Hi I have a Victorian, Jarrah floor in Satin finish. Skirts dado picture rail and wood in An off white. Colour under the Dado is a burgundy. Used about a dozen or more sample pots looking for the right shade.. So many came out brown or purple. I settled on Dulux Forest Fruits Berry. Really happy with it. Solver paints have a heritage colour card.. There are lots of choices of reproduction colours giving you heritage style and build decade range so you can be colour authentic to the build. Hope this helps!

Hi Vick, We are currently in the planning stage of knocking down our house and we have engaged with an architect who is pretty good. Let me know if you want her details. TC

Sounds like this house may be a money pit and you are just making new of existing problems and not in the end getting a better result. If the house was in good order and you only needed to knock out say a wall or two to open up the space. Or also possibly replacing the kitchen and bathroom and finally giving the house a fresh coat of paint (inside and out). It may be work considering and speaking to a builder and bathroom/kitchen designer to get prices. But if the house needs much more than this it may be better to look at demolition, (see a builder about this) then rebuilding a prefab or kit home to suit your current and future needs. From my experience any old home that needs major maintenance work completed and also room reconfiguring is a much more expensive project to take on then building something new from scratch. If you do decide to go down the building road, then I suggest working with a good builder who has great communication skills and pick a knowledgeable interior designer that does more than pick paint and tile colours. You need a designer who has a rough idea, (based on past experience and similar projects in your area) of what things cost. Set them a reasonable budget and get them to pull together ideals and concept drawings so your builder can give you a pretty good ball park cost. You can alway pass then next stage onto a draftsman if its not to complicated and work with both the designer and builder to find the correct balance to meet you personal style and a budget.

Hi Freddy Sloping blocks are not a big deal but there are going to be a couple of things that are going to affect your budget. The flatter you want your layout (ie no step downs) the more money you are going to sink into retaining / cutting / filling. Your designer will need to work on this to give the best outcome, but keep in mind that you ARE going to sink some dollars into earthworks that you will never see the value of, just to get it ready to build. Secondly, find a good local engineer and have a natter about the block. Engineers will usually design to a certain standard, but we often exceed this as it means less dramas down the track both for the client and the builder. For example, footing sizes and reo set outs. We are doing an extension at present on a sloping block and the footings and retaining are deeper and wider than what was called for, the mass brick retaining has been converted to solid concrete and we have extra reinforcement in it all so it doesn't move. Not everyone does it, because it costs a little extra. The above is where concrete suppliers and builders cut corners if they are being nailed on a price, and the result can often be cracks and movement down the track. We would advise a good engineer and attention to the retaining.... then the build will be straight forward.... Cheers