I agree with Fiona about the Ficus - they have shocking root systems and should never be used near pools, houses etc. The width of your retaining wall from the photo looks really narrow, so you are going to have trouble growing most things in there; even the Pittosporums will eventually cause structural damage to the walls. The width of any garden bed should be ideally 1.5 metres at least for proper root establishment. This seems to be hard for most people to understand, but the bigger the plant, the wider the root system. So either widen the retaining wall or you will need to keep the plant lower. The pears mentioned also will never work. 5 years is the testing time of a good garden. When first planted they can look great, but they often break down as they grow. The Ficus and Pears' root systems will keep on expanding after the 5 year period with the Ficus having surface roots that cause massive damage to paving, concrete etc. Google it! And I have seen first hand the damage done by another Landscaper's work, based on inexperience. Get professional advice if in doubt - it is worth it if you get a good one. Alison

oh, that's a shame, maybe building a simple frame and use galvanised wire strung between and train the creeper on that could look great and reduce the noise dramatically, an evergreen like star jasmine would look beautiful and the perfume is an added bonus or check what grows well in your area. Do you have any area to plant as they don't need a huge amount of room on the ground as they love to climb.

There's a move away from gas to the extent that new suburbs where I live are not even being provided with gas mains. Evap cooling when we researched some time back required some windows open and I remember people complaining about that during last summer's smoke. Regardless of which systems you choose, I could not agree more with oklouise, start with good solar passive design and insulation, that's the most efficient way of reducing the reliance on and cost of heating and cooling systems.

aftab sidiqi, is your concern the aesthetics of a door in that position or the fact that it is the powder room? Pottsy, it looks like a CGI picture? I saw a real estate listing once with the powder room off the dining room, surprisingly in a quite a large luxurious house. Decoro Custom Interiors is right, I remember now there are safety regulations about how toilet doors function. So a completely disguised door might not meet them. I agree with oklouise that a door between the entry and hall makes sense. Otherwise it seems rather obvious where a guest goes from the lounge. I think that's more of an issue than just the fact there's a door there. Kate makes a good point that if it's too hidden you have to guide people to it. As far as appearance goes, I like Julie Herbert's solutions. But maybe there is a better location for the powder room, if we can see the upstairs plan to understand how the stairs fit in?