I don't mind your house's proportions at all- I agree with MB, landscaping is the answer.

Honestly, I think the house just needs a little bit of soft landscaping - it's actually quite charming (much nice then a lot of white boxes been heralded as "architecture"). At first glance, I think keeping the cottage look would be lovely. By all means change the windows if you want energy efficiency, but think about some climbing roses along the porch and a planter box filled with flowered colour would lift the house (Rivas Designs have some nice ones). You could also put in a low growing hedge or a row of lavender along the path that leads from the street to the front door.

Landscaping will bring your lovely house to life, a modern aspect to the garden would look fabulous , hedges, paving, large planters, structural foliage would suit your house beautifully .

Hi there, the proportions of your home at the front are very good to work with - you could easily go cottage style or modern. I think it is the apricot/beige colour of the render and the black windows and ironwork at the front that is letting down the facade, luckily you have a roof colour that will work with many wall paint colours so lots of options for repainting the render. I cant see if your windows are timber or aluminium, but if timber painting them off-white would make a huge difference as would replacing the ironwork posts with timber posts, some timber trims and railing. That style of facade works equally well with a bold paint colour or a lighter colour, so again you can opt for a classic or modern look.

Is all that paving needed, is it for parking? If you dont want to remove it then perhaps just taking out some pavers in the center to form a large square and planting a feature tree (edged with box hedges or planted around with groundcover) would look amazing and break up the large paved area. Julie's images show how great box hedges look, using them to line driveways and divide areas creates a formal and neat look.

Thanks all for the really helpful pointers re landscaping and cosmetic work to frontage. I might just save the cost of a big overhaul

I have one last question: is there an alternative to render that could be attractive but lower maintenance. For example do sandstone tiles or cladding have a role.
I can just imagine all the cracking...

Stone cladding is an option, however it can be pretty expensive and does need maintenance. It's worth looking at cladding and exploring the businesses in your local area and what is on offer - I would only consider tiles for the porch floor.

Have a look at James Hardie Scyon cladding in the wider sheets, looks fabulous and is much better than render.

This is from Houzz, the "before" picture is on Houzz too, may help.

Hi Hamish,
Google and
have a look at ‘The Home Team Moorabbin renovation project’ using James Hardie cladding materials, you will love it. You could update without render. This was a full makeover of a brick home but it is worth a watch to give you inspiration.