The layout of the kitchen did change slightly. We opened up from where the stove and peninsula was. Added the island and put double pantry on the opposite wall. Effectively the kitchen now takes up double the floor space.

The first thing we noticed was the beautiful light created by the back window and the blue curtains either side of it. What a fantastic room!

number two is definitely the wow factor, but methinks number one is more practical. Think in term of you in the pool and your partner.friend in the spa,,,,,,trying to converse or even share a bottle of wine. (yes yes..I know we shouldnt drink wine in a spa.......but come on.. we all do it).

an old house in an area that you want to live in while you do all the work of a very carefully planned renovation staged to minimise big loans will add value only if everyone who lives with you can either contribute financially or physically and has the time and energy to at least make dinner while you paint. Building new is much cheaper than renovating but old places are often in better locations. Provided the old place is liveable you can save rent while you save for the next stage of the reno but there'll always be unexpected costs of both time and money eg for our latest reno: about $4000 to remove asbestos from an old laundry and bathroom, $8000 to remove trees, weeks of back breaking labour to remove old plasterboards and carpet, ripping thousands of nails from timber floors to discover the boards were beyond restoration, collecting rubbish and rubble from demolished brick walls and loading at least 20 loads into the ute and driving to the tip and paying to unload it ....but the old stove, doors and windows sold on Gumtree and Ebay and redundant electrical wiring and metal taken to the scrap dealer paid for quite a few take away dinners and didn't we have fun together?