Hi Angela, great idea to plant a tree! We lived in Alice Springs for 6 years and found that a couple of shade trees made such a huge difference to our enjoyment of being out in the garden, We loved being outside for breakfast and later in the day/early evening. We noticed that Chinese Elm trees grew well and relatively quickly and we had a fast growing Mullberry tree there too, (although the fruit do stain when you tread on them). Brazilian Peppercorn trees grow very fast there too, but become a huge bush if you don't keep pruning them to the shape you want as they grow. I love that you're planting natives too, as they attracted birds to our garden, along with the trees. Murrayas are a lush green 2-3 metre fast growing shrub which thrive in Alice too. We planted several after realizing they grow there in full sun and/or part shade. They have white flowers with a beautiful perfume.

Although, I love soft, pale, barely there yellow, the canary (egg yolk as I call it) yellow is just too garish. I do like the mint green and I'm finding lots of sites that are showing myriad options in décor for it now. I imagine it's one of those "get it while it's hot" colors but it's a beautiful one to me. I've used the hot pink in much smaller doses for my daughter's room when she was little but I doubt I would use it in large quantities. I also deal with blue best in small doses.

I'm in New Zealand ( as a lot of you know ) and our rules are different , and will maybe act as a warning . Councils seem to be left-leaning , and therefore see anyone with property as a continual source of money . They make the rules with that in mind . Of course , what they don't seem to be able to comprehend is thaat every action has an equal and opposite reaction . Anyone subdividing an existing section or doing a subdivision has to pay a 'development contribution' . In most cities this is $50,000-100,000 . Per section/title . so they think they are hitting the greedy landowner , but of course , it is the person buying the smaller property that effectively pays this -- I don't think most councils can appreciate that . As a slight side issue , one large company has bought several hundred rural acres , and are trying to build their own town -- factories for themselves and support businesses , as well as shops and groceries and takeaways and gas stations and the lot . 1000's of houses to buy or rent or rent to own . And they want to pay for their own streets , and sewerage scheme , and power , and water , and parks , and upkeep . The council involved , predictably , has spent $10's of millions of ratepayers money fighting them every step of the way , changing the rules , all the usual tricks . So a tiny home here isn't classed as a caravan , it needs to have permanent water and sewerage and power , so , yes you guessed , needs to have someone pay a development contribution . It needs to comply with all the building regulations , so you can't have it for only 'summertime' use or similar . In Aus , you have a lot of areas that are effectively off-grid , because power and sewerage would be way too impractical , but here you cannot opt-out . And even caravans cannot be 'lived in' permanently , with the exception of some caravan parks , and I think even then technically the caravan has to be moved once every 3 months or similar . Park a caravan at your house , have the grandkids stay for 2 weeks , you probably get away with it . But have them and their Mum live there -- you then need to permanently connect it to your services , and , you guessed it , pay a development fee ! Same with mobile homes and the like . My mobile home I have had it deregistered , and re-registered it as a mobile office , in my businesses name . This is because Mobile Homes are not allowed to park overnight and be slept in , on the streets or carparks in most towns . Of course , if I got a ticket and disputed it , the relevant council may show local CCTV footage , or ask for an accomodation receipt from a nearby business , but at least it will tie them up in court for at least a couple of hours or more -- they probably have lawyers on the payroll , but if they are paying $300 an hour , plus 3 or 4 council employees time , plus the Judge and court people -- its cost them way more than the $200-500 fine . So long story short -- tiny homes are a legal nightmare in NZ , as is almost anything that doesn't look like a conventional house .

That’s a good idea, we’re going to go with painter on the first room, once he leaves we can decide whether or not we paint the trims. More work, but playing it safe!