Well done on you fabulous (Wow) location & extension! Can you secure the dog behind the deck railing & a small yard section to leave the beach front section open? The post & rope certainly fit the setting if you have to keep people out but a shame to have to do anything at all! The neighbours fence is so obvious & if you want privacy maybe try to do that with plants instead. You will also need salt & wind safe plants which suit your area so look around locally to see what is prospering for ideas.

Personally I would never get rid of the lovely wood trims / doors as wood is expensive and in my opinion it never dates. I am sure many other people will give you their opinions on what will match with this and that but I would just like to say - select a colour that you like for the walls - a light colour usually works well (even just an off white). Let your personality come out in your furnishings, art, knick knacks. Try to have some cohesiveness to the colour range for each room but each room can have it's own personality if you so desire. Light fittings are amazing these days and if you go to a local light shop you will be able to see the lights hanging from the ceilings / walls and if you ask you may be able to take a couple home to decide what works best for your room. Look at web sites, look in magazines, look in other peoples homes and chose your style. Don't feel you have to be like everyone else... the rooms must be right for you or you will never feel comfortable and it won't feel like home. Good Luck.

Ours sit in an old Turkish tinned copper bowl on the console just inside our front door. Dumping keys into a bowl works better for us than hanging them on some sort of hook and having the wall look grimy. And the bowl is actually quite nice looking.

On the surface this subject raises quaint images of flowering vine-adorned little granny flats and harmonious extended families 'taking tea' together on the patio surrounded by grandchildren and laughter, visiting care-givers helping the elderly live at home with family, receiving visits from Caregiver services...everyone smiling...but wait, there's more. At a certain stage along the planning process a percentage of us fall foul of the expectations, hopes and idealistic scenarios and maybe, for some, that is because of religious upbringings..."honour they father and thy mother" etc. adding guilt to the already difficult decisions. Housing our elderlies is not an easy topic to bring up for discussion in public because there is no "one way" to address and resolve this issue. I felt that HOUZZ, was a good place to have a discussion about an otherwise difficult and emotional subject that many would be reluctant to approach. On deciding to tell a bit of my own experience I felt that it would open up an opportunity for others battling with the complexities of this problem. So, congrats to all the Houzzers who've had a go at telling their stories here and making the rest of us feel that we are not alone having to deal with this life-situation. Taking care of our elderlies is about much more than building them a comfy granny flat or putting on extentions to our own homes and its not about applying a "One size fits most" solution...( Would that it were all that easy!) I found that my religious upbringing, coupled with unhappy experiences had with my parent made my final decision ever so much more difficult despite that certain 'rules' no longer applied in my own life....or I thought they did not! I discovered that the religious expectations put on me in my childhood coupled with those of friends and family members had reared their heads from the distant past to make my decisions more difficult. I discovered the power of guilt! Mum did not practise her faith but the rules about children and parents were convenient, those indisputable, fearsome rules to enforce compliance and obedience...or else.... I will never forget the day she quoted her favourite "honour thy father and thy mother" at me just once too often after she'd exacted very severe discipline: : I'd found my indignation at being treated unfairly and, through my bloodied handkerchief I screamed : -"What if thy father and thy mother are not honourable ?" There was no answer to that question, no hour long lecture to reinforce the point. Again I paid dearly for my retort. This example to illustrate that domineering parents can be very cruel when they call to bear witness to their demnds any rationale that they have inculcated in their children from a religious perspective and a socio/ cultural perspective So - pondering on wheher we would house our elderlies ( probably meant to call for accomodation suggestions and financial solutions here on HOUZZ) for me, and maybe for others. brought out a dilemma I did not know was there...Obligation irrespectively and Guilt.....they are your parents no matter what. Maybe today I would have guarded more jealously the life I'd won for myself.