Finishing painting the outside of the house in white. The easier part got completed but the upstairs dormers didn't get done due too either too hot weather, rain or too windy. Husband also thinking other things were more important. When will be the right time? Maybe eastertime or before winter. Hopfully a lot cooler weather.

As you are only looking for ideas perhaps a starting point would be a modern, square style of entrance that you could get ideas from. I couldn't find what I wanted exactly for a photo, but I think if you took points from this photo and adjust to your budget it might suit?? Eg. I think if you can get a nice wide door with a bit of glass on either side, it would really present well. Raising the height of the concrete at the front door with decking tiles or stone tiles depending on your style could really enhance. Concrete pavers you could even make yourself! They can be smaller or larger and if scaled right to the proportions of the house can make it a little more formal. As you have the driveway on the side, I would put a screen on the left and emphasise the left column making a feature of it as in the picture. The column on the right does not align with the entrance, I would not emphasise that column? But perhaps hard to gauge from one photo. If you went for wood this might be an idea.

I'd agree with adding darker colours to the mix... if reupholstering things is not in the budget just by adding chocolate, charcoal or navy blue to the chair and bedding will help. Add some rougher textures, chunky knits, pin stripes, vintage linen and right on trend velvet.... Adairs have a sale for another couple of days on their linen and other products https://www.adairs.com.au/search/?q=Vintage+washed+linen Accessories to consider are things made of dark marble, timbers, geometric shapes and gold... A bold feature wall could give some mood to the room again in the above colours.

Hi Wendan, we recently got double glazing installed to replace large sliding doors and windows. In some cases some noise is now more noticeable. I queried the installer and he said it happens a bit. The glass changes the type of noise that enters the house due to frequency. For example, I almost never hear our neighbours loud TV any more, but sometimes notice low pitch traffic noise from further away (less ambient noise to dull the hum). There is apparently specific double glazing for noise reduction, which wasn't something we considered when we were retrofitting, but possibly would've been good to know (two points in the house seem to be more affected by this, rather than the whole place). The other thing I'll mention is the frames. After lots of research we decided to get sliding units, essentially replacing like for like style. We had trouble trying to work out why casement style provided better thermal properties, other than being told the seal is better. The main difference now appears to be in the design/manufacture. Casements come as a complete unit, no gaps in the frame. Sliders come in two pieces with windows inserted into the frame in situ. This results in small air gaps between the frame and window due to the need for wiggle room. Annoying that we didn't find this out until after the event, seems like a bit of a flaw. Overall though, the glazing seems better than the almost 30yo bog standard stuff we previously had. Looking forward to summer with low-e glass and hopefully less heat entering the house.