Thanks Fiona. We'd love to landscape the far side but sadly that is our neighbour's property and the river rock lined area right beside the pool fence is an easement that runs like a creek when we get rain so can't plant in there :). I do plan to sneak in a few more of the Golden Cane palms onto the neighbouring paddock as some have self seeded anyway- hopefully create a nice screen. I have my eye on some nice pots and two lovely wooden loungers with cream cushions, all in budget. But I'll only get them once I decide what to do with the paving area to better blend with the pool surround. I've just had the area pressure washed about 2 weeks ago so my thinking is to go with the repaint in the medium grey and hope we get 5 years out of it.

What's on the other side of the gate? Adding a step will require resurfacing for a distance back from the gate. Will this heavy gate self close? It may actually be easier and more effective to have a fixed panel and a smaller gate. Also consider that you will be able to have a gap of up to 100mm below the gate. This will allow it to swing up the slope. If you decide on the step, consider that the horizontal on your current gate may still render it illegal if it's less than 900mm off the ground and the gaps between the vertical timbers are greater than 10mm. If it's more than 900 off the ground it will be OK.

We have been building our house for over two years now. The supply chain downturn has made it a nightmare. We are camping on the mezzanine floor of our warehouse so it isn't costing us to wait, but if I had rented a property while building we would be in trouble now. I purchased most of our plumbing supplies early in the build so at least those items have not gone up in price, but many others have. We ordered and paid for a cantilever pool awning in February this year, and it was sent in three lots. The last delivery was two weeks ago. I suspect the company was having a hard time getting it out of China, so not their fault. We had quotes for fly screens/security screens that totalled over $25,000. We had to forgo the security screens in favour of fly screens for most of the house. We had a quote for a large aluminium mesh panel to place on the front left corner of the house which was over $25,000 also. The fencing company got an order wrong and we ended up with the wrong colour louvre panels on the front driveway sliding gates, plus the wrong colour for a fence. We have managed to turn it into a positive by keeping the wrong coloured louvre blades, and they will now be put up vertically on the front corner of the house, instead of the aluminium mesh. They are six metres long, but the house is two stories, so all good. We had to keep the gate panels the same, so the wrong colour will have to be exchanged for the right colour. People are still building houses here, and some of them are going up very fast, so I don't understand why ours has taken so long. We have purchased most of the goods locally, but I suppose the suppliers are having trouble getting them from overseas. I am at the point where I am losing interest in this house, which is a shame because it will be a beautiful house when finished.

I seem to look at things differently . The roof is weird -- straight cut at one end , tapered at the other . Normally I like timber , and on its own , the timber eve and the front door are fine . I'd normally even suggest going for 2 timber garage doors , and is that a window on the middle room ? If it is , I don't like the blue curtain -- ordinarily I'd suggest timber horizontal venetians . But as weird as the roof is , you are pretty much stuck with the blue . So I'd suggest going black and white -- do the eve in charcoal ; the 2 garage doors preferably get wooden ones and stain them charcoal , because painting the existing ones will just look like painted 40 year old doors . That way too ( the black and white theme ) , the front fence would tie in . If that is a curtain in the middle window , get a dark grey/charcoal one , personally I'd do the front door a bright red or orange , but a lot of people would stick with black . The white pole at the front door could be painted black , but personally I'd like to do stacked dark slate or similar . And a final touch -- a couple of big , brighter outdoor glazed pots , with 'interesting' plants in different heights and colours . The living plants will add some interest , while the pots themselves add some colour . Maybe trim the plants , add a pebble or bark garden , but thats about it .