Good on you abstar9511 for choosing to Renovate! I've personally gone through a renovation in the last 18 months and it is worth it. From the pictures the house looks to be in fairly decent nick for a Perth original, especially one by the beach with our salt and winds. If you choose to update the gardens at a later date, Planted Passion is happy to quote on a resilient garden design and installation for your properties' weather/soil/aspect conditions. Personally, I can see a Cottage Garden vibe which would like stunning, especially with the inclusion of some Hedges for beach wind protection. Good luck with the reno!

Hi Adelaide again - been giving more thought to my suggestions and they are not going to work. For some reason I just can't get my head around metric sized rooms, I have to convert back to the old imperial. So assuming you are going to build up the alfresco area to make it a walk out from the house, look at taking that right across the rear of the house. With the master bedroom I was looking at walking into a hallway with a walk-in wardrobe opening off it but you will basically want the whole 3rd bedroom to achieve a decent sized wardrobe and give you maximum storage. I'd have the ensuite where the void area is, which basically leaves you the laundry for the bedroom - way to small. However if you were to extend the bedroom across the alfresco area, this would give a great sized room, with large windows looking across the back garden and doors opening out to the alfresco area. I'd then extend the house and the alfresco area to the end of the Activity room, slide the family room to that end and put the laundry in at the void end, which could be accessed from the outside or from the family room, whatever suits. This also has the advantage of keeping all your plumbing together except for the kitchen. Don't think about excavating, it can cause massive water problems. No matter how much you might add drainage, or seal the structure, there always seems to be those on in a hundred year events that can cause unexpected flooding. Water problems have to be the worst nightmare.

Hi Kristen There are two ways to do this. One is to obtain a standard besser block and lay it on its side. The hollow centre creates a rectangular (either single or double) shape. The other is to check with the demolition contractors that do salvage as they have yards where they stash this sort of thing. I have had great success finding old matching tiles etc at Brajkovich Demolition. They are out at the back of middle swan from memory but worth a call as a starting point. Cheers

I totally agree about removing the lawn and adding a path if it works into your budget. It will highlight the area as a thoroughfare and also remove the maintenance of mowing. Now if you were in Melbourne, I would recommend adding some focal colour using Grevilleas and then underplant with Correa and Dianella. But you are in Perth and I'm not sure about their suitability there! WA is known for it's great array of wild flowers (including Kangaroo Paws) so I am sure you can put together a really attractive blend of local natives. Advice from a local nursery would be beneficial. Good luck with it!