How funny. I just renovated (on a budget) my small kitchen and added exactly the slate look in tiles you have, though they are in fact porcelain. And I placed them throughout the house for continuity. The tiler asked if I was after a retro hippy look but it doesn't look like that at all. My cupboards were the same colour as yours and I utilised the bones of the kitchen and had the doors and Benchtops changed only. I also have plenty of light in the kitchen but chose white doors and as I was on a budget I chose granite look Benchtops, they are very serviceable and it looks great. The blue backsplash was the colour lift and here you could choose any colour to your liking. Basically the kitchen ended up with white cupboards and appliances other than cooktop, with the stainless cooktop and coloured splash back being the focal point. The paint colour are: whisper white walls, integra splashback, white ceiling and for increased contrast I used the same white above the splashback on the rear wall. I would consider painting out the brick but leaving the texture.

My piece of advice would be to make sure the plants you select can tolerate being around a pool. This will definitely be a 'splash zone' so any plant species that will get damaged or not cope with salty or chlorinated water. As an example, I have seen a beautiful row of Black Mondo Grass that suffered greatly from the pool water and died. Also be mindful of the size of plants you might be planting close to your pool. Plants with invasive roots or large palms can cause damage to the strucutre of your pool so their locations should be carefully considered. Good luck!

siriuskey, Yes, the courtyard is open to the sky (no roof over it), I assume this is what you mean by double story. Ref. below photos, I would love to get this look, especially the first and last photo, where you can see family living space from the first floor. I can't achieve this in my plan as it eats a lot of floor space upstairs. The referred plan (photos) has a very big void combining staircase, hallway and dining area. I know it is not easy with cooling and heating when you have such a big void. So, I explored a few ideas (with my limited knowledge on this topic) before achieving the current floorplan. I have also thought about, in my current plan, extending the void on the staircase to the dining area (it is more like L shape) but i wasn't sure if that makes any difference. keen to hear your thoughts.

You could try Wet & Forget on the driveway. You can buy it ready to use and attach it to a hose or buy a bottle that you dilute to use in a sprayer. I have used it and it works - slower than water blasting but it won’t damage driveway if it has some damage? I can’t quite tell from photo if that’s grass clippings/mulch or broken concrete on driveway? If you use it be careful not to spray garden bed. I live in FNQ and we planted seaside daisy - doesn’t need watering but it also won’t die from our wet season. It’s a ground over and spreads out beautifully in a courtyard area that’s get a lot of sun. Just needs a trim from time to time. I see you have Rio (purple green ground cover) which you could separate and plant down the path but it does like water. Maybe for the fence you could try attaching lattice to it and plant another passion fruit vine to help cover the whole fence. It does look like you need to get rid of some woody parts of the passion fruit. It’s a tough plant and will enjoy a bit of pruning. We had one that I thought had died last year and it has returned with no help from me. Be careful with the heliconias and gingers ... they can get out of control if you don’t stay on top of them. Anything tall will cover your fence but it will also cover the passionfruit vine which obviously loves the spot it’s in. Good luck!