I like the sound of a mini-reunion. Especially if it involves desert!. Hello everyone : ) nwduck, you are just beginning your season, while here today is the grand final of Aussie Rules Football. Though I'm not a fan, it seems the whole country has come to a grinding halt today. haha The big excitement of today's game, is that an 'underdog' team is playing. They haven't got into the finals in about eighteen years or something. :)

Jacinta, am very sorry to hear that you've had no luck with your project pursuits......but may I also add your story is unfortunately not too uncommon and it doesn't surprise me...........after doing this for a fair while now may I add a comment or two.....skimming through the post above, a completely underestimated and often overlooked skill required by a design professional, whether categorised as an architect, designer, drafty or whatever is their capacity to manage the client's expectations of what is viable in a certain situation for a certain budget with their experience and knowledge. Yes construction costs have risen, and will continue to do so, and that's nothing new. $350K depending upon what you're doing and where, once upon a time was a healthy budget, but not anymore when you stack up the components. that is not to say that you cannot do anything, but to achieve something you'll need to be working with people who are all over the current construction costs and can help you strategically and logically consolidate your priorities simultaneously within the design/creative process to resolve an appropriate solution. There is always a (creative) solution to a scenario and a way to successfully navigate/negotiate challenges such as council limitations, challenging context, budget or whatever. Honestly, as a designer that's the easy bit, the hard(er) part is managing people in negotiating their particular "wants" and expectations and relative costs. What I understand really gets to people (like you have clearly experienced here ) is the unpleasant surprise and disappointment down the track after investing time and money with a company/designer in believing that you're working towards a feasible outcome when in reality the concept/direction is revealed to be non-viable, stonewalled or beyond budget. To avoid exactly this issue I service the front end of projects very broadly considering hard costed concept scenario options and hence "cutting to the chase" in order to appropriately align project requirements and project budget against the relevant specific contextual backdrop. Very quickly we endeavour get a realistic and accurate handle on whether a particular project direction is going to be viable or not and manage the client's expectations appropriately and fairly with minimal time and investment from their end. Depending upon the client and situation this step of the process initiates recalibration of client expectations (on budget or brief) and identification of what is possible one way or another so moving forward can occur with confidence and efficiency. From experience this has proven to avoid the exact situation you've unfortunately experienced. This should not be a "nightmare", rather it should be an exciting time in the process. At the end of the day it all comes down to money, it is invariably the ultimate controller of the decision-making process and accordingly you need to find and work with people who inherently understand this and can design honestly for you with respect to this factor and your specific needs. I hope this helps in some way and completely understand and sympathise with your situation :)

I've tried it out, a mood board and a plan layout. It works quite well in the desktop version, but it's a bit glitchy on my app, which sometimes crashes after a while of sketching

Congratulations siriuskey! So many of us here on Houzz have benefitted from your generosity with your time and expertise. The tweaks you did to my design ramped it to the next level in terms of functionality, and you are still helping me with choices of fixtures and fittings (Your Houzz moniker is very apt - if I am in doubt I just 'ask Siri'!). So it is lovely to see you get some recognition for your clever design. The room you designed with the App is gorgeous! And the artwork you've chosen for your prize is stunning.