I rather like your facade. I would think twice about painting the brickwork, as this would be a maintenance headache, but cleaning it would brighten it up. Otherwise stucco and paint the front ( brickwork) only? i would clad your existing canopy in lead, but leep the existing shape. Is the tarmac yours? If you could change this to something lighter and softer, this would have a really big impact. Clad the stairs in slate or indian sandstone, get rid of the block screen and replace with glass, ( marine grade stainless steel fittings and door furniture) black iron railing for the steps.

Dear @judibutler I assume you are referring to a wall which is wholly above ground and that you have completely ruled out damp tracking into the wall from above. A lot depends on the size and thickness of the wall and other factors, such as if the building is listed. Damp penetration (driving rain) through granite walls has been an ongoing problem in church towers in the southwest of England for some time. Ironically the problem often seems to get worse after re-pointing in lime. Granite is fairly impervious and was often in laid in large blocks meaning trapped water has little chance of getting out through thin mortar joints. Historic England held an excellent conference on the subject in 2013; the transcript of proceedings can be found at: http://content.historicengland.org.uk/content/docs/research/damp-towers-conf2013-programme-transcripts.pdf A roughcast lime render coat may help, but there could equally be voids in the wall which are holding damp and may need grouting. However, grouting is a very tricky and expensive technique which should not be undertaken lightly, and only works if one knows exactly where the voids are. Over-cladding the whole wall with semi-sacrificial weather boarding may be a last resort. This and rendering are likely to require planning consent. Depending on where you are located, a company like ArchiMetric (www.archimetrics.co.uk) could insert some interstitial moisture monitors into the wall to try and find out exactly where and when the damp is getting in and how it is moving through the wall, but this may be expensive. Some localised investigation by dismantling pockets of stone may be useful. The Society of Ancient Buildings helpline (mornings only on 020 7456 0916) may be able to help with specialists in your area. Most importantly try to get an understanding of how water is getting into and moving through your wall before you embark on anything. If your problems relate to below-ground damp then a different response will be needed.

I like added value architects plan but would use bed 4 as snug/study with possibly double doors into it to make up for lack of window. And as it will then be a public space I think it would give even more spacious feeling and make walk along hall more interesting. Then I’d put bed 4 next to ensuite of garage conversion and push utility closer to kitchen. I’m wondering if windows in kitchen end might be too close to have massive openings there but since this will be new extension don’t think it will matter if you have the roof space vaulted with some glazing. Think this plan does utilise well the existing allowing more budget for extension. But that’s my amateur two pence worth. :)

Richard hello I'm intrigued by your dilemma Could I ask you a few questions ? I am assuming this is a detached property.Y/N? 1. How far are the boundaries on each side of the house ? You mentioned the one to the rear is only 6m or 18 feet away. What would be the approximate distances on the : -Front side of the house? -Garage side? -Current living room side ? 2. What or where is the best part of your garden ? 3. Where is the most expansive side of your garden? 4. You mentioned that you are on a sloped site - do you have any good views and from which part of the house? 5. Do you have the plan of upstairs as well for reference? 6. Is this rural setting or in a city or town? I'm not going to begin to put a plan up as I think it would be important to understand the settings and allow this to influence where to expand or whether to expand the house. The basic organisation of the house is an L shaped volume LDK ( LIVE/DINE/KIT) around two sides of an entry hall with access to an upper level and a garage on the other side. The question in my mind is how does one enhance that and instigate a change or modification to the arrangement that produces a cohesive spatial result. I believe the context of the surrounding would influence that significantly- so some pictures would be great. The last thing would be taking space from the centre of a deep plan space leads to dark spaces. Particularly, if the alterations are on the ground floor only so I would try to persuade you otherwise with respect to an approach in that direction .