If you see "Where to invade next" (Michael Moore's new movie) it is a fascinating insight into some scandi (and Icelandic and a few suprises!) culture. Makes me realise our lemming like behaviour to follow 'merica is very misguided!

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.

As mentioned previously, the balustrade and safety barrier regulations exist for good reason, ultimately to prevent accidental loss of life. No equal counter argument, period. Are they overly restrictive? Not necessarily. Are they tighter than other countries? Definitely. Can we vary them? Sometimes, if you can prove compliance to the deemed to satisfy provisions. Can we achieve the same aesthetically clean "no barrier" designs in Australia as simply and to the same degree as in other countries? No. But these more restrictive conditions don't necessarily equate to more restrictive architecture. Arguably we have to work harder and be more creative within constraints to get what I'd describe as quality and clever architectural solutions, but you know what? Too bad. And this is what separates "the men from the boys" so to speak (no gender inequality meant at all) I thrive on the creative opportunity within the constraint and it challenges our professional to go deeper creatively using the breadth of of skills to achieve results in arguably more challenging conditions. Its an easy cop out just to whinge about safety barriers or whatever the particular restriction is based on predominantly aesthetic/visual/spatial goals. Design solutions will ultimately reflect/respond to the contextual conditions. Yes outside of Australia there is less regulation around matters of safety that can be exploited by design solutions to sometimes achieve visually and spatially breathtaking results, such as in the images shown on this post. Like in all situations it's about balance and priorities and when practicing design and architecture in this country issues around safety are managed more robustly by regulation, which in turn naturally requires design solutions to work within the limits, which in many cases, due to the particular project priority stack and/or capacity of the people involved, results in less "integrated" solutions. At the end of the day, quality architecture is important and there's not enough of it here IMO, but that aside, safety barriers won't and don't prevent great or interesting architecture, but they do reduce/minimise loss of life, particularly young life, and that there I think for any project regardless should be the absolute highest priority, above and beyond any potential aesthetic or spatial outcome.

We've eaten in the dining room or outside for the past 20 years. When the children were younger, we had the kitchen table angled off the end of a kitchen bench with just enough space for the whole family to eat at it, and we only used the dining room when we had guests. I found that saved a lot of work. I now hate that we have to set the dining room table for just the two of us. I've tried using stools at the servery (and I use those for the grandchildren when they visit) but my husband refuses to sit at the servery, so we plan to renovate the kitchen and re-shape it with a standard-height table on the end of the servery. We are doing away with the existing dining room to make the living room larger, and security-screening a large covered outdoor area to make a combined dining and outdoor kitchen. Since there's only two of us now, we don't see the need for an indoor dining room. If we have guests, we always eat outside. The area is well sheltered and will be partly enclosed. If it's cold, we can set up a folding table next to the kitchen table to extend the indoor eating space. The kitchen table will seat 5 anyway, so it would be rare to want to eat inside and need the extra seating.