Hi dinkidi4, I'm dealing with the same thing right now. I did paint some of the walls white, which have been good for the time I've been here before doing the 'real' job, however, I don't want this really textured look from the bricks as there are too many walls. I'm about to try Dulux Acra tex on a wall to see if it gives a smoother bagged finish. So still showing the brick lines but not so rough. I'll show photos of the original bricks. Dark, very textured with lots of holes and missing bits of brick as well as deep grout grooves. Such a hard decision - cost and I don't want to make it a flat boring plasterboard house. I have extremely high cathedral ceilings so not a cheap job to plaster either. Excuse the white box - I was playing with it to look at removing arches. Any thing else you've found out since would be a great help

Twould never say that. Saying it is just nice to be. would not want to be the alternative would you? Happy to be with aussies, and India Indians, and Americans, all of them, and europeans, and Afrikanis, and Asians, and most of all Polarites! If I left anyone out forgive me, this is wearing me out. Just for the roos on board. brewhaha! Poor little aussie op, she did not ask for this.

Hi Kathy, so thrilled to hear my comments got you started thinking of the big picture, it has been a pleasure working with this. When you are starting totally from scratch like this it is easy to become too close to the issues and the brain becomes overloaded so you can't see the woods for the trees. I think this is also a classic example of why I always tell people to live in a house for a year before beginning to decorate, as hard as it is to be patient and wait, you do need to get the feel for a house and relate your lifestyle to it. I do like your idea of splitting the room into two areas, the room looks big enough to give you this option, and to me intimate spaces within a room create a more welcoming and homely feel. When you have a good idea of the furniture you would like, put what you have in the room and measure anything else before you buy it, use newspaper or cardboard boxes the size of the pieces and put them around the room to ensure you are going to get the desired result. It can be so easy to over or under estimate just how much space furniture will take up. Sorry the green lounge in the study didn't work out, but glad this has helped you see options. Just my personal opinion, one of my joeys had a lovely old grandfather clock in her lounge room and while it was a beautiful piece of furniture to look at, I just found it a little on the intrusive side - with its constant chiming it just didn't make the room feel relaxing, one was just so aware of the passing of time. Of course this can be advantageous when certain rellies visit. She ended up moving hers to her entrance foyer where it was a stand out feature and the lounge room became so much more relaxing. Love to see some photos of your landscaping.

That looks fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. I had considered the access via the garage to the house via the laundry or through the workshop/bedroom. It came up as an idea from a prospective buyer when I had the house on the market a couple of years ago as he had 4 children. I changed my mind about selling in the end and figured while I was doing the kitchen I would have a chippie put up the wall and door at the same time. Don't need another bedroom myself but it could be a "man-cave" or study instead of the current use as storage area for "stuff" and maybe an advantage later for any new buyer. The pantry on the other side looks interesting but would mean losing the larger island wouldn't it? Food for thought. I am glad you think the existing cabinetry could be re-used as that was my plan. How much should I allocate for a reno as a general rule? A