Miranda You appear to be making all the right choices in life. I will be a little bit presumptuous by offering some advice on helping you to raise your child in touch with nature in this age full of all the electronic lures that keep the kids indoors. or, when outdoors, glued to a small screen, rather than the glory that surrounds them. I am writing a book about landscape architecture and have a section regarding the importance of embracing nature in the preschool years. - which I would like to forward that section to you. However, my computer skills are limited to email and US Mail. I don't even know how to attach a picture to the text. If you would like to receive this draft from my future book, send me your email or postal address, and I'll get it right off to you. My email is cascio.offsite@gmail.com Good luck with your new challenges and opportunities. Joe Cascio

We have a massive screen in our theater, over 120" and even sitting 20' from it, I get a migraine. Our friend didn't have a theater, so he decided to convert his dining room (of all places) into a theater using blackout drapes and the same size TV your hubby wants...vicious headaches all around, but he is in hog heaven. Boys and their toys...

Colour wise as you currently only have neutrals you can go wherever your heart desires! Choose a rug you adore and think that you will still love in 5 years time. Pick up and complement the colours in the rug in things like your cushions and artwork. As for size of the rug you can go dainty that nicely encompasses the coffee table or big enough to be anchored under the lounge. Roller blinds work well if you want clean, uncluttered lines, you can mount privacy blinds in the window, with block outs mounted outside,

It seem like you have western sun on the back of the house due to the blinds in you patio photo. To combat this the new roof could be angled low on the west and high over the house as in a fly over roof. Maybe shade sail over the spa attached to the patio roof and lots of tropical plants. It is hard to guess from the photos but if you link the two areas with decking & add gardens surrounding it for shelter. Do you need a fence around the spa? Others have said that the composite decking is good and it won't rot like timber or at least is low maintenance for a wet area.