@urj123, Cricky!!! I knew you were going to ask that, after I looked at the sample I had that was full strength ha-ha.....AND I re-read you post and you wrote quite clearly 1/4 strength!!! I will return to the store, AGAIN, ha-ha and ask for 1/4 strength. All jokes aside, I think 1/4 will probably be real nice, as I didn't dislike the full strength but too creamy for the ceiling. My daughter actually painted all her ceilings the same colour as her walls with Hog Bristle but all the experts seem to say that a ceiling should be white or at least traditionally its always been white and I like the look of that too. I won't be back in town until next week but I'll keep in touch when I have the sample in my hand. Hubby and I are hay contractors and are at our most busy time being in tractors for many long hours but we are nearing the end and then I can take a breath and turn my focus back onto the home. Actually have 80mtrs of edging or capping tiles around the veranda to do and then the same amount of concreting to do on the 1.8m wide veranda and then we can get the colourbond roof on the house and during the cooler months, we can start to lay the limestone bricks, so there's plenty to do on the home!!! I have photo's attached in an earlier post. Best get to bed, more hay baling to do tomorrow. Cheers, Barbara

You have a lot of great features included that aren't replicated in modern houses due to costs. The semi circular stairs, thats wow right there! ^^petapea is spot on by the way! I'm currently working on plans for a house that was rendered in 2006. It has the wow factor; WOW that's bland as bat sh!t.... We're adding things like a bay window, new porch in painted timber and some masonry back to make it look good again. Then the new landscaping will really lift it! You could render garage facade and paint it, pressure clean the rest and do those maintenance jobs like cracked flooring, leaking gutters etc. The stairs are too narrow to be any use so widen them up to 1000-1200 wide. I'd spend more on landscaping (which includes fences/letter box/etc).

I went through that last year. And, whatever you end up using, the Ikea kitchen planner is a great help in working through choices, layout etc. I can recommend IKEA cupboards, which I got in two colours (antique white and a light ash) - and their installation is even cheaper if you put the cupboards together yourself (even doing the frames for a carpenter is well worth it). The drawers and drawers inside drawers are excellent. I also had to use Kaboodle from Bunnings, as I wanted a corner pantry - it's a system that's also worth considering - my pantry is well made and goes well with the other cupboards. I didn't use IKea for benchtops and splashbacks, as my carpenter had a supplier from whom he could stuff wholesale, which cut costs as well. Twelve months on, I'm still very happy with the kitchen, the quality of cupboards etc.

i have not looked into the splashback pricing yet, as i am still stuck onto the colour fr the cabinets. we have to decide it tonight. I have been looking at warm whites, as suggested earlier in the thread. Antique white USA in 1/4 strength i think will go with the grey colored stone. I have read tht in full strength it throws cream tones. NOt sure if this colour scheme will work. i still have to decide the wall colours for the kitchen. We have finalised hog bristle1/4 for the living area with natural white for ceiling n trim.