Steam boat..this is when I'm really really lazy.. you'd need to make some chicken stock ..ie add chicken carcasses with a brown onion into a pot of water and cook for 2 hours. Skim all the yucky bits that floats to the top.. then add 1 teaspoon of chicken powder and one of sugar to it..then fish sauce to taste.. the bean vermicelli needs to be soaked in warm water until the soften about 1/2 hour or so.. then it's a matter of chopping up vegies..and prepping seafood..slicing up meat ie beef..pork etc in my case I cheated and bought dumplings to go in with some mushroom and tofu once ready to eat pop the pot/steam boat into the middle of the table and then everyone can cook their own stuff.. or alternatively can blanch the vegies first..cook the meat and dumplings then lastly pop the vermicelli into a strainer and dip it into the soup water until it goes clear..only takes 1-2 mins and then pour soup over each bowl ..garnish with spring onion or coriander and whola dinner is served..

my MIL is one one those that won't fetch anything for herself ..she expects you to get up when she gets up 5-6am and fetch her breakfast..and it's no good offering would you like some toast as she'd be like oh no I'm fine.. you need to cook breakfast and plop it in front of her.. she wouldn't let me wash her clothes so showed her how to use the machine..she hand washes them and pop them on the line right on top of my rack of dried clothes..she took my clothes down so she had room to hang hers out..and of course her dripped on mine ..?? and if she dries the dishes she must do it intentionally to annoy me as it takes me ages to find bits and pieces to my rice cooker..?? amongst other things that happened .. my MIL is hated by all of his family..because she's the second wife..his biological mum is the best MIL you can have she's kind and loving not like this one..calculating ..stabs you behind your back and the list goes on.. my husband must takes after his mum..he's kind and caring.. thank goodness she's overseas now..only lose him to get twice a year for 10 days each..

Never ever used sponges - And I've been a house and garden maintenance dudette for over four decades!! I have never owned a bucket and mop either ... I have a dozen or so purpose bought facecloths instead of sponges and the like (in a colour that ties in with the kitchen accent colour) The "facecloths" are used and are allowed to dry out for about two days ... then machine-washed with the bathtowels and dried outdoors. M My current "turquoisey" kitchen facecloths are still going strong after 12 years!! For pots, oven and casserole dishes, etc. I use stainless steel scourers - with a softer stainless steel flat scourer for non-stick stuff. The scourers - as well as the kitchen sink drains - get spray-sanitized with a no-smell 1or2% strength bleach after every use!

Just to confirm I have taken the great ideas presented here as advice only and have no intention to do some dodgy diy reno's. With the exception of a couple of quirky exposed timbers as you can see in my pictures there are no other exposed beams. As you can also see from the pictures there is a large roof space on the right (east) side of the house but the ceilings themselves are flat with a slight dip on the north wall. Based on my own personal experiences I would have to agree with Two's Company that there is a tendency towards rendered brick in WA (although there are still many exposed brick houses in my suburb) while double enclosed double garages are also highly desirable. I would also agree that toilets within the main bathroom and non traditional laundries may be considered unusual by many (but not all). Ensuites with toilets however are still very common. Also due to the nature of our work we would prefer the laundry separated from food/kitchen area. For a 4x2 house it is only around 155m2 excluding carport/alfresco which makes the rooms feel quite cramped, hence the desire to open up the family room. However, as Two's Company suggests we will need to first get a builder/eng in to check load bearing walls etc as this will undoubtedly affect what we can achieve within our budget. Having said that I still excited by many of your ideas and with luck hopefully can work some of them into the budget. Cheers all :)