practicallity wise with young kids shaggy is going to be a nightmare ..wool is good as warm in Winter..and hypoallergenic.. Harvey Norman have great rug sales sometimes 40% off just keep an eye out for them.. I don't buy wool I just buy what looks nice and is practical.. 2 of my kids have eczema and they find wool rugs rough and itchy..we used to have a wool rug at our old place..so I only buy synthetic now..

Hi Kruti. Those new pieces are lovely. There’s a houzz article in Stories about how to decorate a console table. If you select Stories, then Interior Design, then Decorating, and then type ‘how to decorate a console table,’ in the window, the article should pop up. I think you will find it very helpful.

Rachael, you’re very welcome! It was fun to draw up. As far as layering photos, I wasn’t suggesting you cover one photo with another, (what is the point of having beautiful photos and memories then! Lol) rather, overlap the edges of the frames (both are quite wide from your photos) so that they are connected without obscuring the images within. Hope that makes sense! What a difference just painting that back wall makes! It really opens up the room now. I think the few bricks around your fireplace now is a very charming feature. It keeps the charm of the original while bringing the rest of the room into a fresh new era! Well done! I would suggest running a long extension chord for your tv for now while you try out a new layout for the space if there are no powerpoints on the far wall, just to be sure you like the arrangement. Can’t wait to see updated images of your new space!

Going DA has its disadvantages. - Timing is way against you, unless you have time to kill, its quite a waiting process. - Want to speed it up, I recommend getting a town planner on board, yes they do make a difference, but it will never be as fast as CDC. - DA means opening your plan to neighbours objections. Have anyone ever have the nightmare of a neighbour calling you at 9pm to object to your plan? Just because he overheard someone says that we are going to cut some trees? I got objections to a submission about a family of bird that is going to be homeless when we trim some branches off. Or an acreage neighbour object to your 600sqm lot second storey addition because of privacy issue. They have backyard of 3000sqm with over 20m distance and have privacy issue? Give me a break, the backyard is enough to fit the whole street . Any objections from neighbour means a timestop from council, until they can investigate. - Some applications takes weeks until its 'allocated' to an officer. Meaning, its just sitting there gathering dust. Then its another 2 weeks of notifications. - Council front officers are the 'yes man' they say yes all the time, and all might be possible, with 'just submit it and we'll see' attitude. Once submitted, its 'not possible, and request for change or have it withdrawn'. Got clients slammed me because I refuse to do floorplan 20% over the allowed, they went to see front desk in council and told 'Just submit it and we'll see what we can do'. At the end its still rejected anyway, with cost of $$$ of DA application fee. And the advantages: - Council is the only one who can approve if there is no other way (heritage issue, flood / bushfire) - Council is negotiable to a degree, you just have to prove the merit, and talk in their language. - Council can fight for you against your neighbours objections. Took time, but yes they can be on your side. - Building a duplex with site a bit under the allowed? Three floors when its only allowed 2? Yes it can be done. Just play the game right. - Going with DA code sometimes means a bigger floor space allowed, higher roof, higher ceiling than the code for CDC, sometimes the fight and wait is well worthed. And finally there is the L&E Court. If things goes South, and everyone thinks they are correct, there is the L&E court to settle it. My point is : DA : go fully prepared, you are there to fight for it. CDC : get a good team, and the certifier is just there to certify. It will get done quicker. I am not anti councillors, I actually pity them, they are overworked, understaffed, and get abused in daily. If I can advice my clients to avoid DA and still come up with great result, I would go that path.