@Uyenvy Le covered what you need wonderfully. We just finished building our place and I would add: - points for fairy lights or party festoon lights - we put low wattage low level lights in hallways and toilets so overnight guests can find their way and/or you can go to the loo in the middle of the night without switching the main light on. - only use LED spotlights outside where you think you need it for security. An MCG style floodlight does not create a nice ambience at a party. - a light for when you are BBQing outside - you don't want the colour of the meat to match the night sky all because you couldn't see properly. - points in cupboards for charging things like cordless vacs, robot vacs. - get those powerpoints that have a built in USB cable attachment. Make sure they go everywhere people dump their phone, including bedside tables. - consider loads of dimmers so you can crank it up if you are say, cleaning, but can keep it soft the rest of the time. - roughly plan where you will put your furniture and think about where you would sit and read a book or mag for lamps. Floor lamps look amazing - don't forget power to your kitchen island. - don't just stick heaps of downlights in a grid pattern - you aren't a convenience store :) We found that lighting suppliers and builders tend to want to overlight the spaces. - Consider how you can bounce light around the room rather than just point it straight down. For instance -a pitched ceiling or a wall. - pick some beautiful feature lights asap (whether they be wall or pendant) for certain spots - island, over the coffee table, bedrooms, powder room, covered outdoor area? Then adjust your downlights accordingly. - don't forget LED strip lighting for under shelves or joinery. Some people like led strips at the bottom of the kitchen cupboards but remember that may just be lighting up the dirt and dropped food! - don't forget fans. they can come with an led light kit but they are bright and they do not dim! You need to plan the relationship between fans and any feature hanging lighting carefully. You also need to consider fan effectiveness and position accordingly. And lastly, do your switching plan as @Uyenvy Le said. I did mine in 5 minutes in front of the electrician and botched it. Try to walk around the house, imagining where you would enter and exit, where you would stand if for instance, you were cooking and there wasn't enough light. Choose positions for that. Don't forget the location of two way switches. Good luck!

Yes Jacqueline, we are in Qld, and at the moment, the humidity is stifling. Not much breeze til late afternoon for months and we're not going to have air con in for at least the first Summer. I get those fans don't work for you but builder hasn't batted an eyelid, ha ha! I must admit, I don't love obstructing the kitchen pendants but I have small kids and our dining table is a homework space, crafting bay, meeting point with friends for morning teas, etc, not just a dinner table, so it's imperative we have a fan somewhere in this space. We currently have the same layout of dining, living, kitchen and there is just one fan between the dining and living and it does absolutely nothing for anyone in either of those rooms (I currently have two pedestals blaring, ha ha!), so it was high on my list to amend...somehow! As for the lights, I'm glad you have confidence in Beacon. I wasn't sure how much of their advice centres on design vs functional layout of lighting. I think your idea of many dimmers is great! I had requested it already for master and MPR (front lounge area) but wondered if I would be being pedantic seeing them elsewhere. But I think it would be great to be able to dim the lights in the living area as you're winding down for the evening, maybe reading a book or just creating some atmosphere. Thanks for your input.

Just wondering if anyone knows where these pendant lights are from? Although they are pictured in the Freedom Kitchen, I contacted Freedom and they aren't from there..... would love to know if anyone has seen them before

Well, I had a structural engineer come to the house yesterday at a cost of $600. I thought I would get drawings or something for that price but this is what he said.....(oh, before his visit, I cute into some of the plaster of the dividing wall between kitchen and lounge and the brick wall goes all the way along the wall). Structural engineer said that the wall is load bearing because he think that it provids support the support rafters (or what the horizontal beams that are at the bottom of the cathedral ceiling). Those horizontal beams that go across the house (each one from back to front of house) and partly supported by the brick dviding wall. He said that if I totally removed the overhead walkway, I would still need to leave a post or some of the brick on either side of the current dividing wall , as well as a support beam between them. He said I could cut out a window into the wall, but the bigger the window the bigger the horizontal support beam would be required. He said he didnt like working with brick because it was not like timber etc, where you can calculate what load it takes. He said there can be a lot of variation in a brick wall. He said that I should contact a building designer (someone who can give an idea of design whilst also consdiering loads and being able to draw plans...he said normally, those people will ask his advice on something). I hate tryin to do renos, because you can spend a lot of money and not really get much from it, and also go in circles about knowing who is the best person to contact. I know I do need someone to help give me an idea of design, but someone who also takes into consideration comparative costs including structural elements/loads etc. When I said to him ..so I shouldnt see an architect, he said that he often sees things from architects with no technical drawings...just design only. I really would like to be able to see the view at the back from anyway in the house, but I am a little bit reluctant to move plumbing, as I imagine with a concrete floor, the costs will start to rise significantly if plumbing has to be moved. I tend to spend most of my sitting outside time, at the back of the house, looking at the lake...even though there is only 1.5metres from the back of my property to public land (and that I have to put fencing up there to keep my dogs in). It is only me and my dogs at the place, but I do want to make sure that any changes that i make are family friendly and AirBnB friendly. The exisitng laundry seems to have heaps of wasted space in it and because the current windown is so high in it, it seems to be very segregated from the outside pool and not in the best place. I dont know what to do with this place.