I think you have a sago in your garden already ..the one remaining plant..the other thing that looks really great in pots is mass plantings of mother in law tongues .. Not sure of proper name. Low maintenance, low water, only occasional removal of the odd dead leaf. No leaves to drop in pool. You can get different sorts, to hind the fence go for really tall ones, in long rectangular pots or mass grouping of round, get a few big pots I always think they look better than groups of little ones .. Good luck

As the windows are framed individually I would also suggest two separate roman blinds. Set up to the height of the picture rail will accentuate the ceiling height and tie in with the architecture of the room. To have the blinds at this height will also allow you to see through 100% of the window area when the blinds are open. Where these blinds hang to will also be important to consider. I would suggest the base of the two romans be set to the top of the sill, as to set them lower will show the sill extensions on the left and right sides sticking out. All the best!

I'm different . I definitely wouldn't modernise anything . The left side of the picture looks great , really classy , the 2 storey right side is boring ! The bay window could do with being painted or replaced with a white frame colour , but the rest looks great -- especially that 'Bali' front door . So using that as inspiration , the right side I'd also do that window in white , but do 2 fake shutters that as closely match the front door as possible -- carved panels , maybe a circular lion in the middle of each one , the same colour and varnish . I've seen similar designs at ethnic type stores , and no doubt an on-line search would give you some tips and possible sellers . Then , the 'elephant' -- the garage doors . The cheap option -- paint . Maybe a mid orange or yellow ? More expensive but classier and to tie with the front door and shutters -- replace with wooden doors , my preference is wooden slats but the right style of wooden tilt would also work . Stain and varnish the same as the front door/shutters . Ties it all in , looks thought through , the same theme and period . Apart from that , waterblast the path , add a couple of small gardens with a variety of leafy plants , rocks and stones . Nice !

This next two months we have so much on here in NZ that we've pushed our Aus business launch to 1 May , but the intention is we will be based at this apartment for about 3 weeks in May , then we'll see . So far we have already done a lot of touristy things , done the ferries several times , the trains , etc . We've bought a car too -- no idea what will happen to that if my cousin/aunty start pushing to sell the unit , but at this stage I've paid all these bills , except the kitchen ( my cousin had already paid that ) and I've also transferred them 'a loan' , so it seems likely we'll all have this unit for at least 18 months , and then we'll review things , as a family , if that makes sense . So basically we'll be honorary Orstralians soon cobber . . . . . . . .