Sorry I am so late coming to your site - you are an inspiration to all, homeowners and advisers alike. For your planting advice, I suggest you call Merrifield Garden Center to see if they will come out your way. They currently have wonderful garden centers in Merrifield and Fairfax (both in Fairfax County) and a new one in Gainesville, but they may come further south to wherever you reside. (www.MerrifieldGardenCenter.com) Even if they don't send designers to your area, they are worth a trip to see their huge selection for a day of pleasure and inspiration, or to pick up some plants. Most of my clients are in the Fairfax and greater Washington area, but I am currently living out west below Front Royal, VA on the Shenandoah mountainside - wonderful views. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

With any post war house built in the 50's the connection from in to out is non existent. Depending on where living rooms are located i would take some of the fantastic windows out and replace them with French doors, or bi folding doors and connect the house to the site. The colour scheme from Karen is perfect to lift the kerb appeal and give it a modern twist. With land costing more than houses these days and the fact that you seem to have quite a big block, after looking at paint colours, opening up the living dining kitchen areas to the outside with a roofed area. Even combining a flat roofed carport which will widen the house to the street making it seem a bigger house, can carry the new look with say an enclosed section for garden equipment, to the opposite side to the house, and if you are lucky enough to have that near the living area it can be used as both car cover and outdoor living. I always think a good landscape architect is worth their weight in gold, to give you a landscape plan, to suit the soil type, your skills level and your preference in planting. Divide up the exterior space to provide outdoor rooms under a tree, paths that lead to some special spot for kids, maybe even a veggie patch with a chock run, and make sure that you use the entire yard, front and back by enclosing part of the front yard in fencing which suits the style of the house, while providing some planting to the street. If allowed a gate structure to blend in with the house, a dedicated pathway with planting each side to the front door, fantastic fencing and consider natural materials like a hand laid stone fence with timber or powder-coated aluminium inserts, to give this house an entry, not sure where the front door is now, so that is not a good look. Gardens always enhance a house, they are never a wasted effort, and if you are not gardeners, make sure the landscape architect knows that and he will be able to select low maintenance plants. All the paint in the world will not give the desired effort that the garden will do to that paint work.

I would clean up first. Especially the stuff growing in the paving. Then get gardening with pot plants and start experimenting with different plants and the positions. See what you like and if you can keep it alive! Our house has the sun setting over the back fence and we've done a few inexpensive things to reduce that issue (most expensive were outdoor blinds around the verandah) but for most of the year we just don't want to be out there. It is hard work to keep the plants going in summer, there is a lot of sand due to the difficulty in keeping lawn alive and it is just bloody hot. So, that's why I'm saying clean up, start gardening small and see how you go before committing to structures that might not address the real issues you have with the yard. Just my 2 cents! :)

We began this renovation process, first looking at a range of photos of the bones of the home with our client and about her expectations and "Ultimate Investment Goals" for her project (family home or rental, long occupancy or flicking property, ideal uses, pets bedrooms required etc). We then looked at the structure of the existing home and its potential. With a few tweaks to the layout, we could gain 30sqm and by pushing the exterior wall out at the back and side on the ground floor we could gain another 40 sqm by taking a 3 bed 1 bath single car garage to a 4 bed 3 bath, two lounges and study with double garage. There where some aesthetics that benefited also - the house was brick base with nobly brown brick. Our extension removed most of this and the remainder we rendered, the upper floor cladding was leaking and had a heavy concrete tile over it by changing to weatherboard and tin (longrun) roof the loading's on the existing foundation where similar so no existing foundation needed upgrading. To give it a modern spin we used a block for the fire boundary wall and used stack bond pattern to front and back. Our client Debbie works with raw food as her job, making gluten-free vegan food, so her kitchen space was very important. With the kitchen landing close to an internal corner we decided to make it wider than normal along the back wall hiding a step in the exterior wall and helping connect the two living rooms with a Stainless bench on the island this helped to break up space and provide a central gathering point for entertaining. Finally, we upgraded all the wiring and plumbing and gave it a good paint and carpet throughout. We conducted weekly meetings throughout the entire process of the renovation, not only to discuss options and check we where on the right path with the design but to enable a spread out approach to the loads of decisions that go into a build/renovation. Check out the before and after images below. Along with a video of the final product. Before: After: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CvHS6nNxzk&feature=youtu.be Check out the entire project here!