape and tidy the front yard. Like Howard Arkley did - look for beauty in the repeated patterns of the tiles, in the wrought iron and get a great patterned screen door. Rendering leads to blandness and lots of maintenance.

OLD POST !

yes this post is old but still comes up when googling 60s brick veneers. I hope he didn't render - what a tragedy. I have one the same. Seems they are either being rendered to look like that cheap flat moulded grey concrete construction they make townhouses out of, or knocked down for townhouses.

Hi Molly, do you have a design dilemma? This site is for asking the community questions on house design.