They still look too high to me. Normally, the pictures should be roughly 20 to 25 cm above the sofa - there are exceptions, but you don't want the pictures much above normal eye height. That said, the two pictures together may be a bit large to go over that sofa. This link might be useful: http://www.utrdecorating.com/blog/deco-101-art-above-a-sofa/

part of the builders price includes insurance for the workers and the materials and we aarrnged for our builder to employ our electrician and plumber and then we paid the wages direct without the builders' percentage...your labour costs may be cheaper but will your workers be properly insured and what about the costs for the concrete and all the materials for the tiler that the builder may be able to source much more cheaply than you or your family and, for the size of the house that you've asked about in your other posts, you'll need a team of concretors to manage a slab that big...why not ask the builder what discount he'll give for you to supply the slab...the tiler isn't such an issue as it's decoration after the builder has finished most of the work but will your tiler do all the wall prep and arrange waterproofing and the plumber to work around your tiler? the only way to find out for sure is to ask the builder

executing Owner Builder projects these days really is consolidated to projects that can be self funded - banks and building surveyors are becoming increasingly cautious when it comes to owner builder projects and fair enough too...... Experience/knowledge aside, unless you are retired, on long service leave or have a passive income and have money in the bank, it's questionable whether you'll overall save money when you factor your own time and risk into it.....after helping several clients with owner builds, and doing a couple of my own, (& I know what I'm doing) my opinion of this approach has shifted significantly over the past 15 years or so..........as a general pattern, it starts off as exciting, but the projects are harder to finish, and when the money runs out there's a big risk of being caught in no man's land where you've spend more than anticipated, the jobs unfinished but you need more money to finish it properly to either re-finance of release funds somehow...... My advice (for mental health!) is to approach these projects and engaged with this industry as professionally as possible with clear packaged proposals. Sure build some flexibility into the contract say for choices on finishes etc, but I'd now confidently advise people the best approach for construction projects, to minimise risk and for a most smooth process, is to "front end" investment in comprehensive design, documentation & specification that can then be clearly packaged/presented to a (reputable) builder who can then fix the quote and execute the construction stage far more effectively and efficiently than someone "having a go piecing it all together for the first time", regardless of whether you may have some close industry contacts as support.... Best of luck! Cheers PD :)

Thanks for your response Paul. I'll address those concerns you raised to give a better understanding of what we're wanting. Our family is of 5, myself and hubby, our teenage daughter and two toddlers. We live and farm on the property that we will build on. We are out of town, so large pantry with a lot of storage is a necessity. We do a lot of entertaining and also have family stay from out of town so like having a good amount of space and easy access for those visiting to make themselves at home. In regards to Master Bedroom, we prefer to be close to children as we have a child with health concerns that we have to be up for multiple times a night, it works best for us to have quick access. We also like having all bedrooms in the same zone of the house so that the private areas of the house are a bit separate to the rest. With the Kitchen bench along the North, we're happy with this design to have windows opening up to the deck, makes for easy outside serving and cleaning up. Not so concerned with it looking outdated if it serves us well. We also prefer to have the more bench space and storage underneath as we need it. In regards to the dogleg, yes that bothers me as well. We don't want to have to pass through the second lounge to access other rooms as we want to keep the potential for it being a guest bedroom for visiting family when necessary. As mentioned before, we also quite like the idea of the hall that helps differentiate the 'public' area of the house to the private bedrooms but I agree the amount of hall we have is not an efficient use of space. Not sure what to do about that. I agree, we need some professional help, not sure where to start with that.