Could you afford to face the render with matching stone? If not the whole thing, then around the window and door to make them seem a lot larger than they are. Or paint around them if you can't afford the stone. Then paint the top half in a similar colour to your stone. The False mirrored window above is a great idea for upstairs! The door needs a horizontal porch roof - good suggestion near the top of these comments. ( Would be good to right across door and window too). Pots, plants, climbers. Paint that downpipe to blend in too, and can the wire be re-routed (paint it too) to follow the edges of the building.

Thank-you very much for your advice Alisa, apologies I don't have images at the moment, will try to upload as soon as I can... However if you are in the UK, the kitchen units are Habitat Olivia beech freestanding ,to give you an idea of colour? Rethinking, I now think that because I am having a chinmney hood with wall units each side, and I would probably like a tiled splashback behind my freestanding units, it may not be worth keeping the bricks?, I can get sockets colourmatched to the bricks but then my handmade Mexican colourful tiles don't go shape or colour wise against the bricks..... We have four children, so I'm thinking easy clean splashback areas might be wiser in the long term rather than keeping a few small areas of non cleanable bare brick around wall units and then tiling behind the range cooker? I did wonder about toughened glass but if so then no colourful tiles. It seems to be either keep the bricks, see bits of them but not be able to clean them or have colourful tiles, or render and tiles but lose the bricks! If I had no wall cupboards I'd see more brick arguably, but then we need plenty of storage! What do you all think please? thanks everyone!!

Thanks Sarah L for giving me the link to sew dainty. it was exactly what i was hoping for, the photos and instructions were wonderfully clear. and the end result beautiful!

Again putting in a door isn’t cheap but can easily be done (note the very important lintel above the door in your photo). However in this instance I would be inclined to put the door in the rear wall of your proposed extension immediately opposite the existing external double doors in your dining. This would ensure free uninterrupted flow through the house and would bring in light and offer views out from the dining room. It would also retain the twin aspect front to rear. If they are in good condition then you could relocate these doors to this new location in the proposed extension. This would save funds forking out on opening up a doorway in your existing house wall and purchasing new doors. You could also move the lovely light above the door or retain it in its current location. I wouldn’t put internal door between the new kitchen and dining. Leave it open. Taking onboard what Neasa suggested. Have you considered how much use you would get from your dining room? It is a big chunk of the ground floor space. Could you make do with the existing small kitchen but reorientate it by blocking off the door into the hall and flipping the U shaped kitchen 90 degrees. This would allow a kitchen island or peninsula between your existing kitchen and proposed extension. The existing dining could become a snug, office, library, music room, whatever takes your fancy. Do you have space to fit a utility in the hall up against what was a door into the kitchen but is now a proposed wall? It doesn’t appear to be too long a stretch to take the waste out to the drains.