I'm not a neutral vote here - having been in the glass block business myself since 1985. It seems like they are much maligned these days but we are seeing growth with projects like glass block showers, windows and walls. There have been advances in products (like colored and frosted blocks, thinner glass blocks and etched blocks many people are not aware of. These advances can and do create a new look. With that being said - glass blocks do provide a look that some people love ...and others do not. I will include some pictures below of some recent jobs to show some of the capabilities of this product. Let me know if you like them or not. We are working to show you can have more unique designs with the product.

House: I clean pretty much use bicarb, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, lemons, essential oils and washing up liquid to clean everything. We recycle the usual glass bottles, plastic containers etc in our recycle binand all our lighting is energy efficient bulbs. We use cross ventilation and use an outdoor umbrella to keep the sun off the western windows in summer and a gas heater in winter (closing off areas we dont need to heat) for winter. I'm also a huge fan of wheat bags for keeping warm. Outdoor Areas: Our front balcony is totally food oriented and our back is partially food - mainly herbs. We use a couple of (awful) plastic owls to stop the possums and rats from visiting and feasting on our plants. I recycle our coffee grounds and egg shells (ground up) onto our garden as well (the citrus love them). I also use vinegar on slugs (they all come out with the rain so I go out with a spray bottle of white vinegar and spray them - it keeps them under control - making sure that I dont spray the plants). I use vinegar on weeds too - it kills them off. Rubbish: we put our fruit/veg scraps and egg cartons/empty toilet rolls into our worm compost as well as our garden waste. The compost from the worms goes onto our gardens. All our paper, glass and plastic gets recycled fortnightly.

I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale.

Unexpectedly to me, due to it's location on the crest of the Great Dividing Range at an elevation of around 700m above sea level, Toowoomba has a climate more similar to Sydney than Brisbane. With average summer highs of only 28°C, & average winter highs of 17°C (lows of 7°C & cold wind, as has been mentioned). It's located in Climate Zone 2: Warm Temperature, the same climate zone as Sydney, not Brisbane. Though this climate zone is very varied, so care must be taken to cater for local conditions. As has been advised a few times, have a good read of the Your Home site. Read this section, Designing for Climate, for zone 5: warm temperate. http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/design-climate Along with having cooler temperatures than Brisbane, the fact that Toowoomba is inland means it has greater variation between daytime highs & nighttime lows (diurnal temperature range). This means that unlike Queensland coastal climates, some thermal mass in the home will be appropriate, so a lightweight structure isn't needed. Although a lightweight structure, on a ground-coupled slab (with polished concrete or tiles in North facing living areas) would be a good idea. As the temperature is so much cooler than tropical Queensland climates I'd advise against going too overboard with a pavilion style house. As I think it would be too cold in winter. Maybe something like two off-set rectangles, joined in the centre. Kinda like dreamer's inspirational picture, without the middle section, the two rectangular sections joined. Or just go for a more traditional rectangular house. In any case, like just about all Australian climates, you should try to build a house that is generally rectangular, the long sides facing north & south. This will give an opportunity for northern sunshine to enter home in winter, while the shorter eastern & western sides will limit the effect of hot summer western afternoon sunshine. Though I guess this house shape won't look great from the western road, as it will look very narrow from here. You could fatten it's street frontage a little bit, by having the garage to the south of the rectangular house. With such a large block you'll be able to build something that works for you. But as OKLouise said, don't just pick a plan for an average narrow block. The plan you picked is not really suitable for your block. I'd also recommend you do a lot of research yourself. As has been shown with the plan you've received, you can't rely on the builder to design a plan that will work best for you, that is appropriate for your location. So read up on the Your Home website. It's an invaluable resource when it comes to building a comfortable, energy efficient home.