Hi Louise. In the end we merely added new windows and a new door. We went for a mixture of Sapele and aluminium to break up the width of the house. The windows are made by Smart and are the Alitherm Heritage 47 range which are supposed to a close match to Critall. We also converted our garage and matched the windows and use of Sapele frame as well as having a bespoke Sapele gate. We're still not convinced we made the right choice by adding two sapele windows - but we always have the option to add aluminium ones to replace them and they are not too costly. So - it's not 100% what we wanted, but for the budget we had we are very pleased. The garage conversion is very cool inside with bespoke ply shelves/desk and seating area as well as ply walls. It is a homage to Corbusier and his Cabana in South of France :)

If you can match the bricks do and then paint the window frames. Man About The House painted his (I think) UPVC windows a lovely sage green which would brighten the whole thing. He has posted some pics somewhere- it looks really lovely. Hopefully he can advise. I’ve totally copied his idea and the new windows are arriving in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait to see the difference it’ll make to our tired exterior!

If you look at the 'black band', there are two air bricks in that area, typically they would be just above the oversite (the floor foundation) and a minimum of 6"(150mm) above the outside ground level. So the front garden most likely was higher and has subsequently been graded down to the drive, the garage floor is much lower than the house which is more or less at the same level as the house next door in the photo. As long as a planter feature stays at least two courses lower than the airbricks it would be fine, and would definitely improve the appearance of the windows being too high above the ground. My specs regarding air brick placement might be a little dated as I haven't built in the UK since the '90s and regs may have changed but the age of the house looks about right. The black band is probably what is left of a bituminous painted plinth that used to be common on many houses.

I would remove the pebble dash- leaving such a small piece feels like an unfinished job. And I would probably add vertical wood cladding to the porch rather than render it in order to add visual interest and introduce a softer texture than the render.