Where is north in this photo? It looks to me as though the area in question is fairly shaded so a lot of the above options wont work if the area is on the southern side of the home, especially because of the winter shade. The space gets afternoon sun - in summer or winter? There are shadows from trees - are these deciduous or evergreen? Clay can vary enormously from being plasticine like to clay with rocks or stones in it. This will have an enormous bearing on the plants that you can use, precluding plants like westringias that require very good drainage. A plant that is as tough as old boots that will grow in both sun and shade [with some sunlight during the day] is Buxus microphylla var japonica varieties, while Aucuba japonica [Gold dust plant] or even some of the native lomandra grasses would work well. The first two can be grown as a hedge with the latter choosing a variety that you like [ there are so many], but have the plants all the same - don't mix them up. These will all grow in some shade, will grow in clay as well if it isn't too poorly drained. It does appear as though the area is sloping ever so slightly away from the house which is good. But I would steer clear of paving - unless its needed for access etc, it will look patchy and pointless - use plants instead to make your picture - its far more sustainable. Alison

That looks like it. Some call it crazy paving. It usually gets laid over compacted paving sand/s. The joins between each flagstone are usually concrete with the edges concreted so it stays in place. I have seen some with sand between the joins which also looks good. New sandstone from Gosford Quarries looks superb but is expensive. (its a great product!). I'd look for some second hand stuff on Ebay/Gumtree/etc.

Sandra B/LegendaryFlame/MBDesign/Girlguides: thank you for the fence endorsement. It's been oiled again since that photo, so matches more closely to front pillars. I agree that we need to paint the side room a darker colour. I think based on all these comments I'll do the protruding front panel the dark grey of the roof (MBDesign, fyi, roof is brand new) and the side room the mid range grey that the the protruding front panel is now. Remainder of house remains the white grey. CP - I know what you mean with the fence being too imposing. If I had my time again I'd make the height lower. But great idea to plant something on the street side of the fence to soften it. I'll look into that. It feels like spring is almost in the air in Sydney - so time for the nursery's :) Sandra B: I'm not sure what you mean with the bit near the front door. Do you mean painting around the window above the entry? (per photo attached above)? Thanks again everyone: certainly made my thinking clearer having this input. Just need to decide on that panel between upstairs and downstairs window now.

No single chairs (yet). The blue lounges are 100cm deep by approx 198cm long. I did place them adjacent one another to see if I could have that configuration but the one against the external wall extended past the door opening and it just didn't look right. So I presumed a cnr sofa with the short side against the external wall or sofa with chaise would probably be the best option. It is possible that I could get a 2 seater but would have the challenge to make sure it complemented the three seater rather than clash. There appears to be more choices for rhf sofas than lhf.