In a previous post on this discussion forum I described my laundry bin...a 30L cardboard barrel which I lined with an old shower curtain and decorated still reigns supreme on the lid of my top loder, Nobody knows what it is and its a never ending source of admiration from an artistic angle. Lacking floor space the only option was to sit it up there or out on the veranda.It works as a cat toy too. It has, however, acquired some vents in the lid since some of my art shirts are often a bit oily and I learnt that some oils tend to self combist in enclosed spaces and can be the cause of house fires. Sometimes hiding things in plain sight is a good option. With Tribbletrouble45142k7Trek...Your baskets sound pretty...why hide such nice functional souvenits!

I am well educated in sleep science & assess sleep as part of mental health assessments. Good on you Vy (2017) re CCI www. I usually find people want to tell me lots about their poor sleep. After I have learned about their mental, physical health & lifestyle I offer advice to improve their sleep IF they want to know. Mixed results. Why? It is rare that people want to address their lifestyle, not least alcohol use. Most assume there is a pill available. I am not a prescriber so I don't have to enter that discussion. Why am I writing about this in Houzz? Bedroom design. Bedrooms are only for sleep, intimacy changing your clothes. Thus keep them plain, simple & DARK. Stop making them full of all the light you can get (small windows please for ventilation & easily darkened at night). Bedrooms are not for entertainment including all forms of media (Yes sleep apps are great) & family parties. Blue light in the 60 mins before sleep reduces melatonin by 50% speeding up dementia, cancer depression, anxiety, etc . Huge rooms are a waste of money since they only for 8 hours of sleep, at night, in the dark. The best news of all: increase anti-carcinogen, & reduce dementia onset activities, that only happen at NIGHT, in the DARK when you are ASLEEP for 8 hours. Sorry shift workers. Learn about this.

"Architect-designed houses are not accessible to all." This is a myth championed by the building industry. Alternatively, why not focus on the key benefits architects bring to a project. Here are a few for you: • Appoint an architect to your project and you’ll gain a home designed for the way you want to live.The alternative is a builder-designed home that suits what the builder is used to building. Quality builders will ask for plans and specifications to be thoroughly documented so that they can go ahead and do what they do best, which is build. Working out with the owner what you’re going to build and why is the architect’s role. • An architect manages planning approvals. This process is complex, often arbitrarily applied by many Councils, fraught with pitfalls for the novice and is ramped up every year with new hoops to jump. If you want a professional on your side who knows the territory, will go in to bat for you and will forge a way through this minefield, you need an architect. • If you’d prefer to put the works to tender to a number of builders rather than having to accept the quote of the builder you started the process with, you need an architect. • If you’d prefer to protect yourself with a proper, architect-managed ABIC contract that works equally for both parties and is legally enforceable, you need an architect. • An architect will minimise costly changes during construction as he or she will produce a proper level of drawings (expect 20 x A3 pages for a new home, rather than the 1-2 pages you’ll receive from a drafting service.). The reasons for this are that you have on paper exactly what you want to build. Without this, you are entering a contract with a builder with none of the details resolved. You wouldn’t do that if you were buying a house, so why do it when spending an equally significant amount of money? Unfortunately, some builders see this approach as an opportunity to happily accept constant changes from ‘project managing’ owners because it’s just another variation that he can charge for. The longer he is there, the better for his margins, particularly when there’s no contract to speak of. Finally, an architect is a specialist with a professional duty of care, irrespective of financial gain. In other words, they’re there to support and protect you, without benefit to themselves. No one else in the building industry can provide this.

Flip up and bi-fold are indeed "all or nothing" options that can be tricky to screen too. Both also rely heavily on well-engineered operating mechanisms and as such come with increased potential for problems. I once stayed in a house on North Stradbroke Island which had a large flip up gas strut supported timber framed window over the north facing kitchen sink with views to Cape Moreton. (I now wish I had a photo to share, but sadly I was too much in the moment to take any.) Standing at the sink, looking north over the Coral Sea with Humpback whales breaching in the distance was one of those forever moments. Plus, our elevated situation seemed to reduce the number of insects that came through the unscreenable window. In that case I wouldn't have compromised on spending to get that window out of the way. For just about every other context I would opt for a less complex, less costly, screenable, servery style window.