The first thing we noticed was the beautiful light created by the back window and the blue curtains either side of it. What a fantastic room!

@Tribble - the situation is the same in Em Bee's part of the world as in ours. Aging demographic, lots of immigration and also internal migration, and of course offshore buying. But where I live, the issue isn't so much competition, as the inability of builders/developers to read the market. Our own builder (small builder, one project at a time, some of them industrial, not housing) told us that the two-story houses in our town were simply not selling that quickly, whereas the one-story houses were listed and gone. (He sold us our house before he tore down the old one, and sold the other house on the block about 3/4 of the way through the build and before it was ever listed. The two story house around the corner from us was on the market for 8 months). I'm not a huge fan of government intervention in housing (I saw public housing in the UK and that was not a good thing) but I do think strong regulation on foreign property buyers is appropriate. That said, I also think the builders need to get their heads together and recognize that there's a boomer population that has a bit of money and wants something different than the bog-standard two-storey box house. Time for the developers to catch up. Okay, sorry, second rant for the day.

Hi Jason, Thanks for your message - my necks getting there, thank you. I think Monument Grey would look nice on the roof tiles and provide a more contemporary feel to the home without changing the pitch of the roof on the garage. Maybe if there was budget the entrance porch could be changed from an archway to a square entrance to make it look less Mediterranean. If there was budget to change to roof pitch on the entrance then I'd consider something more square, otherwise removing the archway would be a good start. With the garage doors- I'd consider replacing or painting them black and adding something different to the columns in front of the garage door such as slate/stone for some texture. If the entrance could be squared off then maybe also consider some stone cladding here in grey/slate too. With the big white walls behind the garage I don't think the black garage doors and monument roof would look too dark. If the roof tiles were in great shape you might consider getting them sealed and sprayed to save some money. Good Luck!

My gut feeling , as a complete amateur , is that you have 1 room too many crammed in to that space . Lose 1 bedroom , or the Alfresco , or cut down the front lounge and just call it a study . Or add a couple of metres to the end . As far as 2 passages , you effectively have 1 toilet , and the 1 in the ensuite . By adding that seperate passage and trying to create an illussion of a seperate bedroom wing , as soon as someone needs to use the toilet , you spoil that illusssion . That is most likely to be your closer friends . So you are losing 8 metres by 1.2mtrs to impress people you don't know ? There will still be 4 or 5 doors either side down your main passage , just suck it up , have a couple more down the left side , it then is way easier to find the WC , you can add to a couyple of bedrooms and bath , OR realign a bit so that you can pick up an extra metre on the right side of the passage , and guess what that does -- yes , hey presto , a bigger WIR , maybe a bigger pantry if you want , a bigger dining , maybe even a bigger alfresco . You said about the easement , but thinking a bit outside the box , if you move the alfresco to that side of the house , MAYBE you can have an open pergola or even part clear covered , near or up to the boundary -- I have no idea on your rules , and what is classed as permanent structure , but just a thought .