What direction does the home face. Well glazed area (with appropriate eaves) overlooking a northern backyard, very good. The same windows overlooking a western backyard, bad, as it'll get way to got in summer. I'm a bit confused about where the deck is though. Will it shade any new windows added to the galvo section of the home?

Orientation plays a huge part in the comfort of a home, & it's energy efficiency. In simple terms, a northern aspect is good, increasing light, sunshine in winter, shaded in summer (by appropriate length eaves). A western aspect is bad (especially for bedrooms), as the sun is low in the sky in this direction & difficult to shade, at the hottest time of the day. You have a SW frontage, & a NE aspect. A NE is a very good aspect, so you should take advantage of it! Currently only the master bedroom faces this direction. It would be much better if you're living areas faced this way. Instead they mostly face NW (along with a couple of your bedrooms), which will result in a very hot home on summer afternoons. So unless you have privacy issues with neighbours, views to take advantage of, or other issues, which have lead to this design, I'd be looking at a redesign. Aiming for living areas to face NE, the majority of bedrooms SE, with the garage on the western side to protect the home from the hot afternoon sun. So, if you like the overall layout of the plan, try to achieve the above without too many major changes. Flip the front part of the house, so the garage is on the west, & the minor bedrooms face SE. Rotate the living areas 90°, & use the width of the block, so that the master doesn't take all the NE sun from the living areas. Flip the master, so that it has NE & SE aspects, & the ensuite bares the brunt of the NW sun. Or switch the master with the living areas, so they have an even better NE aspect. Though you'll need a longer hallway to reach the living areas from the entrance of the home in this case. Read more about orientation & passive solar design on the brilliant Your Home government website, https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation

So we've decided to break up the front steps and have them going to a landing level with a planter box and then continuing downin front of planter box (hopefully you can work that out from plan). Given straight lines not going for curved crazy paving but more traditional paving although broken up with plants. It's Canberra climate and East facing but because of large pin oak in street its not very sunny so looking for shade tolerant (so thinking maples rather than crab apple and crepe myrtles). She has a feature pot with a cycad and I'm not so sure that's my cup of tea for a feature plant so would be interested in alternative and I also don't really want a water feature as I find them a bit naff (and husband convinced the maintenance not worth it).

Where are you building? Eaves are useful on the north side because the sun is lower in winter and higher overhead in summer. The effect depends on how close to the equator you are. In winter the sun shines in the windows. In summer the sun is blocked by the eaves. Eaves don't make a significant difference for the other sides of the house for sunlight. They are still useful for the other reasons Dreamer listed. The sun sets in the west so you will get afternoon sun in the west facing windows whether you have eaves or not. That can be a nice thing in winter. It is a problem in summer. As west is to the side on your block you might get sufficient shade from the house next door. If you do not, eaves alone will not be enough in summer. On the southern side double glazing might be more important. In my experience south facing windows are always the worst for condensation in winter. But specific advice depends on where you are building and what your climate is.