Also have a dual purpose room. We did inexpensive white shelving units around two walls, with fabric boxes to stash stuff, (office, and my "crafty" supplies), threw in a few decorative items. Got a tall basket for rolled up mats/foam roller storage, a complementary lower basket to throw in the requisite elastic bands, small hand weights, etc. Decorated walls with pics from our travels, framed with colored mats.

I warm my plates sometimes with a damp square of kitchen paper in between. The water in the paper heats up and does the trick. I always do scrambled eggs but I use half power and stir after 45 seconds then after 20 secs and so on until done. I par boil vegetables for roasting and soups to save time. We keep our bread in the freezer and defrost before use, also rolls, banana bread, un-iced cake etc. I've heated up a wet face cloth to wipe my grandkids' faces rather than wait for the hot water to come through. More energy efficient. If my coffee or tea goes cool when I'm on the phone I'll reheat it for 20 secs.

Hi Sarah, You can go for alternative stone cladding from Boral called Cultured Stone. They are great products and can be installed by most stone masons on brick or rendered walls. If you're in WA, you can find out more by calling us on 13 15 40 or visiting http://www.midlandbrick.com.au/cultured-stone.asp However, if you're in the East Coast, you can check out Which product is available in the state you live in: http://www.boral.com.au/productcatalogue/CategoryDirect_CTR.aspx?country=AUS&category=81 Below are examples of Cultured Stone cladding that's most similar to the photos you have attached: Boral Coral Stone - Fossil Reef Boral Cobblefield - Texas Cream Boral Country Ledgestone - White Oak Hope we at Midland Brick have been able to help you out Thanks!

As an architect, I have previously been taught that creating a sustainable home is about designing it so that living in it lowers energy and water use. This is achieved through designing for orientation, using thermal mass and specifying fixtures and finishes that are low impact, reuse water on site, etc. However, the latest research is showing that this is not enough to impact the rate of climate change. And that what we build from needs to be considered in order to make a dent. This is because the timeframe required to see the benefits of sustainable living in a home, is a longer play than the upfront construction from low tox, low energy, minimal footprint materials and methodologies. It has to be a two-pronged approach. Choose materials and products, and constructing efficiently with low energy and low waste. Having carbon neutral homes. And designing homes that over the long term, are low in energy and water consumption, and support the health and well-being of the occupants. A project was established in mid 2017, called “The Building Code Energy Performance Trajectory Project”. It involved the Sustainable Built Environment Council and ClimateWorks Australia, and is described as an industry-led initiative seeking improvements to energy requirements in the National Construction Code. The report was released recently, and what was amazing in this report was to read that 58% of Australia’s buildings in 2050, will be built after 2019 … which means that there’s huge potential to impact their performance and the environment through better energy requirements. And these energy requirements have not been rigorously updated since 2010, despite electricity prices having doubled over that time. Detached housing will comprise 64% of the new construction between 2019 and 2050. So every homeowner has the opportunity to seriously change the landscape of energy use and efficiency in our country. There’s some sectors of the industry really pushing back against this … largely because they believe it will dramatically dent their profit margins to have to build houses with higher star ratings. Australian homes, on average, perform very poorly, and our expectations are super low. Steve Baczek, an American architect, said something about American houses that I think sums it up for Australia as well ... “It’s not that High-Performance Houses cost too much; it’s that our idea of a fairly priced home is based on a history of building houses to meet embarrassingly low performance benchmarks. Clients don’t realise the difference between built to code vs built to last”.