If the front of the house is west facing in Queensland and you have glass on that side of the house, in summer in the afternoon the sun beats down on this side for hours, heating up the whole house. There is some speculation on double glazing as some think that they do heat up, better than nothing. Once the sun hits the wall you are lost. These image are for north this is worst for west. A more passive means of cooling the house is to install tall enough thick leaves to the base trees on the western side so that they shade that elevation. Problem with that is that in winter, that sun would be nice. So you need trees that drop their leaves early winter and have them back on say September when the sun starts to heat up. Some trees hold onto their leaves till a few weeks before spring, so make sure you do your research and think root barrier up front to protect your footings. Photo below horizontal external shade screens, Another method is to shade the house with screens, i said house not windows. With western sun, it is low when it starts to clear the roof overhangs, so no amount of horizontal shade devices will make any real difference. The screens for western sun in Queensland must be of a vertical nature. So screens that hang OUTSIDE the house to around say 900 mm off the ground would be fantastic. Since the sun travels around the west from more south west in peak summer to west in winter, vertical blades tend to be ideal solution and should pivot, to deal with this moving sun. In the past, Queenslanders used to have these vertical screens on castors and they moved them around to suit the conditions, for some reason we did not learn from the past. This house the screens are not shading the walls at the bottom so they would still heat up. From the plans i see you are building in brick, so western sun and bricks in summer make an ideal oven. Takes bricks 12 hours to cool down depending on the colour. All material heats up in the sun, but bricks take longer to cool, light weight material which is properly insulated is a better choice and against popular opinion, glass is also a good choice, all better if vertically screened. Double brick tends to keep a house cooler and you might as well use the double brick for structure instead of the decorative nature of cavity brick house, but after a while that heats up and takes forever to cool. Studs hold up the roof, not the face bricks. Ever wonder why the house stands up during construction with stud wall and roof? Photo is vertical blades which pivot. A good landscape architect would be worth a look and they will know how to blend your style of house with the garden. North windows in Queensland even with no overhangs, (which is stupid in Queensland) do not get sun into the rooms, but in winter it might crawl in say 2 M which is nice. What are you doing with the roof and concrete tiles heat up nicely and the darker you make them the hotter they get, Colorbond is a good choice with all the hail we tend to get, or keep a stockpile of tiles for when they break. Colour also makes a difference to heat. Make sure you vent the roof space, whirly birds, and vented eaves or gable ends, make sure you fully insulate the roof and also ceiling, and choose a light colour. choose a style of external screens or trees to fit the house. See if that makes a difference to the report which is there to make your life better and we are talking the cost of air con for the life of the house, the reports are there to help save you money, maybe a bit more up front but worth it in the long running cost of a house. Ros

Colour choices! It’s pure insanity! I ended up going with Haymes Paint Nearly White 3 in their bass colour (so not mixing it in another base). If you want to go with Dulux then I hear that Grand Piano Half or Hog Bristle Half is also good. My only advice is choose up to 3-4 colours and that’s it. Any more, then it may be better to pay for a colour consultation with one of the big companies (which would give you a discount on paint anyway) and take the headache out of it all together!!

Good morning! I love love love your ceiling! As others have asked - is it something that repeats through the house? I would 100% keep them - the key is to work with them not fight against them. I would also replace the light fitting - look at having recess lights installed. There are a number of things that you can do when you have such a prominent feature such as this in a room - you either choose to work with it and 'calm' it down into the space - such as painting the ceiling and the walls in the same colour - or you say - to hell with it and make it the hero of the room. I have seen some stunning ceilings where the walls have been painted in a 'white' and the ceiling painted in a strong colour such as navy which then ties into accents in the room. It would obviously depend on your personal style. Good luck!

For curtains, the best option would be for ceiling mounted track, curved at the corner. The stackback area to the left is tight to fully open the curtains off the window area. A possible solution (as you look to be in the middle of renovations), if there are no utilities in the last 20-30cm of the bulkhead to the exterior(?) wall, you maybe still at the stage to alter this to provide a pocket area for curtains to stackback into. There are other considerations for an area that poses a few challenges and obtaining expert advice now could provide better solution that require some input from your builder. All the best, Louise, Decoro Custom Interiors - Window Treatment Specialist, Sydney