I found that a few basic towel rails mounted on the back of my wardrobe door works for me :D heels can hang on the rails, or i slot the toe of the shoes in behind the rail. If you've got a spare wall, mounting them on a wall would be even better.... and ballet flats in labelled boxes: 'Dark Coloured Flats' (navy, black) and 'Coloured Flats' (all the other colours ;) ) .....if you need inspo, just search 'shoe storage' on Pinterest. See you in a few hours. LOL

The flies you are complaining about are probably not fruit flies at all but vinegar or ferment flies (attracted to vinegar, yeast and acidic rotting fruit etc) – of the genus Drosophila. They do not actually eat fruit although they will hang around a fruit bowl full of ripe to over-ripe fruit (as well as your scrap bucket) attracted by the yeasty, vinegary smell. The first thing I would say is don't keep the scraps on the bench for long enough to allow your biology experiment to run and produce several generations of flies (Drosophila are one of the most commonly studied organisms in labs around the world because of the speed with which they reproduce makes genetic variations from generation to generation really easy to study). If the container has a lid that fits snugly you should be able to leave the scraps for a couple of days but why wait until they are actually rotting – take the bucket outside and add the contents to your compost heap regularly! Genuine fruit flies are also attracted to ripe fruit (they lay their eggs in them and the resulting maggots rot the inside of the piece of fruit) but they are disticntly larger than vinegar flies (rarely do you have a 'cloud' of fruit flies) and you are required by law to keep them controlled as if you start breeding them they will disperse and attack fruit in your and your neighbours' gardens and could even infect orchards etc making the crop of fruit inedible. So – first check and identify your flies (Google photos of both vinegar/ferment flies and Queensland and Mediterranean fruit flies). If they are the small vinegar flies just be more on the ball and take the scrap bucket outside well before the contents start to rot. If they are genuine fruit flies you have a real problem on your hands and need to start educating yourself on garden hygiene and management. Whole different ball game!

As the concrete buildings are expanding day by day, more and more people are realizing the importance of greenery around. As most of the urban homes are shrinking in size, the room for the gardens is becoming scarce. However, the true garden lovers can find a way around to see slight greenery in their home through vertical gardening. The vertical gardens are the best alternatives for those who are not having lots of horizontal space in their home or they want to do something different than the traditional gardening. This gardening option is also an eco-friendly way to turn the boring wall inside your living room othe r balcony into something that is really praiseworthy. Apart from this, you can also turn the vertical wall into an edible garden where you can grow fruits and vegetables. What Is A Vertical Gardening? It is a highly productive and innovative system that growly vertically. This type of garden grows vertically rather than growing horizontally. In the traditional way of gardening, most of the gardeners use the climbing plants like the squashes and the beans. But in the case of the vertical gardens, the concept goes a little further where the gardeners use the horizontal plans in a vertical way. The vertical gardens take less space and they are easy to harvest. They are also easy to maintain as well. Some of the factors that you need for the vertical green walls are- You require enough sunlight If they are placed too high, they are difficult to maintain. Do not make them taller so that you cannot reach. Keep them at a height where you can reach. The support system should be strong enough to hold the structure and everything for longer time. The supporting system should be made in such a way that it holds the moisture in between the garden and the vertical wall of the room. Thus, it can be stated that vertical gardens are one of the most productive gardening systems. Homeowners, who are having less space for gardening, can utilize their vertical walls for growing the plants. There Are Certain Benefits Of Using The Vertical Gardens, They Are As Follows- Plants are easy to reach. Thus, it makes the fertilizing, pruning, watering and harvesting much more easily and also saves the money. Using the plants up and above the ground helps in improving the air circulation. The plants get less susceptible to diseases. It also helps in reducing the damage caused by the pets and the animals. Research also proved that the vertical gardening also helps in improving the air quality inside the room. These are some of the top advantages of using the vertical green walls at home. If you love gardening and but have less horizontal space in your home, you can definitely choose this type of gardening method.

Cheers all - some really interesting ideas! Paul I think you are right about the building designer. So we had an architect come round the other day for a discussion to get the creative juices going. But I'd be really keen to hear what a designer could do and how we go about investigating. Some of the comments have really made me have a think about things. 1 - the upstairs Rumpus is currently our best room in the house as we turned it in to a big living room, pulled up the old carpets, sanded the floor, got the Terrace white on the walls, and put a nice flat screen TV on the wall. Its currently the family retreat (Mum and Dads room) but I'm thinking it could be an EPIC bedroom up there - hec we could put 2 bedrooms up there and have a 5 bedroom house. 2 - a few suggestions about changing the middle bedroom and opening up in to living - I'm starting to come around to this idea. My wife thinks it would make the living area just too big, but part of me thinks, for a 4 bedroom house and an expanding family it could be a good grad of extra space. By the way we have 2 young boys (less than 5 yrs old) 3 - Good advice about not closing the back passage way up and squaring off the house. I guess financially it makes sense to just convert in to the Laundy and not go to the expense for little floor space gain. What I did like was that it connected to the kitchen and allowed it to also be a pantry. But also I guess if we were to block the Kitchen Windows (that look on to the extension) we won't be looking at the oddity. 4 - the Reason we haven't though about expanding in to the back, I did initially when we bought the house, is that it just isn't a great extension. The house is very high at the back (quite raised to the pool) and above the house to our right. I don't think opening up the back, steps down, would give that amazing step out on to the pool you'd imagine. Plus at the two back bedrooms the floor also steps down 10inches too. It seems a bit to hard with ceiling height / floor height etc. 5 - This kinda puts me off the bedroom running down the back, massive bifold along the side of the house wiht the height of the house. 6 - I didn't even go in to it here but the Master bedroom, door, ensuite is whole other mystery to solve. We have a strange study with a stair case running up the side of it that I bang my head in to all the time! We've thought about blowing the wardrobes away, bringing the door forward, dong something there too. I think with the cost the whole 200-250 is where I think this will get to. Very rough sums - we also need to res stump and it seems like we should know what we want to do before we kick that off. I think where our heads are at is to Restump Do the Family Bathroom / Laundry Then maybe our ensuite And then tackle the Kitchen / Open plan living In that priority which also makes this a bit of a multi year project!