Hi, we received an email from Houzz about you and I thought I would introduce our business; Sydney Doors to you as we could be of service. We manufacture custom made kitchen and wardrobe doors in a raw or polyurethane finish. We also pick up and deliver and are known for our friendly, efficient service. Please contact me if we can be of assistance. Regards.

Hello Fianou, Congratulations on your charming home. I think it has so much potential. I love the idea of teal, it is fresh and welcoming. I was thinking to give the home some street appeal and to also make it extremely functional. I would see if you could afford to put a wonderful wooden deck out the front, and then I would have window shutters painted teal placed on either side of the windows to give it street appeal, if you could afford to paint the brick I would paint it in a happier white tone with the blue accessory trim on the shutters on each window and also on the roof trim to tie it all in. On the deck I would have flower boxes painted in the same teal colour or whatever colour you choose to link in the whole story. I can see it can be so sweet and charming and a real place to call home. The timber fence at the side would also link in with the decking at the front. Good luck and congratulations on buying your own home ! Woo hoo !

Personally, I'd go higher as it'll make living in the house easier for you - getting down on the floor to get to a powerpoint isn't fun and doesn't interrupt the beautiful lines of your skirting. The Australian Standards (AS/NZ 3000:2007) are very specific about the way power points need to be mounted so I'd be finding a copy of that to review it just to know where I stood.

Yes you are crazy. Changing the style of a home is the most expensive way to renovate, especially when you need to change the structure of the home to get the look you want. Best to work with what you have as a starting point. Often dramatic changes in a house style never really work as you make compromises along the way, and it often comes off as half baked. Your investment is rarely realised in the resale value with half-baked style changes. In the case of your home you will need a lot more than a few arches to make it a Spainish Colonial style. Do it all and do it well (and spend heaps of money), or don't bother. But back to your question - if you must put in some brick arches you will need to engage an engineer to design them (and the footings) and an old-school bricklayer to build them. Both are expensive. If you are doing fake arches in lightweight materials they will end up looking try-hard fakes. Spend your money on something that will improve the value of your home like professional design advice, or a new bathroom. If I haven't offended you too much by giving you a reality check feel free to contact me for a Dr Retro House Call and some professional design advice as I am very local to this house. Best of luck with your research, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits.