Having lived for years with a front loader in the kitchen under counter and now with a good sized laundry I am resenting the laundry for the space it wastes! I would rather have a "european solution" and a good en-suit and walk in :) really it is a matter of how you want to live, in reality if you spend your life considering resale you won't enjoy your home, prospective purchasers will love or hate whatever you do, those that don't want a space solution will be the ones who want the big ensuite and robe anyway! Do it with love then others will love it too, good luck

What a great space and big opportunity. Firstly, it looks as though your soil is fairly sandy and possibly hydrophobic soil - before you decide on actual plans start working at improving your soil so that you're setting yourself up for success (think about a good dose of organic matter, worm compost tea, organic aids like Natramin (a personal favourite of mine) that will help get your soil working with biodiversity, structure and creating a nutritional environment for plans and micro-organisms) and then think about going with natives as they're a bit hardier than cottage/tropical garden plants. Depending on your budget, you could pull out the fence all together or paint it a lighter colour. You could add a fence opening for pedestrian access further towards the middle and wind your path with steppers and gain a bit of privacy with arbours covered in climbing vines,. Don't hold back in putting in low growing plants in front of your fence either if you like (afterall your council ensure that you're responsible for it's maintenance). You could also soften the edge of the driveway using curving edging - taking away the harshness of the straight lines. I'd also look at doing something tall along the fence to balance the pencil pines on the driveway edge. Good luck!

Hi Polly, Lawn is so hard to keep looking great, it’s the most expensive plant in the garden to keep looking it’s best (watering, fertilising, mowing , edging time and effort) and it still can let you down, why not try mass planting some ornamental grasses mixed with structural plants for a modern no fuss look and that will compliment your rock area beautifully, you have done a great job so far.

How wide is the garden bed? 4-5m tall and very narrow is difficult to find. You need to think about things like do you need so much lawn, how much wider could you make the garden bed, how much time will you allow for maintenance to keep the screening plants pruned? Just to be clear, do your back windows face north? You don't want anything that blocks the sun in winter. Although come to think of it I don't see any windows, just an alfresco? Builders really don't understand orientation. What do you mean by pine trees? Maybe you are thinking of pencil pines?