Hi Christina,

Are you able to re use the brick that is coming off the existing exterior walls that will become interior walls with the extension? That will give you the most consistant look especially where you are extending walls straight up as you possibly are above the garage. The extra effort taken to tidy up the old bricks for reuse will really be worth it and cut down the material costs. You could even take the brick off the walls to the bit of deck that will remain in the middle, to use them on new exterior walls and use a new contrast material in that 'alcove'. The material you use as a contrast may depend on what colour scheme you end up with. I would suggest one of two options. One - as you already have white as a contrast, stick with that and maybe make the front door a different colour, possibly a blue or teal or green or possibly cedar. This depends on your preferences. Two - change all the trims and contrasting items to a medium to dark grey. Because your brick is so dark, you either need to go brave with a dark grey or stick with white IMO. You could also paint your front door another contrasring colour as suggested for option one.

For the contrasting cladding material in the alcove to the remaining deck, I would use weatherboards. Given the type and amount of brick you have, and the roof form, it will be hard to make your house look new without major changes so make it look the best it can for its age. You could use either horizontal bevelbacked weatherboards or vertical shiplap or board and batten. These would look ok in white or grey or if you want a bit more impact, go with the colour you paint the front door. Maybe white board and batten is not right as it may actually age the house even more.

I'd be inclined to incorporate some sort of structure over the front door in the extension, to give it more impact and protect visitors from rain. Perhaps somehow work it in with the deck and balustrade above. Maybe extend the deck out in a triagular form keeping it as it is on the left, as viewed in the image provided and out 1.2 - 2m over the door. Work this in with the whole elevation so it looks good. You could give this some height by taking it up to handrail level without blocking any views you may have.

Good luck.

C.

Christine has some great ideas , but I'd be sounding out prices before I went any further . Its a pleasant house , a bit dated , not top of the range , but basically nothing too much wrong . I mention that so you can follow my train of thought .

Now , to add to it and do it properly , you are going to remove a lot of brick , even things like turning a window into a sliding door isn't easy , take off half the roof , modify roof trusses , new roofing and the fun of trying to match that , all attached to new load bearing exterior walls , and the 'old' wall framing will almost certainly need all the gib removing to get to wiring and even replacing window spaces , then there's the less light , new paint and paper , new floor coverings in the new area but maybe the existing ones too ( new doorways etc often don't tie in with existing floor materials ) .

So she's a big job !

Now why I mentioned the pleasant but basic existing design , is because 2 other options would be to either go cheap ( a flat roof , totally different cladding , maybe stained vertical boards or similar ) , or almost do a rebuild -- render , add picture windows or odd shapes to add interest , a balanced roof design , basically make it look more modern , more upmarket , but spend $250k or whatever .

Cheap won't really work if it's an upmarket suburb , whiolst your ideas will be expensive and will probably cost more than you'll get back if its a lower or middling suburb , whilst going upmarket might work in a mid to higher-end suburb .

Or just be like me and do next to nothing haha , or sell and move . . . . . . .

One other thought -- the tried and tested route of closing in the downstairs garage and either park cars outside , add a garage or carport in front , etc , may work -- you'll get more space , but can it be usable ?