Oh C'mon V Richards...every epoch has its treasures. B4 you make a mad run for it stop a while and consider the period and the reasons for the style...it can be extremely enlightening....unless its not the period you want to escape from but from some of the opinions. I spent many years of my youth outside of Australia living surrounded by old ruins in Europe. I forgot what it was like here. When finally I returned to Australia and found myself living in some of the 60s and 70s places..I found much to admire and wonder about. I may not have fallen in love with much of it but there was a certain mistique and a feel that I can still conjure when talking about certain places. Not saying that it was all romantic and pleasant but it conveyed something of the era and the kind of Aussie from those days.

Hi Bron. I'm totally with those who have suggested a. Colorbond Monument and b. No rendering. As a professional renovator, I see clients who had not taken into account the maintenance - cleaning, patching the cracks when the house moved and they all do, eventually) and would not render again. Bagging is really old-fashioned. The bricks are a great colour to work with. The suggestions of plants , a path leading (directing visitors) to your door, and I'll add using a feature colour on the door (an unobtrusive screen door - or even removing it) would make a big difference. It would be great to see a pic of the house from the street to see if there's anything else to suggest. Happy reno!!

Well it's is simple, as we will now have concrete floor that get huge amount of winter sunlight in that main living room area our thermal mass figure went up. with the use of phase change material in the roof it to give a thermal mass effect but lot less weight. What it does is stores the energy/heat and transfers it back into room a night. You must realise that this is a very exposed site and we had to get min 6 star rating. Our insulation goes like this from roof down 1, R7 Rock wool batts 2. 90mm Phase change Material 3. to support pcm you have to use 12mm ply sheeting in place of plasterboard 4. Float concrete 5. Electric in slab heating 6. Precast tilt, but played down slabs Underslab 7. R7 Rock wool again 8. 75mm foam batts 9. Reflective foil 10. Box in around steel and make air tight as possible Also all the glass is double glazed, argon filled and thermal shield. We had all that minus pcm and failed because standard way of accessing doesn't have it in calulations. i had to go and show council a sample of the stuff an how it works. This is not cheap but we can just about say that room will sit at a constant 21 to 24 degrees all year around without need for air conditioning . Phase change article

Kitchens have always been described as the heart of the home. So when you picture your dream kitchen, what sort of images come to mind? Are you loving the Modern Industrial style or maybe a Hamptons style kitchen is your current crush? Whatever you’re in to, we’ve got some amazing inspo for you! With so much inspiration floating around on the net, socials and glossy magazines, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of indecision. And just when you think you’ve nailed down the perfect kitchen, your thrown off track again because some other kitchen design pops up on Instragram. Creating a beautiful moodboard and pinning all your faves is the best way to start. Stalk all your favourite suppliers and designers social pages for up to the minute inspo. So then it’s just a matter of finding a common theme. It could be a cabinetry colour, backsplash tile, kitchen benchtop or even your tapware colour. Build your style from there. Maybe you pinned lots of black cabinetry, concrete benchtops and gunmetal tapware? Sounds like you’re into the Industrial Style. Crushing hard on marble benchtops, shaker style cabinets and polished chrome tapware? You’re definitely leaning towards a Hamptons style kitchen, for sure! If modern is more your style, you’ve probably got loads of neutral, clean finishes on your moodboard. White push-to-open cabinetry, stone benchtops and brushed nickel tapware is probably more your vibe.