Hi Brett, first off - well done for reaching out (without ego) and asking those that know and those that have tried and found results. If you are going with the brick veneer, the cavity is key to your moisture and thermal capabilities, after years within the house. Gyproc is not designed for anything but a 'skin'. If you increase thermal layer on the walls by asking he outer layer of the stud work with good quality silver sarking or Tyvek. Tape joints to eliminate vapour transfer to internal gyproc. Use 12.5mm gyproc on all external walls. OR Use 12.5 silver backed gyproc board on walls instead of previous. If coast effective -I would use this on the ceilings also. Principle being - isolate the internal breathing environment both thermally and other from the externals. Then deal with any ventilation or thermal issue by themselves internally. Look at why a house is designed, then go 100% better. The problem with roof voids is cold at night and heat in day, focus on high air barrier and high 'R' values here. Internally, consider + and -, as in, where it is cold-draw heat to it (South+ low) where it is hot, draw coolth to it (North & high). The result will be both continuos balance or equilibrium in comfort, thermally, energy and ventilation wise... Hope this helps : )

First off your husband will need a pair of noise cancelling headphones :-) It depends on how handy 'you' are, the only limit is your imagination. You could trot around the Opportunity furniture shops, collect a couple of filing cabinets and use those to hang a board between. Blackboard paint on one side and glue felt, cork or fabric on the other. Then you have a noticeboard for the office and a blackboard for the children. This can be repeated in different configurations for more privacy. Alternatively check the internet sites like Gumtree or the Trading Post and see if anyone is selling at a good price folding screens or something that could be used as a screen. Most of all enjoy doing it.

Thanks for all the suggestions - it's certainly given me some good ideas. julia herbert - I love the screen pergola - it's perfect! And maybe a water feature in the top left corner of pic might work and give a nice view from the bedroom and the garden. oklouise - there are three bedrooms with windows from the left (the master is on the far left overlooking the long strip of garden) and on the right is a living/dining area with glass sliding door. scottevie - I don't need to have a washing line in this area. As far as garden, the lemon tree and roses are my only must haves. That pathway in the photo looks great, however the pathway area is only 1.5m from house to fence so I'm not sure it's wide enough to become functional. Thanks for the searching suggestion - I'll look for some more inspiration in the narrow gardens! Would love any other suggestions anyone might have.

As for the clerestories, glass is a very, very poor insulator & doesn't block radiant heat (sunshine). So in winter you want to gain more heat from sunshine coming in the house than you lose through poorly insulated windows (clerestories lose a lot of heat, as it's warm near the ceiling). So you want your windows to be unshaded in winter. Unfortunately your roof design means your northern clerestories will be shaded, losing more heat than they gain. So I see no advantage having north facing clerestories with that roof design. As oklouise says, north facing clerestories are much better with a skillion roof, as they will receive winter sunshine. As for western windows. All western windows are a problem in summer (& won't receive as much sun in winter as northern windows). Clerestories will be shaded for much of the day, but will still receive sunshine in the late afternoon. So I wouldn't be including them. You obviously want some windows facing your western yard. But I'd be reducing them, shading them with a western covered alfresco & using low-e glass to reduce radiant heat transmission. Southern clerestories. These receive no sunshine in winter, & leak heat. So I wouldn't be having these either. Maybe a case of form over function. You want form to follow function (as is the case with north facing clerestories with a skillion roof in the below example).