thank you for your advise. I have put images of the outside of the house as that where the dining room is from there we will be bringing the decking out 3 metres which will create an out - indoor eating. this is the most finished room giving you an idea of the colour and house. all blue grey tones. sorry about stuff around but a reno house is hard to find spaces below is kitchen as is looking out to the dining through that open servery but we are taking most of that wall out to make an open space - its very small step down below into the dining through the left door way. below is the now dining. the table is very small and hard to pull chairs in and out of hence the indoor out door considerations. belwo is the outdoor looking in. from those doors we are putting a 3 metre decking i think. we have a lot of yard so its easy to do

Start by spending a portion of your budget on the various dream feature items that are relocatable and can be used in your final design anyway. e.g. Buy the firepit you really want - it can become the focal point of your future garden. Test it outside in your backyard for a few months. Are heaps of mozzies annoying you while you're sitting outside around the firepit? If so, then you'll know that you're going to need a gazebo with flyscreens as well as privacy curtains so you can really enjoy lying outside in your hammock year round. The hammock is another relocatable part of your design. First, lie outside in your backyard on a swag or a rug for a few hours. Is it too windy? Is there road noise? Keep experimenting until you've found the perfect location for the hammock. Then buy an inexpensive hammock and suspend it from a couple of sturdy RL4 poles. If it's working, then this is the place where you should build your future patio, that's going to shelter your hammock. Keep testing inexpensive versions of your other ideas out. Trial tea candles or a string of inexpensive white Christmas lights as garden lighting. Do they create the feel you want or do lights just attract moths or unwanted insects? What about relocatable solar garden lights? Or a portable floodlight from Bunnings? Where's the ideal place for your garden table and chairs? Test it out with inexpensive camping chairs - or chairs you already own for a few months to be sure. Then invest in the perfect outdoor table and chairs. Same with the water feature. Start with a wine barrel with a waterlily or a second hand pond off Gumtree. Can you hear the trickling water in the garden or do other noises crowd it out? Keep in mind big goldfish need deep water and space to swim. To help you in your choice of plants,look around your immediate neighbourhood. What purple, blue and scented plants are thriving in your immediate area? Who has the best garden in your street in your opinion - and why do you think that? Do you always see a particular neighbour passionately working outside in their garden? That's the person you should strike up a conversation with to get advise about suitable plants for your immediate area. Chances are they will not only give you heaps of free advise but they will probably give you plants and cuttings as well. Markets are another source of perennial plants that grow well in the local area. Plant these smaller plants into large plastic pots and garden bags and allow them to grow for a year or so. Consider herbs as filler plants - many are highly scented, can be used in cooking and often have interesting foliage e.g. choc mint, fennel, rosemary etc. After you've been using your backyard for at least a year and you've experienced all of the seasons, then invest in your big ticket items like your gazebo. Buy or build a structure that's truly practical for your local microclimate - incorporate glass, windbreak fencing, shadecloth, mozzie mesh or whatever you need to make your hammock shelter ultra comfortable. Build this structure where you've tested it and know it will work - not where a stranger who designs gardens thinks it should go. Spend the remaining money on the things you know you need and want - the stones, plants, irrigation, a birdbath, etc

You don't mention where in Australia you are or which side of the house faces North this information will mostly determine what you can grow and where. Your block isn't small at all. In landscaping terms it's enormous and will cost a lot of money to put in a nice garden. As a starter..... The facade of your house is imposing, almost out of scale with the neighbours. I believe you will benefit from a medium sized deciduoos tree out the front behind the letterbox to soften the area between your home and your neighbours. Putting it on that side will frame the house nicely and balance the enormous scale of it. Something like a gingko would be lovely. But you need to be in temperate or cold zone for that one. Also the lawned slope is not helping the home sit into the landscape. I would go large boulders and a rockery across this part, not a fence nor retaining wall. Your home is already strongly geometric, a naturalistic strip will work wonders to bed it into the neighbourhood. If you can't stand the look of boulders then gabions are an alternative that look very modern and smart, especially if interspersed with tall ornamental grasses. There are many creeping conifers you can get that will grow in many climates. Once established they need no care but can look amazing. The easiest way to work out a cohesive scheme is to zone the yard into outdoor rooms. This is exactly what landscape designers do. So rather than going well I want a deck here, a bush there and lets just chuck some grasses in here. You end up with well defined area's that each have a purpose and a particular style, rather than random shrubbery dotted about the place. you'll need to cruise the internet a bit to find some landscaping you like. No-one here can guess what modern with character means to you. Does it mean tall strappy things, cacti, grasses? Hedges? It's easier if you can find a general style of garden you like, such as Balinese, Japanese, South Western, tropical etc. Then good old Google can show you every possible version of that from traditional right through to edgy modern versions. Typically anywhere in your yard that is going to get full sun all day will be unbearably hot in summer, you will want some shade there, but probably also want it sunny in winter (depending on where you are). This is where you need to plant deciduous vines or trees rather than evergreens. In terms of your access to the clothesline, the least expensive option will be a gravel path down that side of the house. You can lay it yourself and it only needs some lumber to define the edges and keep the gravel from spreading all over the yard. That won't be any good for dragging wheelie bins over though. You will also need to spend a weekend watching the shadows over the yard and seeing how far they stretch and at what times of the day. Any plant labelled 'full sun' needs a minimum of 6hrs of direct sunlight a day. Part shade plants need 3-4 and usually do better with morning sun and afternoon shade situations. And then there is the tiny group of plants known as 'full shade', don't be fooled. Most of them still need several hours of dappled light. There are really only a handful of plants that can survive full shade proper, so these area's of the yard are better off paved with a container filled with something known to be unkillable like clyvia.

K_jossie, there's some really helpful suggestions here. I can't add much in terms of design ideas, but in a small kitchen that serves a family it's vital to maximise storage, Have a look at some of the more novel ideas for extra storage. You can put drawers in kickboards for things like baking trays, serving trays, shallow casserole dishes, serving platters you don't use often, etc. Loads of space there that usually goes to waste! Another idea I saw that I thought brilliant was making walls into shallow storage. Where you have a blank wall that it isn't practical to place cabinets against, and you don't plan to put furniture against (such as along corridors or walkways), the lining can be removed between the studs and shelving inserted and sliding or hinged doors fitted. It provides shallow storage that is brilliant for things like canned and packet food, cups, glasses, and some of the utensils that we typically like to hang in the kitchen. I also saw this method used above a child's desk area, using the in-wall space for storage of art and craft supplies. I agree a slideout pantry is a fantastic idea. I had one in our last house and loved it. It provided loads of storage in a very small space. The other way to maximise storage is to use drawers extensively instead of cupboards. When designing my kitchen, I made a list of things I needed to store and designated their future home on my plan, working out both where they were most accessible when needed and also the optimum way to structure storage space to hold everything. It's amazing how much difference just varying drawer depths according to the height of items to be stored in them can make. Best of luck with your extension. I hope the result is pleasing.