If you have some furniture to start with, I would just use the basics for now and live in your home for at least 6 months - 12 is better - and get the feel of the house, the lighting, how the rooms are affected by heat and cold, decide how you are going to live in each room and what your needs will be. This will also help you determine traffic flow, which ultimately affects how your arrange your furniture. It is amazing how many times you can change your mind during this initial period. Most importantly, create your home for YOU, not to impress others, you are the one living in it and happiness comes from the peace and contentment you feel in your surroundings. In the meantime, look through photos on Houzz for ideas, save them in your ideas book for reference and use this to build your decorating.

Hi Kim, the post was called 'ideas for a small kitchen' it's still on diseign dilemmas page three. Poster is hechlan. Yes, a white kicker will get as dirty as a stainless steel one. Although maybe hidden a little better. M reason for mentioning this, as stainless kickers are an early 90's thing, and will prematurely date the kitchen. I have designed kitchens for around 10 years now, and while they have a place, as in you want to tie into your stainless appliances then go for it. I would just consider your options first. The positive is that they will coordinate with an kitchen, however with a white kitchen, they may take some attention that the kitchen itself deserves. Try to create something in your kitchen unique to your layout, and that is long lasting enough to enhance your own aesthetic. Kitchens with personality usually have quirks from the owner, and this may well be one of them for you. My only reasoning is that I wouldn't want you to just do it as the cabinetmaker has been doing this for several years now. White get dirty, so does stainless, they both get mopped, and the stainless actually has a scribes surface which I know is harder to get the dirt out of. We used this in showrooms, and know from experience that flat standard laminate is far easier to clean that stainless kicker, regardless of the colour. Ask your joiner for a piece of laminate and stainless kicker, feel them for yourself. They often use HPL, high pressure laminate to make kickers, and not often LPM, low pressure melamine, as the HPL is far more durable. The joiner can explain th difference, or atleast know that you have looked into it.

Yes - there are these amazing options to have an 'electric pool cover' with a slat arrangement that allows you to virtually walk on it. Do a google search...'pool covers electric'... I've no idea on how much they cost... Here's some pics. Not sure if irregular shapes make this too challenging... Our pool experience... We are needing to change a few things with our pool already - wish we had paid more attention to the pipes and filtration... (Having to potentially move them as they are too shallow and in 'awkward spot'... Extra $ and I'm so worried it may cause issues for us... Even the location of the concrete slab for the pump... Wish we had thought about overall picture... If I was buying a car for $70k, I would have done more research, but somehow we got carried away with idea that we could have a pool for summer, and yet reality is that it's ready for the 'next summer'... Budget plan (original) was around $30-40k, but I guess it's like building a house... Plus it's all a big learning experience...

Hi Carole Loe You have an interesting house proposal, you are very lucky that you managed to get a corner block, there are advantages in a corner blocks, and like all things some disadvantages. It would be helpful to get an idea where north is in relation to your plan, its difficult to give constructive comments without knowing the position of the sun in relation to living areas and windows. Looking at your first plan the position of your bedrooms are relatively well placed, Bedroom 1 robes are a bit of a problem as they may be exposed from excessive moisture from the ES Shower even if you have a strong exhaust. This generally results in moldy clothes and shoes that smell. Its always good to have the Walk In Robes closed off from the ES. Looking at your second plan I would consider bedroom 2 to be a very difficult bedroom to use, especially if you are aging or young, not a good selling item in the long run. You have to cross a living area to get to the toilet and you are constantly bombarded by living room noise. The proposed separate toilet, with internal opening door is very difficult to use (illegal in Victoria unless you provide 'panic hinges') and not very friendly if you are aging. Some redesign of this area could be beneficial in the long run. Your front entry is shown at 1330 and this is at the stud positions with an 820 door (I always make my front entries min. 870)- (that is incredibly tight for a porch area entry something like 1880 to 2400 with a 870 front door and a bit of a sidelight might be a bit better), you may wish to look at this further, it seems to be terribly tight - measure some of your friends entries and your may wish to revisit this part of your design. Also I think its a good idea to provide access to the the garage from the house - but it must go through an airlock (e.g. through a well ventilated laundry or an open verandah) then to your living areas. This would avoid mixing exhaust fumes with your lounge furniture and your kitchen areas. These toxins build up overtime and are certainly not very good for your health, especially if you are you or old or small like a child or a dog or a cat. Your kitchen and butlers pantry design is certainly ample for two or three people, but it would consider fronting the 'front kitchen bench' towards where you have your TV. Also the kitchen counter should not have a stove on it. The stove should be places about 800 from the sink so that in an emergency you can go from your stove to the sink and not have to cross a from the front bench to the back bench via a travel space. This would make your kitchen bench a good entertainment area or even a good eating area if carefully designed. It would be helpful to know the position of the neighbor houses, houses windows in relation to the site, especially for overlooking and possible overshadowing to open areas. Also it might be helpful for you to define the brief a little more, so that you can be a little more positive of your requirements. There is no mention of fences, gates, driveway extent, extent of porches over entries front and back entry, external paths to drying areas, clothes drying areas, BBQ position or garden areas, vegetable garden area, external storage for gardening tools, letter box etc. these are all items that should come in the design phase and discussed and have proper space allocations. A reassessment of your design position may be fruitful and financially beneficial in the long run especially if you are willing to do some of the legwork to reduce some of your costs. I would be happy to consider your design proposal further. Wish you the best in your design pursuit. Regards Michael Manias - (03)9347-7347 - Designing online using Skype, Pdf and Paypal - mm407p@gmail.com