love your Jarrah floors with grey..have you considered paving paint as the cheapest thin grey coloured flooring??

Hi Chris The cheapest option is Grind & Seal, but we usually recommend Mechanically Polished Concrete for inside of a home. This is by far a better option, if you were to go for a Matte or Satin finish it is less expensive than a higher gloss finish. Mechanically Polished Concrete does not have a top coat sealer requiring drying and curing time and does not need re-applying in the future which will save time and money in the long run. Because Polished Concrete does not require drying or curing time it can be used as soon as the process is completed unlike the Grind & Seal option. All floors are slippery when wet, a non slip agent can be added to a top coat sealer which would be the Grind & Seal method which we do apply in a shower area if there is not a shower base. Polished Concrete in Matte and Satin finish does have a very good slip rating, has no grout lines as with tiled floors where dust can get trapped therefore it is a wonderful easy to clean flooring solution. Hope this helps, I have provided some details regarding the 2 main processes below There are 2 different finishing processes / methods that are commonly called Polished Concrete, they are very different so it is important that you know the difference & which process/method you want and which is being used on your concrete Polished Concrete - 12 to 17+ step process During this process the concrete is ground to the desired level of stone exposure. After grinding the concrete surface, the Polished Concrete process begins. This process has a densifier applied in multiple stages that is absorbed into the concrete which hardens and strengthens the concrete. A Polished Concrete Floor is Polished in Multiple stages in a Refining Process using diamond tooling & resin pads. A penetrating sealer is applied in the final buffing stage to complete the process The "Polished Concrete" process has "NO TOP COAT SEALER" applied therefore there is no drying or curing time required so your space can be used as soon as the process is completed Grind & Seal (a 3 to 4 step process) This is NOT Polished Concrete. Grind & Seal is often referred to as Polished Concrete, this is the cheaper substitute that gives a "Polished Concrete Look" With the Grind & Seal method the concrete is ground to the desired level of stone exposure and a TOP Coat Sealer is applied such as water based, solvent based, urethane, acrylic or epoxy requiring 5-7 days to dry & cure

Few things 1. Still not enough space in the store for a bathrub. 2. I will loose the storage space, storage is very important with growing kids, this way i will have a nice big store room to store. 3. Cost and risk - to run drain i need to cut a lot of concrete and you dont know if there are beams underneath, cutting the concrete slab all the way to store is like cutting the the house by half. There is same risk involved when i remove that single brick wall for the new bathroom,. but i am planning to do another wall first then remove this. 4. Upstairs bathroom is big enough to accommodate all - its a 2030 x 3600 in size 5. The hot and cold water coming behind the wall(bedroom1) where i put the new bathrooms, so just need to drill it through the brick. I know either way i have to cut a lot, one is to cut the concrete slab, other is to remove a brick wall. I thought about putting one outside, but then i have to involve a surveyor, council etc. to much time consuming that way.

Pop over to Pintrest and search “Pleached trees with hedge underneath”, I suspect this is the look your landscaper is looking for. Eg below. Plenty of examples of trees planted amongst hedges. Rather than ornamental pears, have a look at grafted/weeping/standard grevilleas. They fit with your native hedge and will have similar water and food requirements plus they give you some height straight away. And have foliage all year around.