LB I think you confuse me as much as I probably confuse you. LOL. ;-) I noticed I had some crazy auto correct word in my last post which I think was supposed to say "able" (I can't remember now what it even said) ;-) Oldroo I think the builder said something like sticking the old roof bats under the floor. The rain, yes we had it here more then a week straight!! It was great because 1) I was on the sunny coast in Qland that week! And 2) we are on tank water which we have been running off empty for about 6 months now and we just got a second tank connected a few weeks ago as well as guttering on our shed and guess what.... Our tanks were overflowing for days!! We could of filled 3 or 4 tanks at that rate!! So I am very happy about the rain!! :-D

Hi samkosky. We had two of these very efficient heaters until a friend, who works as a specialist 'tester' for Energy Safe Victoria, visited and inspected them. (We had no idea but these old heaters have been deadly, sadly.) Your Plumber and Gasfitter should be able to test them for safety, I believe and will also know the models that should be dismantled. Yours may be safe, but you do need to check. We had to get the plasterer in after we got them removed, of course. (We replaced them with split systems, up high, so no issues with furniture placement or efficiency. Not cheap but really work well and look good - and are safe.) Good luck with yours.

adding some extra living space at the side will take away from the lovely courtyard and would not create the occasional guest bedroom that's already available with Siriusky's sliding door partitions in the living area but a loft over the kitchen could add an additional bedroom overlooking the garden and you haven't mentioned if there is rear car access into the yard and if so the option for a carport and or "studio bedroom" at th rear could also be a very cost effective means of adding extra space.....always subject to council regulations and dimensions btw if the kitchen cabinets are in good condition they can be reconfigured with sections having a deeper counter (with void at the back ) to allow for extra depth needed for DW etc and the shallow cabinets can still be a useful space savers in smaller kitchen with a new counter to suit the new arrangements

From a design perspective, open shelving can be great for keeping an open feel and will work in most rooms as long as you use appropriate spacing so as what you intend to put there doesn't look cluttered, as that unfortunately has the opposite effect. Going purely what I've seen, open shelving around a television is usually filled with decor and trinkets but I'd be surprised if there weren't a way to install open shelves that would support speakers and amps. That said I don't know anything about load bearing cantilevers so can't really help there. Fingers crossed someone else will chime in with some handy engineering info.