Miranda You appear to be making all the right choices in life. I will be a little bit presumptuous by offering some advice on helping you to raise your child in touch with nature in this age full of all the electronic lures that keep the kids indoors. or, when outdoors, glued to a small screen, rather than the glory that surrounds them. I am writing a book about landscape architecture and have a section regarding the importance of embracing nature in the preschool years. - which I would like to forward that section to you. However, my computer skills are limited to email and US Mail. I don't even know how to attach a picture to the text. If you would like to receive this draft from my future book, send me your email or postal address, and I'll get it right off to you. My email is cascio.offsite@gmail.com Good luck with your new challenges and opportunities. Joe Cascio

Hi eleanorgreen1 Love the house, as others have stated above "great little hat" on the house, Good slope on the roof and great veranda for breezes and sleeping outside. I would be delighted if someone asked me to design a house in NT and I came up with that design. There is a few things that I can suggest and I hope they are of some use. 1. If possible I would dig a trench next to the perimeter of the slab of about 600 wide and 300 deep and fill it with pebble and gravel stones. This is to remove any excess water that may come of the roof (connect it to your drainage system - or lowest point of your block) and also to reduce the possibility of termites and other small critters coming through into your house. Termites do not like ground that might move as they build a tunnel in front of themselves as they proceed forward and any "gravel" or water of any kind they tend to avoid. (Love the termite mounds by the way - fantastic landscape design - at no cost). The CSIRO has fantastic information on termites - I don't think the trench would keep snakes away - hate the little critters! - Taipans - those horrors follow you home. 2. Providing a topping to your slab externally might improve the look especially on the exposed veranda - but the topping should have some form of "non slip" surface - maybe with some carborundum in the mix so that it might not get very slippery when wet. However I think plain concrete if finished with 'hard topping" is an excellent solution. 3. Love the idea of "Screens" but they will have to be securely fixed as they become missile in high winds. 4. I can not see any water tanks or solar energy equipment on the photos - I just wonder if this could be an advantage in your situation. As you have some very large verandas I wonder if large garden pots, something to the size of 800 round and 800 in height, these could still be moved but may break up some of the straight strong line of the house. Even two or three would do he trick. I would paint these with a strong colour to give a focal point and arranged strategically around the veranda. 6. Defining the entry to the house might also provide interest. I think it can be done with the large pots and also with a maybe a little bit of tilework and some form of path leading to the entry. 7. Painting the elevation that contains the entry a different colour might also brighten the place up a bit. I would not paint the whole of the elevation if its the long longitudinal side - just the central part up to a defining area like the first two windows. 8. Some nice landscaping at some distance from the house to be enjoyed from the veranda view might also help (Keep the termite mounds - they look great) There is no plan and no north point so its a bit hard to comment further especially in relation to orientation and internal plan layout. I think you have a great house and some subtle design improvements will make it even better. I would be happy to comment further on this project. Best for the future Regards Michael Manias - mm407p@gmail.com - web: newhomedesign.com.au

Thanks guys, @Andy, I will be more than happy to keep everyone in the loop. Especially after everyone has contributed so generously. However, the reality is that we are in the very early stages of planning. Also, considering we are wanting to basically gut the house and renovate from top to bottom raising the funds will likely take time. Though I'm sure we will continue to return to this page and seek additional advise/suggestions moving forward. Oklouise, thanks for the floor plan. This will be very useful when showing a professional our/your ideas. A loft? That sounds expensive! Regarding changing from my beloved Hampton's style, we were thinking of keeping some elements from the original home. I.e the raked ceilings but white washing them. do you have an example of a modern mid century home? Siriuskey, ok you are making life way to hard for us now. You keep coming up with some fantastic ideas for the kitchen and my wife loves all of them! I agree with you about keeping those two front rooms. I think they are quite unique in the house BUT we really like Oklouise's floor plan which carves up that room into a WIP/study. Currently we are torn as we want to retain the room but love her floorpan. Life is just to hard! I do indeed like my barn doors! I think they are very cool indeed (not sure how quickly they will date), we were wanting to use one as the entrance to the WIP. I have attached another picture of an example kitchen style that I like.

Thanks julie herbert, your photos are great, i pinned pic 3 of the seating ideas on Pintrest the other day too! Great Minds and all that! amonymousanne The 2nd planter will probably mirror where the first one is, so each is on the edge of the grass on either side, i think this should define the grassed area better and not make the yard look so long. My partner is really wanting to make a few veggie patches back there, but he won't be the one putting in all the work, LOL, so we are still discussing what to do with the area, I have some pavers I would like to use, I especially like a French Pattern and was thinking of that surrounded by sleepers and a ground cover to fill between the pavers. Just to define a seating/dining area, maybe. I still can't decide! haha