Hi there, re the fence my choice would be the same colour as house with either same colour slats or your window surfmist both would look classic, definately NO timber here. Because you are on a corner block I'd be planting a hedge inside the fence with something like Murraya asap, Jim Henson could advise. I would consider Pleaching them up to where the slats start so that you could under plant with something pretty, I'd also consider adding garden lights as per attached photo. plus I would also consider putting "Eye lid" down lights on the exterior posts of the fence, this could add great street appeal for your wonderful very large house (is your whole family moving in. The garage, either same as wall colour or Monument is my choice. cheers,

I actually like your tiles. They look very textured and have character. I also like the neutral colour as well. Great job!

I'd go a paler wood personally. But given the choice of surfmist or dune....surfmist all the way!

I certainly understand what you mean by " I'm really enjoying this process and half the fun has been looking through other plans for rooms to use." Designing is great fun. You also said, " We don't yet have a block. The idea (dream really) is to design what would be the ideal house for our circumstances, and then find a block to suit." It is great that you are bolstering your dreams by collecting ideas and assembling possible layouts. But when you say you intend to find a block to suit your dream I think you may have the cart before the horse. The site context, orientation, slope, views/outlook, micro-climate, vegetation, access and services all inform the building design. You can fit the house to the block much more easily than fitting the block to the house. By all means continue your process of exploring possibilities and collecting ideas, but please just treat it as an exercise in better understanding your dream. In college we were told that the first design concept we came up with should be put in the drawer and not looked at until a second, third or more concepts had followed. Only then were we to take out the first concept and review it. If it trumped the later efforts, then great, we knew we had the best solution. In my experience the first concept never trumped later efforts.