Thanks for the replies! My wife suggested we talk to a local real estate agent, so i think that is a good idea... just that Im not sure how helpful they are likely to be if we arent selling yet :) As for saving for our dream house, I dont disagree, however if doing this up nicely over the next ~5 years or so while we live here nets us some extra in the eventual sale, then that of course will help us as well. Interesting thing happened today actually. I got a knock on the door and one of the older neighbours asked if he could take some lemons from the tree. I of course said yes. Anyway he was telling me he had lived in the street for 40 years. I asked him if the house had always looked like this, and he said no that ~30 years ago the old old owner did a massive renovation and pulled off the timber and put up the bricks and gutted the inside of the house. Interesting stuff!

Hi V Lyon. I'm a novice at this myself so I don't have any real comments except that what you're looking at doing seems nice. But I did want to ask is what program you used to do your proposed makeover? Was it just Photoshop? Or something else? I'm keen to try this on our 1970s house to get a feel for how it might look...

There is nothing more exciting than producing a 3D render of a proposed building and then to have it built and finished exactly how one envisaged. Massive thanks to our team of designers and to the builders that helped this project literally come to 'real-life.'

You mentioned wanting to enhance the mid-century modern feel with more block features around the entrance. If you prefer not to render the first story to match the ground floor, you could consider using a darker colour for the base to contrast the stark white, or a lighter color to match the roof. This will create a simpler color palette while allowing the range of materials to provide texture. Additionally, restoring the balcony railings and exterior staircase would complement the mid-century modern aesthetic.