The next time I decorate by a colour of the year will be the first time. Don't hold your breath. I have nothing against this particular colour but it doesn't work with all the things I've collected over the years, and I am not about to discard carpets bought after hard bargaining with dubious merchants in Istanbul or Islamabad because they don't "go" with a paint colour that someone voted "colour of the year." In its place, I think the colour would be quite nice (better than this years choices, certainly). It's just that my place isn't the right place for it.

If you are establishing a sustainable/organic/permaculture type garden, then a chicken tractor can be pushed all over the yard to benefit both the chooks and the soil. As well as that, or instead of that, you can make a secure enclosure for them to run in the day, fenced in chicken wire, with a fully enclosed, warm house with perches at night. Instructions for both types are on the Internet. We let our poultry roam free range in the gardens at weekends, but not on weekdays because of our Jack Russell cross dogs, who have already killed one duck.

I hated the wasted space of a laundry so much, we opted to put the washing machine in the bathroom. Washing is sorted and folded in the family room, whilst watching TV. Makes the task less dull and from there it can go to the correct side of the house, as the family room is the hub. Ironing is done in front of the TV, where necessary, although the clean washing is removed to each person's room first. Each person does their own ironing as they prefer. I stopped doing it for everybody years ago. If the can cook and clean, they can iron. Linen has specified storage centrally. Each bathroom has storage for towels etc. It was designed around how we like to live, when we built.

Haha, Jodie. If the container was full of jelly beans...it would be put to very good use! I did a quick search for lamps, so here are a few just to get you thinking. Probably a tallish one so two people can easily read in bed. Some of the lamps have shades that look like they might match the colour of the shades on your pendant light.