As a professional you are doing exactly the opposite of everything I would suggest. Keeping the elements that make the house look cheap, and hiding the elements that are worth retaining. Save the money on your fancy and expensive barn door and spend it on landscaping to reduce the acres of concrete and put in some decent plants, especially if you have a brick planter box (which should be the feature).

If you are on a budget you need to think about the value of the dollars you spend, and making a feature of a garage door is not enough to turn this sows ear into a silk purse. Don't spend money on cheap fixes as they will always look like cheap fixes, as the current house demonstrates.

Try giving the old brickwork a good high-pressure clean - you may be surprised at what lies under the dirt, and the brickwork provides some texture, character and relief to a bland exterior. The main issues I see are the design of the lightweight verandah and the tired old aluminium windows. Screened porches can be great spaces when designed properly in sympathy with the existing building. Yours is not in sympathy and is detracting from the house and entry.

Try using darker colours near the ground, working to lighter colours as you move up.

Best of luck,

Dr Retro

of Dr Retro House Calls

clean the brick wall and repaint the existing garage door in a dark colour to match the bricks...remove the decorative angle brackets on the verandah and add a wide board across the front and sides of the verandah roof...(about 150 cms deep all around at the top) and add thicker verandah posts...both painted in the dark colour to match existing trim will give a more substantial look to the flimsy structure on top of that great brick wall... clean the siding and paint the downpipes to match the walls, clean and repoint the roof tiles and add a deep wide bottom step to make access to the entry stairs more obvious and inviting.....clean the concrete paving and invest in a new driveway without the untidy grass strips.....it's a great looking house that loses it's appeal without a definite entry path included in a properly finished driveway and neat landscaping to highlight already attractive features....ideally the new bottom steps would be simple poured concrete and some bling could be added with big terracotta potts of succulents and fresh new planting

I am sorry, but you did say it yourself, the structure on the verandah is ugly. It detracts from an otherwise pleasant house. Why add more to something that is already wrong? I would remove the structure and add plug in repellers (Bunnings etc), a mozzie zapper (if needed) and a couple of pot plants with sandalwood repellent sticks in amongst some attractive plants. Alternatively have a complimentary redo of your verandah to make it an attractive indoor/outdoor room.

Wow, thanks so much everyone for your valued advice. It becomes more apparent to me that this "birdcage" verandah structure is the sore point. The other features are okay for now but need a good clean. Landscaping is definitely on the to-do list.

I love the idea of giving the verandah structure more boldness and to better integrate it with the main house by using a horizontal trim board across the top and reinforcing the posts. However wouldn't then also the verandah roof have to be different to that transparent corrugated perspex.

Any idea what to use? If it's non-transparent it might cost a bit of daylight in the room behind the verandah. But I'll try the effect on daylight by putting some cardboard first.

Also, with the foundation walls, currently the one in the back is beige and the front one is brick, would it not be better to match them in colour/texture?

Yes the extension of the verandah roof is part of what is creating the ugly facade and would need to be replaced with something more sympathetic to the building if you were to redo it.
I don't see the different colours on the lower part of the house to be a huge issue. Landscaping or perhaps removing the paint could help and its really not terribly noticeable, I think???
As to how to rebuild your structure to something more complimentary to your house, I would be seeking some professional opinions.

How can you possibly look at this home and think it's ugly. It's not. It's a gem in the making, but right now it's unloved and uncared for!

Get rid of the things that are eyesores (the succulents and spindly plants and any plant that isn't thriving - clean back to nothing so you get a clear look at what you've got to work with.

High pressure wash the the whole house and concrete surfaces (please use recycled water) then start think about replacing the polycarbonate roof over the patio or lining it,and replacing the screen with screen blinds to remove "birdcage look" and create a more polished look. Paint the gutters, window frames, brick and lower part of the house to match (pick a colour that works for you) and the garage door to match the siding. Currently you've got a red roof, white siding, black window frames, brown garage door, tan brick, grey lower house brick/material, and what looks to be mission brown guttering - so it looks "bitsy". Reduce the colour pallet to 2 colours - it'll bring everything together and make it look more cohesive (remembering that your roof will be the third colour in your pallet).

For the garden - you don't really need a landscaper if you're prepared to put in the hard yards. You've got a fairly steep slope think about drought tolerant low maintenance plants such as lavender, lomandra and agapanthus that you only need to periodically prune- for plant selection make nice with your local nursery staff - they're excellent for advice and helping determine the best plants. Think about making your life easier and put in irrigation (drip irrigation works a treat on a timer). Good luck.