I personally think the cladding would look nice and be the easiest to maintain. We also live on the Gold Coast and have a brick house that has been rendered (not by us) and, to be honest, it is not particularly low maintenance (if you want it to stay looking good that is). It is prone to leaching which leaves ugly stains so regularly needs retouching with the paintbrush. It can also develop small cracks in the render due to temperature change and movement. However, the most worrying thing for us is with regards to termites. If you render over your brick on the lower half of your house, it is highly unlikely you will see the telltale "mud" they leave that indicates they are trying to gain access into your house (they climb up in between the render and the brickwork). I would be trying to keep the exposed bricks in preference to rendering over them, particularly if you have a garden bed up against the house anywhere.

After much consideration of your photo, I really think you have it right! The gold mirror matches the gold towel rail ! All your other elements, i.e. the plant and stand, match perfectly with and enhance the room's overall look. I think the suggestion of painting the wall behind the mirror, is an excellent one, in a shade of green which would tie in with the tiles on the floor and the plant. You have the ceiling height to handle it. I wouldn't be shy with a dark emerald green to complement the tiles, I think the gold would then really shine and blend with the gold hand rail. Photocopy the pic of the room and using a texta, colour in the wall and see what you think before committing. Be brave. Congrats on a beautiful room! Good luck.... i do hope you'll show us the end result whatever you choose to do.

I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale.

I'll offer a word of warning -- the posts need to be solid , and/or braced or tied back . A swing or similar is reasonably well balanced , but a hammock with a 100kg person ( or 150 or 80 ) has the stress coming at it from a 90degree angle . Some of Julies pics would need a really solid post , dug probably 1.2mtres or more into the ground , to not flex with a 100kg person on the hammock . If you've ever seen a farmers fence , with a really solid 'stay' added at the gate end , you may have seen how much they drop over the years , and that's only with a 25kg gate hanging on it , a solid 'stay' , and a long fence the other side to try and keep the balance .