Also have a dual purpose room. We did inexpensive white shelving units around two walls, with fabric boxes to stash stuff, (office, and my "crafty" supplies), threw in a few decorative items. Got a tall basket for rolled up mats/foam roller storage, a complementary lower basket to throw in the requisite elastic bands, small hand weights, etc. Decorated walls with pics from our travels, framed with colored mats.

I'd say there's not a lot you can do with the garage, overall height limits and ceiling height to garage perhaps? Limited info and unfamiliar with site, etc. so just really guessing here. The stairs however could be changed as could the balcony, etc. Can't see issues here why it can't be amended to suit your requirements. You never mentioned the issues with the designer but perhaps stay with them as redesigning through another may not be ideal either! Some won't touch another designer's work and will start from scratch. Give them another chance to explain why it is all done this way. Allow them the opportunity to amend it and depending on your council, use a SECTION 96 if possible. Council will soon let you know if they can accept it. Remember they've been submitted so I'd have to presume you were happy with them beforehand. Clients changing their mind or have difficulty making decisions happens regularly as its all quite new to them. I too have had clients that love the plan's, get submitted then decide that want to change something that has been there from the beginning.... Windows and doors are usually what my clients change. Frustrating for client and equally if not more so for the designer as it affects the whole plan set and documentation in many cases. I do know many designers will railroad their clients into decisions based on their own visions but this is never a good thing. It's a collaboration between client, designer, council, engineer, builder, etc. and sometimes a bit of compromise by all parties.

Start by spending a portion of your budget on the various dream feature items that are relocatable and can be used in your final design anyway. e.g. Buy the firepit you really want - it can become the focal point of your future garden. Test it outside in your backyard for a few months. Are heaps of mozzies annoying you while you're sitting outside around the firepit? If so, then you'll know that you're going to need a gazebo with flyscreens as well as privacy curtains so you can really enjoy lying outside in your hammock year round. The hammock is another relocatable part of your design. First, lie outside in your backyard on a swag or a rug for a few hours. Is it too windy? Is there road noise? Keep experimenting until you've found the perfect location for the hammock. Then buy an inexpensive hammock and suspend it from a couple of sturdy RL4 poles. If it's working, then this is the place where you should build your future patio, that's going to shelter your hammock. Keep testing inexpensive versions of your other ideas out. Trial tea candles or a string of inexpensive white Christmas lights as garden lighting. Do they create the feel you want or do lights just attract moths or unwanted insects? What about relocatable solar garden lights? Or a portable floodlight from Bunnings? Where's the ideal place for your garden table and chairs? Test it out with inexpensive camping chairs - or chairs you already own for a few months to be sure. Then invest in the perfect outdoor table and chairs. Same with the water feature. Start with a wine barrel with a waterlily or a second hand pond off Gumtree. Can you hear the trickling water in the garden or do other noises crowd it out? Keep in mind big goldfish need deep water and space to swim. To help you in your choice of plants,look around your immediate neighbourhood. What purple, blue and scented plants are thriving in your immediate area? Who has the best garden in your street in your opinion - and why do you think that? Do you always see a particular neighbour passionately working outside in their garden? That's the person you should strike up a conversation with to get advise about suitable plants for your immediate area. Chances are they will not only give you heaps of free advise but they will probably give you plants and cuttings as well. Markets are another source of perennial plants that grow well in the local area. Plant these smaller plants into large plastic pots and garden bags and allow them to grow for a year or so. Consider herbs as filler plants - many are highly scented, can be used in cooking and often have interesting foliage e.g. choc mint, fennel, rosemary etc. After you've been using your backyard for at least a year and you've experienced all of the seasons, then invest in your big ticket items like your gazebo. Buy or build a structure that's truly practical for your local microclimate - incorporate glass, windbreak fencing, shadecloth, mozzie mesh or whatever you need to make your hammock shelter ultra comfortable. Build this structure where you've tested it and know it will work - not where a stranger who designs gardens thinks it should go. Spend the remaining money on the things you know you need and want - the stones, plants, irrigation, a birdbath, etc

Hi siriuskey. Not sure how to place the furniture yet. Still trying to work it out.. I am selling my dining table and chairs. My new chairs just arrived today. I bought some hooks to put my mirror up.I am going to order those prints shortly. Also trying to find a round dining table I like. Getting there slowly : Thanks for asking. Thank you Julie. Very kind of you. :) Thank you legendaryflame :)