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Hi Italian girl, with your natural white walls what colour did you end up doing your ceiling and skirting? Also is the natural white throwing any yellow at all. I also have an open plan downstairs with a grey concrete floor tile. We are using malay grey on our fireplace and am struggling with choosing the right white for the walls. Was thinking of going with Snowy Mountains but might try natural white after seeing yours.

Hi all, Sorry for the slow replies and thanks for the input so far. From what I've read online a re-inforced besser block wall should be about $600 p/sqm including footings in Sydney (Hornsby shire council area). Given the wall is 1m x 10m it should be let's say $7k including design and DA or am I way off? I'd also need to dispose of the current wall + footings but I could probably give the blocks away. The paved area is about 40sqm. Would it be safe to assume $200 p/sqm for concrete base, paver supply (travertine) and install (coping and surrounds)? So the wall and and paving would cost let's say $16k + fencing + cladding. This isn't too bad considering how much better it would look and the value it would add to the house. I like the flexibility the besser would give - render, cladding etc are all options. I'm not sure how bad it is structurally it just has a couple of spots where I can see the blocks have pulled apart over time. Below are some pictures of the bad spots. Also looking at the Amber website it says the maximum courses is maximum non reinforced wall height of 972mm (6 courses). It looks like my wall is actually 7 courses un-reinforced. The wall and pool was built back in 2003. I definitely think planting in front of the wall would help, as would removing the lights but I'm in two minds about whether to bite the bullet and do it properly or just hide it.

Can you look at similar homes in the area? Tesselated tiles were definitely appropriate then, but not necessarily have been on some of the more simple workers cottages which may be more prevalent in that area, they could have just been a concrete sort of material which can look ok simply painted. But if you like the tiles, then go for it, they'd look amazing! Otherwise ask your council's heritage officer or see if they have a guide to the architecture prevalent in the area. Also there's a few good Heritage suppliers in the inner West, they'll have some great options of tiles or will be knowledgable with suggestions.