Know exactly how you want to use your garden, not just now but in the future. Do you have children where you want a safe place for them to play, will you want to add swings, a trampoline, a sandpit, a cubby house and other play toys kids love, but in years to come these will be replaced with other features. Allow for shade trees not just for your garden but to keep your house cool too. Depending on aspect decide if you need evergreen or deciduous trees - if your garden faces north, for example, deciduous trees are best, they provide cooling shade in summer but allow you to enjoy the winter sun both inside and out. What local wildlife do you have? Consider them when planting too. Use graph paper to draw your garden to scale to get a good idea of how much space you need for features. Measure carefully for space needed for a table and chairs for example and allow sufficient room for access in and around the area. Search "Planning a garden for beginners" on Google - lots of ideas here, practical advice and links to You Tube videos. You will even find garden design ideas on-line. Walk around your local area checking what plants neighbours are successfully growing to get you started on what is best for your area. Bunnings do employ Horticulturists to advise you too. If you have patience, look at buying tubestock plants, these actually grow faster than a larger plant and are so much cheaper. Finally try not to make too much hard work of it, a garden is to be enjoyed, take your time and enjoy the creation as well.

Hi Jaccco, over the years we have found that white grout between white tiles can actually yellow over time and so whenever we are asked this question we like to recommend using a pale grey.

Hi, I’m very late to this conversation so I apologise for butting in. I refer only to your console table in this pic and you said it looks bulky. I think the issue is the vase and the candlesticks are too similar in height so they add bulk and not enough contrast. I would remove the candlesticks altogether and place the vase offset in front of the picture with the small dish in front again. The picture would be even better if you changed the frame to a white or black with a white matt surrounding the picture, similar to the frame below. Also the lamp casts a yellow light which would be better if it was white. Either it’s the globe or the shade. If the shade, change to an off white or very soft grey. That’s my two cents worth anyway. Hope it helps 😏

Well, I had a structural engineer come to the house yesterday at a cost of $600. I thought I would get drawings or something for that price but this is what he said.....(oh, before his visit, I cute into some of the plaster of the dividing wall between kitchen and lounge and the brick wall goes all the way along the wall). Structural engineer said that the wall is load bearing because he think that it provids support the support rafters (or what the horizontal beams that are at the bottom of the cathedral ceiling). Those horizontal beams that go across the house (each one from back to front of house) and partly supported by the brick dviding wall. He said that if I totally removed the overhead walkway, I would still need to leave a post or some of the brick on either side of the current dividing wall , as well as a support beam between them. He said I could cut out a window into the wall, but the bigger the window the bigger the horizontal support beam would be required. He said he didnt like working with brick because it was not like timber etc, where you can calculate what load it takes. He said there can be a lot of variation in a brick wall. He said that I should contact a building designer (someone who can give an idea of design whilst also consdiering loads and being able to draw plans...he said normally, those people will ask his advice on something). I hate tryin to do renos, because you can spend a lot of money and not really get much from it, and also go in circles about knowing who is the best person to contact. I know I do need someone to help give me an idea of design, but someone who also takes into consideration comparative costs including structural elements/loads etc. When I said to him ..so I shouldnt see an architect, he said that he often sees things from architects with no technical drawings...just design only. I really would like to be able to see the view at the back from anyway in the house, but I am a little bit reluctant to move plumbing, as I imagine with a concrete floor, the costs will start to rise significantly if plumbing has to be moved. I tend to spend most of my sitting outside time, at the back of the house, looking at the lake...even though there is only 1.5metres from the back of my property to public land (and that I have to put fencing up there to keep my dogs in). It is only me and my dogs at the place, but I do want to make sure that any changes that i make are family friendly and AirBnB friendly. The exisitng laundry seems to have heaps of wasted space in it and because the current windown is so high in it, it seems to be very segregated from the outside pool and not in the best place. I dont know what to do with this place.