I can't really give any advice on buying over the internet - never done it, and probably wouldn't have even if it had been available in the days I was in art-buying mode. (Now, I'm at the stage where, if something comes in, something has to go, so I don't do as much fossicking around as I used to). The point is, I like to see what it is I'm buying, face to face, so to speak. I've bought most of the art now adorning my walls (and it's pretty eclectic) from street vendors and "starving artists" markets and from small regional art shows. It's always worth having a look at local exhibits and galleries outside the big centers. You never know what you can find, and what might appeal to you. My tastes are bit eclectic, so I've also been known to buy old prints and lithographs and have them framed. Also, like Georgi, I have a lot of "non-art" things on my wall, including big copper trays from Turkey, a relief from an Indian temple door, ceramic plates picked up in Italy and Austria, a Haida wood carving from my native BC, and a woven wall hanging of a village with pigs going to market from Lesotho. As I said, eclectic. I'm a firm believer that art should be more than an item of decor, and should have meaning to the owner, whether it's something you especially like or something that has memories attached to it. I don't believe in buying things just to fill a blank space on a wall. Leave the spot bare until you find something that really speaks to you.

Definitely paint. And an extra tip: We moved into a house with so many boldly coloured walls (turquoise, salmon, yellow, dark blue...!) and ended up finding the Haymes paint was amazing at covering all the colours. In the bathroom we used 2 other brands (Duluxand Taubmans) and they needed manymore coats, I'll only use Haymes now I've tried it. Only needed 2 coats over all the colours, it's not at Bunnings but worth seeking out. We got ours from Paint Spot and the staff were so helpful.

Hi Sarah, hope you enjoyed your travels last night, that's something we have spent our lives doing plus living in different countries. Do look into the attic room/s they are lovely and the Velux skylights very unobtrusive, look great and if positioned correctly take care of venting any hot air, as I mentioned ours were pivoting ones and could be locked open in several positions. I much prefer these to dormer windows, you don't really notice them. The stairs were built off site and lifted into position and installed, built in. At the time we did ours a very good friend a builder did the same but just completely opened the whole ceiling space right out towards the gutters into a large bedroom play study area for his daughters, also using Velux windows. Glass ceilings, like Velux windows have been around for years, believe me I know, we're both getting older. Velux windows can be used as glass ceilings in opening and non opening configurations. I would love to see you keep the outdoor loo as well and updating the old shed into a new connecting space to the house, perhaps a glass breezeway. I will have another look at your plan again over the weekend. I love your front iron gate as well, auto sliding driveway gates work really well and would really fit with your carport. My brother in law put in a tall timber sliding gate at his last home, lovely cheers

DB.....A LOT of ideas and advice flying around here.......skimming through I see you are endeavouring to establish a basic concept for a designer/architect to consolidate for you, which is great.......whilst you may think this is a logical approach to achieve the best outcome, you are arguably just throwing around random ideas rather than properly resolving/focusing on the critical aspects ........my advice is do this: firstly clearly ascertain two things on paper, not in plan or building format but in writing...that is 1. List all your requirements/needs/goals and 2. Nominate a budget. Next, identify/research a logical local designer/architect option and approach them with this information....A designer's job is to come up with an appropriate concept/solution that best balances your requirements, aligned with a budget and of course make it viable within context/site. Sure, you want a cost effective/modest result, that's fine, and that will influence the solution, but as a general comment it feels like there is massive potential being missed considering the site..it dens;t necessarily have to be that big or fancy, but you have to put the EXPERIENCE of the home front and centre of the process, and not just think of it as a kitchen or whatever laid out this way or that ....This is about an amazing site and the living experience of that and the design should be based on this and bring together your specific requirements elegantly balanced in context......The issue I have scrolling through all this is that you have all these almost disconnected ideas of building form, but you have this incredible site....... the process of resolving the spaces ideally needs to develop from cues of the immediate environment/site in order to make the most of it since you are pursuing a customised solution.....agree with MB, every project has a budget and ultimately from experience this is in general the ultimate/overriding constraint. This project could be anything upwards from $500K and it will come down to the working out how far you want to take it, and what your priorities are over various levels.......this one has seriously significant potential -make sure you make the most of it as you're truly fortunately to have this opportunity to build a home for you and your family to enjoy there.......best of luck :) PD