Michelle, I'm not a builder but am building with hubby, a single storey limestone home. Our daughter built a two storey limestone home just down the road, that hubby also built for her and the extra foundations she had to install would be at least twice more than we have for our single storey, not to mention that there were allot of short walled founds leading off the perimeter of her home to assist in less likelihood of wall roll out and the inspector called it. Cost for you, will depend on whether you have adequate foundations to carry a second storey and usually that is never the case. All the lower walls will need double the support and it usually has to carry on down to the foundations, depending on whether you have a solid concrete slab or concrete stumps that are accessible. This would mean most of the plaster being removed and hoping that you find no nasty surprises as far as the condition of the existing frame in the home, the builder would as I mentioned, have to add structural supports to carry the second storey. Most often, second stories are built with a hardiplank type exterior and certainly not brickwork as you would then difinitely have to have extra foundations in for such a reno and you would have to start asking yourself if it isn't better to demolish as this type of reno can be extremely costly. You might be lucky but probably highly unlikely, to have adequate structional integrity to be able to add a second storey, without everything I have mentioned to be skipped in any way. I hazzard a guess that such a reno would cost you $250,000+ and maybe more. Would love to know what you finally decide to do and your builders estimate. Good luck. Cheers, Barbara

Different kitchen companies use different suppliers. Be it door panels to draw runners. Have a chat to a kitchen company or two that you're thinking of using. Some companies have budget standard hinges and runners as well as high end stuff. Decide on the quality standard rather than branding. Blum have high end and bog standard components for every budget. Polytec make door panels but not sure on the 'shaker' style. Laminex Industries also make panels, again not sure if they make a 'shaker' style.

A sliding door is just a big window, and if correctly built in (check if the glass is the correct sized for the door if a bit old) with the correct sized lintels this should not be a big problem as the loads would be transferred to the sides, allowing the door to slide easily. Silicon spray (being a Yachtie were we use this stuff everywhere), we now use silicone spray on all our windows in our 1930 home and the windows glide across with one finger before they used to tilt when trying to open them. I would place the door head up to line up with the others and one thing you might consider is placing a window seat, (rebate the bottom channels into the window seat) and have the window seat in and out, place a cushion over the entire seat, should be fantastic and if the deck is built, than no balustrade is required. If it is a stacker slider, i would do the seat for the entire length. So instead of looking a bit funny they will think it was supposed to be like that. We should all think outside the square more often. RAM

Colour choices! It’s pure insanity! I ended up going with Haymes Paint Nearly White 3 in their bass colour (so not mixing it in another base). If you want to go with Dulux then I hear that Grand Piano Half or Hog Bristle Half is also good. My only advice is choose up to 3-4 colours and that’s it. Any more, then it may be better to pay for a colour consultation with one of the big companies (which would give you a discount on paint anyway) and take the headache out of it all together!!