Nothing like the beach! This place is great, unfortunately shore dumpers one end and flat as a lake at the other - but still great fun. Lots of bush walks and a lovely waterfall to walk to which has a number of water holes and a swing rope which the kids love.

Yes - there are these amazing options to have an 'electric pool cover' with a slat arrangement that allows you to virtually walk on it. Do a google search...'pool covers electric'... I've no idea on how much they cost... Here's some pics. Not sure if irregular shapes make this too challenging... Our pool experience... We are needing to change a few things with our pool already - wish we had paid more attention to the pipes and filtration... (Having to potentially move them as they are too shallow and in 'awkward spot'... Extra $ and I'm so worried it may cause issues for us... Even the location of the concrete slab for the pump... Wish we had thought about overall picture... If I was buying a car for $70k, I would have done more research, but somehow we got carried away with idea that we could have a pool for summer, and yet reality is that it's ready for the 'next summer'... Budget plan (original) was around $30-40k, but I guess it's like building a house... Plus it's all a big learning experience...

@Emma I, What you're suggesting is a pretty bold move and irrespective of whether you are permitted to do it in the end by your respective shire and other authorities, I can't stree enough that for all the money you are thinking of spending on this project and the lengths to which you are intending to go with removing windows, dig a huge hole for the pool etc... that you use some of your finances to employ an architect as suggested by EmileECLC to make sure that this massive transformation becomes everything you dream it will be!! You must be absolutely sure of regulations surrounding pools like mentioned by mazgardiner about not being able to directly enter a pool from the house for example. Hubby and I are building our own home and we decided to have an indoor pool. We were originally having a sliding door leading outside of the pool, only to find that we were not permitted to have this access from the pool outside and I expect it was the sliding door, as with mazgardiner that was the issue, as it would be far more difficult to make it a self closing and lockable door. Fortunately we had already decided to change the slider to an awning window instead and just as well. The access into the pool from inside the home is a hinged door with a self closing mechanism and has the handle positioned at 1.5m from the floor. Furthermore, we were told by the window manufacturers, that any glass near a pool area had to be safety glass by law, so your stacker doors or any other windows that form part of the new pool area, will need to be upgraded and be much more expensive just so you know, about double the cost of a standard window. Another safety feature with our awning windows was that the wind out chain could only open to a maximum of 100mm, again law, just like the bars in a safety fence. Our building inspector tried to tell us they would not be allowed and that we would have to have external bars fitted and have the windows permanently screwed shut but further contact with our state building commission deemed the 100mm gap to be safe and adequate. Don't just accept something that seems wrong, if need be, take it higher as we did and succeeded, so again another reason to have a professional helping you through the maze of regulations.

Wish i found this Q &A before. So many beautiful people advising and sharing here! I am Repainting Tropical Queenslander with dark red and orangy timber floors and this thread is so helpful. I painted Whisper white and it is throwing so much Green it makes me so sad I am going to repaint. I get loads of tropical sun in the north facing - with eastern morning sunlight. Was just about to go and buy Natural White just to cover it. Do you think it will be too dull/warm a colour. I do like a fresh feel and contrasting with vivid white decorative trims. The whisper white looks nice For a while in the morning while the morning sunlight throws read up onto it but then it returns to a green