Thanks kirstensomers, first up I'll take it that North is to the right of your first picture. A few other thoughts pop to mind: You're being very kind to neighbours if you put a bed along the pool fence as I figure you can't actually see it much from your house. I would suggest letting the pool fence run to lawn. You'll get enough sun to do it as it's facing east. You have to mow that verge anyway, and it would be great for guest parking! You could focus your efforts and $ instead on doing both sides of your lovely wide driveway. I would never usually say this but I almost feel as though the tree closest to the driveway should go. It doesn't provide useful shade in that position. It partially blocks the view from that balcony. Also, the two trees on that side make the garden seem very unbalanced. A single remaining tree could claim its rightful place as the magnificent feature tree. If you went for the chop on one tree it leaves you with a nice amount of space to plant beds on both sides of the driveway and allows for better views if that's what you prefer.That's option 1. For option 2 you could of course take the opposite view and decide to balance out those two trees by planting one large tree on the other side of the driveway! It all hinges on whether you prefer looking into the tops of your trees or prefer looking at whatever you can see from your house. Personal choice for sure. Either way, the driveway would get morning and midday sun. The sun would reflect off the concrete. I'll bet you score the sea 'breeze' there too. Tough gig. I'm with Timandra Design and Landscaping as this is the perfect environment for natives and those that act like them. As to plantings? Option 2 is easier. What type of trees are they in the picture? Plant one of them then under plant with hardy dietes or agapanthus until the shade grows in. Option 1 opens up other possibilities. Modestly sized trees would seem to be the go. Rows of Callistemon King's Park Red marching up both sides of the drive attracting all the birds? Olive trees for their silvery foliage? Once you have decided the area and height for plantings you can go to some fine nurseries that specialise in natives and their mates. Nice way to spend a couple of hours! I hope you have much fun with your garden. It's so exciting to put in all that work then watch your efforts multiplied by nature. Good luck!

Hi there, Sorry for the late reply. The furniture come from the Try Before You Buy concept is already fully assembled. Its main purpose is to send out the chair which the customers are able to test and also style within the room. Having said that, the T&C's does not apply to the Try Before You Buy furniture. Thank you for pointing that out though. We shall get the T&C's updated so that it does not confused the customers.

Jessica Craig, I thought you might like to know this. When my daughter was a baby and I took her for swimming lessons, I met another wonderful Mum Wendy and her daughter, Sophie. Sophie's father had recently passed away and so Wendy was trying to adjust to the hand that fate had dealt her. They had not long purchased their house too. We have remained very close all these years and I can report that both Soph and Wendy are a force to be reckoned with. Sophie (now 15) is a talented singer, is doing well at school and has oodles of personality. Wendy is studying online and working towards fulfilling her dream of one day writing a children's book. The house has been renovated and is a very warm and welcoming home. It has not always been an easy road as single mum for Wendy, but it continues to get richer as the years move by. I hope that in some of your harder moments, this may bring some small level of comfort to you.

It's always exciting to think about potential plans for a newly purchased home. However unless you have experience and knowledge in regards to construction, costs and understand how particular design decisions impacts these things, you'd be best to (a) take some time to develop a clear picture or "vision" of the type of home you are aiming for and then (b) invest in some professional advice to help guide you towards your goals. When you say you can't afford to spend thousands on drawings, I'd argue that anyone considering a significant renovation project should allocate a certain component of their budget to professional design as a no-brainer investment to maximise the project potential and mitigate potential issues such as cost blow-outs or worse spending money in ways that misses opportunity and doesn't add value. Investment in planning and design is arguable THE most critical and $$ worth spending in order to get the best outcomes. As you have brought up, there are a whole lot of aspects to work through and negotiate, such as levels and structure. In order to get any sort of advice (either independently or on forum) measurements are critical and the first thing to establish, as well as other relevant contextual information such as levels and boundaries. Any design decisions directly impact costs, and unless you know what you're doing you can potentially head down a path of relatively expensive and extensive internal reconfiguration. Sure some of this may be required, but as we find regularly with these types of projects, mitigating renovation scope and exploring opportunity for some complimentary logical "clean"/simple extension aspect can be often the better option on a number of levels: better value, increased living space & better investment return longterm Best of luck working through it - and even if you do minimal work, it's clearly a good property investment Cheers PD :)