Thank you roj leather and Simon for your recommendations. I like the hanging chair and the almanda creeper on the wall. This will certainly liven up the patio.

Does this village have any colonial features? The house has too much concrete and nothing to warm it up. Use natural wood hand-made railings...not painted. Balance the railings. Upper railings and lower railings are completely different. They should be taller...a meter high upstairs. Do you have to leave the upper columns by the bedrooms exposed? Bring the brick wall between them forward so the columns are inside the house. Divide the casement windows with 4 panes.

I agree that there is too much going on, however some of the suggestions are costly and in my opinion don't completely take care of the problems. I like the design approach it is fresh and updated. I agree that the chimney cap is out of proportion and just needs a simple band at the top. In order to make the exterior remain timeless over the years, Now Sit Down for a minute, I would make all of the exterior the white color. I know you love red however this will tie the different components of the architecture together more than any thing else. You can still have high gloss red doors and red tile pavers on the ground. It would also be very classy the use white tile in place of the brick look. You could even mix gloss white tiles with matt finish tiles to give an interesting sparkle when you ride by. I like the wrought iron upper railing, but the vertical blocking on the right side looks too heavy. So I would continue the same railing around the corner and back toward the house until it connects to the other balcony railing. This also ties the house together. It would look much more classic to not have a grid in the tall window and instead have a solid piece of glass down to the transom and then from there down be solid glass as well. Glass block in the courtyard column sections with back lights would look unbelievable. I would arch the closed in section on the second level as it would show up more there than the window being arched does, so save the money and don't arch that window. I would either hang a long contemporary light on the right elevation to dress it up or insert a long strip of glass block lighted from the interior to achieve the same effect. I charge for renderings, because I list the materials as well. Best, Leo Dowell Interiors.com

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, it definitely sounds like a good idea... just need to check on the cost factor, labor charges etc. considering the steep height of 3 walls, all together on all 3 sides. It would definitely cut down on water consumption & maintainance costs that would go with the vertical gardens.