Id have Raised planter boxes put in around the outside of our yard so my mother in-law doesn't have to spend hours on the ground with a bad back to do the gardening!..

we have decided to go with concrete floors in our new build. the foundations have just been done, and the team came through and power floated the floor. It rained the next day, which showed us the full effect of what the floor will look like (the builder said its good for it to rain too as means less likely to crack) and we LOVE it! so much so that i rang the builder and asked him to be careful on the hallway floor too as we want to continue the concrete finish up there as well. We arnt going for a ground floor as i find it a bit too busy and we are wanting a more relaxed industrial look. This is the photo i supplied the builder and it looks pretty much the same. The finish is achieved as soon as concrete foundation is poured. they "buff" the concrete, which "burns" the top, giving it quite a organic look. once this is done, the floor needs to be protected from chips etc while they build, then all that needs to be done is sealing once the build is finished. it came in alot cheaper than tile, or wood, but more expensive than carpet. our house is north facing with a lot of glass on that wall. the architect told us that the thermal mass from the flooring will be awesome! keep us updated on what you choose. :)

Thank you differentways I have been astounded how generous you (and OKL and Kate) have been with your time and energy drawing these things up for a stranger. I am happy with the big bedroom windows and don’t have privacy concerns because the house will be well set back from a very quiet road with very little foot traffic, we will establish greenery, especially up closer to the road, and we will have good window treatments for night and getting changed etc and if someone catches a glimpse into an empty bedroom as they drive by during the day, well that won’t be too exciting for them or me - they won’t glimpse a Monet on the wall that they would be enticed to steal! Might still prefer the laundry under the stairs, but this does show an option. The porch/ entrance area is a generous (maybe too generous, esp with view/ sitting area as well), but could easily be trimmed up to suit. Thanks again for doing some elevations to give a rough idea what it could look like, including providing one in a light palate to compare to the darker palate given earlier.

Hi squirrel30. I ended up, on a professional's advice, having the whole bathroom stripped and redone. It actually worked out cheaper than any of the seemingly more innovative solutions. It seemed a shame to discard a lot of stuff that was in good order, but to get the result we wanted it proved the best approach and I'm delighted with the result. We had the floor pulled up and replaced with 600 x 600 textured grey tiles and 900 wide tiles in the shower with a grate at the end so in a very, very large shower we have only 3 grout lines and they are dark grey. We used slab tiles on the walls in the shower with dark grey grouting and 600 x 600 tiles elsewhere. Again resulting in very few grout lines, and no glass at all! I posted pictures of the main bathroom at Bathroom reno done! Thanks for the suggestions | Houzz AU The ensuite looks similar but has a twin vanity and larger shower with a tiled nib wall rather than glass. I'm still interested to know more about microcement but I can't get anyone to answer inquiries. I've responded to a dozen or so ads but nobody has ever bothered to contact me. Not sure I would trust a supplier who is that disinterested in potential customers!!