Whatever you do never plant a gum! They have no place in suburban areas! The sooner the council realises that these trees kill people the better! We have had two gum trees fall on the back of our house now, one in 2012 and one in 2014. We are so lucky that myself, my husband, three children, three dogs, five Guinea pigs, two parrots and one bearded dragon were not injured. It's just a miracle not once but twice! I still don't know how we escaped unharmed. The gums do not have a stable root system and they grow very shallow, they get to the point where they just fall over. And the scary thing is they fall silently. They are not called 'Widow Makers' in the bush for no reason. I like the Tuckeroo tree, not sure of scientific name. They grow with a straight trunk and keep their foliage in a straight and symmetrical line along the bottom and grow hiding their branches. Essentially they look like a large mushroom. They are green all year too. I think they get to about 6 metre or ten if they have to reach for the sun.

the floor, the wall niche and the choice of colours makes the room look light, airy and fresh

Mine has a sink, dishwasher, and pull out wastebins. All good. What I should have done was insist on more cutlery drawers and some pot drawers instead of under bench cupboards. Not a fan of underbench microwaves so didnt ask for one.

chookchook2 - we have linoleum in our kitchen. 10 years on, still looks great, easy to clean, forgiving underfoot and dropped items don't always break :) Love it so much, we will be using it throughout our new beach house (except bathrooms). Try searching Forbo Marmoleum - the colours alone are eye candy, and you may find a link to a state rep.