Timandra knows best, I believe, and has the experience to back her up. My comment is not plant-related, however. You have a front facade of door after door, and nowhere to go, except a narrow horizontal path. How about some front terraces, where you can burst out of one of those front rooms onto a sunny sitting area to have your morning coffee with a neighbor. Why not leave some doors open or change to glass, so the front terrace becomes an outdoor room, and extention of the interior space. How about a pedestrian walk out to the street, or over to the pictured tree, evergreen and plant bed, where you could have a shady terrace. Enjoy the outdoors, don't let your family become nature-deprived, with all the electronics that occupy our kids lives these days. Get them unplugged and outside - you too! You have a wonderful opportunity to achieve great things. Analyze first, then plan.

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

Sorry, but I'm not a huge fan of the revised floor plan either. It still ignores the fact that the fourth bedroom doesn't really operate as a bedroom, due to the sliding door, absence of a BIR and vast distance from the main bathroom. In terms of the changes to the living area, it's great that the front door now has line of sight to the living area / backyard. But, the kitchen seems to be awkwardly positioned, especially the location of the fridge. If you had a built-in study nook beside the fridge, it may work, but then you'd have to move the BIR in Bed 2 and it could end up quite a small bedroom. I'd be tempted to separate the kitchen and the pantry. I would put a galley style kitchen, with island bench, behind the theatre room wall, then leave a gap for the hallway to continue in a straight line and put the pantry in the "corner" created by the walls for Bed 3 and the garage. But, I'd still really encourage you to give further consideration to the plan from a liveability and, if it's an issue for you, saleability perspective. The plan you posted on Sunday seems like a better starting point to me. The three non-main bedrooms are grouped around the main bathroom. The theatre room leads off the living area, making it easier to use that space as a playroom for future children. And there seems to be ample room to navigate around the dining table.

the plants on the back fence will give good impact once grown. The rug is more of a pain. This would be a cleaners nightmare. Gives the area impact but not a suitable design choice near a pool. The mirror looks good but near a bbq you are always going to have to wipe the grease from off the mirror. The plant will also have to be removed once you start cooking. The chair is to close to the bbq and the fridge. So this would have to be moved to be able to work in this area or open the bar fridge fully. I do not mine any of the furniture but not a suitable out come for the area where the design seems not to be workable. Vision is important but design area must also be hassle free.