Those ideas are great / what a difference already. We were thinking of ranch sliders/ bi folds right along the front and taking out the triangular windows at the top as they are off set and filling that in with lineaboard painted a copper colour, and adding a more extensive deck. Thinking of taupe/grey paint on the roughcast at the bottom and lighter lineaboard or of the same taupe/grey at the top. Copper colours on the garage door, on the linea joins on the top half and around the soffits. What about the garage door being a block design e.g 5 x 4 block type look?Then it would match the entrance door. and covering in the windows at the bottom ( that's all garage underneath and is well lit with lights inside ). the outside light looks cool - maybe in copper? are you able to produce that for us, we would love to see if the concept works. Thank you.

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone and sorry I didn't explain the polycarbonate a bit better :) This is along the lines of what we'll be using... http://www.psp.co.nz/building-brands/corrugated-sheeting/suntuf-polycarbonate The area is an absolute sun trap and we're hoping to use it as an extension to our living space, especially on rainy days! I've just sent my husband out to get a few pots of different stains for is to try - darkest brown (cedar) and a lighter brown (rustic oak) both by Cabots + the black we already have. Hopefully we can decide between one of those! I probably should have mentioned we will have black aluminium pool fencing running along the top of the second retaining wall - so the real question is do we keep everything black (pool fencing, horizontal fence, retaining walls and pergola) or do we go with a dark (or even light) brown for the pergola and retaining walls.... We just keep going around in circles at the moment. Decisions, decisions! Thanks again :)

Where is your house? Low maintenance plants depend on the zone. I wouldn't plant in your rock skirt. Ideally you'd put your rock skirt around the house and then planting beds outside of that. The skirt keeps mud and dirt off the house and let's you spray for bugs etc. since your skirt runs right up to the driveway on that side, I think your options for plants would be some large pots or window boxes. I'd paint your foundation the same color as your grout in the brick to help it blend in.

It sounds lovely. The ceiling will be more than suitable for a transitional style. I think the wainscoting would also be fine but as I'm cautious I'd be adding after I'd lived there for a while. It does seem more traditional than transitional. On the other side I'd love the bead boarding in the hall.