Hi again, Lorraine here, I looked closer at your pictures of the area. I also noted your comment regarding "what if" you re do your kitchen. So, we all can do that and then time tics away and we dont do anything and frustration sets in as you really just want to change the things you have been looking for many years. The picture you have taken tonings from is very near your kitchen. the chairs to the table are the most pronounced of the colour you are seeking. Around the larger part of the room there are only little touches of the tone you like. Your rooms are very light with the blinds up. So I think the kitchen can take darker colours. Like the very deep grey outline of the fishes or the deep blue/grey in the painting or colour of the chairs. Laminex limed cement is a wonderful deep colour and will bring the benches alive. Then with removing the heavy door handles and seeing if you can use the push and clip fittings - you wont have any door handles but use a neater steel looking knob for your drawers or brushed steel handles on cupboards if you cant get the push and clip things inside. Paint the front board looking into the lounge and the cupboards a deep grey/blue colour to fit with the, mid deeper colour in the painting and the outline of the fish and the red will fit in nicely. Keeping your blinds up allowing the light in more than not will bring the room to life. Take out the floor runner. Do you use your stools? with the table right there are the stools necessary? if not take them away and ensure that area of the cupboards at front is painted - this gives a clearer area defining "kitchen". hope this helps Loz

Ta heaps, Jodes. 2 years post reno and we’re still lovin‘ it - it’s so practical and easy to clean. I’d have yours any day too btw. You’re lucky to have a sparkie on tap. We don’t. Our cabinet maker threw in the strip lighting. I thought it was a nice but unnecessary extra; something I wouldn’t have asked for. But like you, I’m so glad it’s there - no working in your shadow. It’s brilliant. An absolute must in any future kitchen reno now. The MW is good but a bit impatient - it beeps too much! We had a 20yr old Sharp carousel, so the new one was a bit of a tech leap. It‘s pretty easy to get used to. We use the combo function a lot, and the rice program does a great job. Wish it cleaned itself tho! Since seeing your fridge, I’ve been on alert every time ours makes a weird noise, hoping this is it - bang - ceased motor. New fridge! Keep us updated about your window coverings. It’s a lovely looking home. You and your hubby have done really well. :-)

Going DA has its disadvantages. - Timing is way against you, unless you have time to kill, its quite a waiting process. - Want to speed it up, I recommend getting a town planner on board, yes they do make a difference, but it will never be as fast as CDC. - DA means opening your plan to neighbours objections. Have anyone ever have the nightmare of a neighbour calling you at 9pm to object to your plan? Just because he overheard someone says that we are going to cut some trees? I got objections to a submission about a family of bird that is going to be homeless when we trim some branches off. Or an acreage neighbour object to your 600sqm lot second storey addition because of privacy issue. They have backyard of 3000sqm with over 20m distance and have privacy issue? Give me a break, the backyard is enough to fit the whole street . Any objections from neighbour means a timestop from council, until they can investigate. - Some applications takes weeks until its 'allocated' to an officer. Meaning, its just sitting there gathering dust. Then its another 2 weeks of notifications. - Council front officers are the 'yes man' they say yes all the time, and all might be possible, with 'just submit it and we'll see' attitude. Once submitted, its 'not possible, and request for change or have it withdrawn'. Got clients slammed me because I refuse to do floorplan 20% over the allowed, they went to see front desk in council and told 'Just submit it and we'll see what we can do'. At the end its still rejected anyway, with cost of $$$ of DA application fee. And the advantages: - Council is the only one who can approve if there is no other way (heritage issue, flood / bushfire) - Council is negotiable to a degree, you just have to prove the merit, and talk in their language. - Council can fight for you against your neighbours objections. Took time, but yes they can be on your side. - Building a duplex with site a bit under the allowed? Three floors when its only allowed 2? Yes it can be done. Just play the game right. - Going with DA code sometimes means a bigger floor space allowed, higher roof, higher ceiling than the code for CDC, sometimes the fight and wait is well worthed. And finally there is the L&E Court. If things goes South, and everyone thinks they are correct, there is the L&E court to settle it. My point is : DA : go fully prepared, you are there to fight for it. CDC : get a good team, and the certifier is just there to certify. It will get done quicker. I am not anti councillors, I actually pity them, they are overworked, understaffed, and get abused in daily. If I can advice my clients to avoid DA and still come up with great result, I would go that path.

Thank you for your rough guestimate, Louise. I will try to get to the cottage on Wednesday to measure and will post them then. Your questions answered: we are renovating to live in it for two years whilst we build our house. Our two sons will visit but probably at different times. I will place a daybed in the lounge in the event that we are all there at the same time. Once our home is built, we will Airbnb this cottage. We are in our 50’s and our intention is to move back into this cottage when the house gets too much for us. So it’s a long term investment with the view of having made the choice of where we would ultimately want to be later on in life - as much as one can make these decisions with all the unknowns. It is very close to a beautiful town - two minutes walking distance to all the amenities. We cannot do extensions as we have an easement and the land is small. As much as we do not want to be ridiculous in terms of costs, we also need to think long term and are therefore prepared to make the changes when our builder strips the cottage. The location will probably support the investment long term. Also to note, my thoughts: We need to add a freestanding gas fireplace into the living room. My thoughts were to place it on the wall that is shared with the kitchen. I intended to remove the wall between the family and dining. This will also allow the northern sun to stream into the living area in winter. The family room would become a dining room/eat-in-kitchen. The dining and living will become the whole living room. The entrance consumes valuable space and I like siriuskey’s idea of adding a powder room there - perhaps with the addition of an extra shower and basin where the linen is and skylights above both rooms for ventilation and light. Moving the front door would be problematic as it would throw off the symmetry and involve changes to the eves.