As others have said, it depends on your environment and view. If the house is located in a particularly hostile environment (e.g. west coast Tasmania, central Australian desert) or experiences wild swings between the seasons (e.g. Snowy Mountains) then windows are your friend. In temperate / sub tropical areas like Brisbane then verandahs are the way to go. Windows can have great thermal properties IF they're double glazed which has better insulation properties than say walls in a QLDer house with a timber stud frame sandwiched between weatherboards and VJs. It also depends on the orientation of the house.

Wow, what a difference, I had no idea just how big the area was from the before photos, but this looks great - clean and easy to maintain as well. I can see in time the plantings will give a nice lushness and softness to the area that will also help visually cool the area in summer as well. I also like the elevated garden - I can assure you this is a real bonus in senior years. Wondering how many of the old crowd are still around, I lost the ability to post photos after a computer update quite some years back and then couldn't make comments either, so I'm thrilled suddenly the site seems to be working for me. I felt I'd been excommunicated. Not long after this post, I up and sold my Sydney house, was totally fed up with the overdevelopment happening and moved to Port Stephens for some quiet country life. Bought a house on a small block of land that wouldn't be too much for me to maintain in my senior years and the back garden faces north so gets sun all day winter and summer - beautiful in winter as it lets the sun in the house on that side too, but almost unliveable in summer. House had been leased all its life so I literally had a blank canvas - after I'd levelled the craters the tenant's dog had created - I needed privacy from neighbours but didn't want a lot of maintenance, including no lawns to mow, so I've used low maintenance shrubs growing to about 2m around the perimeter and 4 crepe myrtles in the centre area for shade to sit under in summer while allowing full sun in winter. Just waiting for everything to grow now, but thanks to Covid and lockdowns, I've had plenty of time to garden. Thanks for the update Rog, I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

To Australian Home Designer. Thank you for your advice but I'm not trying to replace the doors with a window. The double glass doors are on the study, and they open onto the very small balcony which measures approx 2M X 0.9M. The balcony has slate type tiles on the floor, there is a roof above and it is enclosed either side by concrete? walls. The balcony has an opening about 2 M wide by 1.5 high, which is what I'm trying to addres. The balcony is next to useless as it is and I could make more use of it if I could enclose it. I tried to add another photo to give a better idea, but for some reason I wasn't able to. So, I'm not trying to replace a window but install something in an open space to act like a window. As this area is considered common property (even though no one else can have access to it unless they walk through the apartment), I have to advise the corporate body. Chances are they'll ask for me to arrange for a by-law to be drawn up. It never ends does it? The other thing I should mention is that Council said (when I first approached them) that the developer would have used every available space to the enth degree. The developer has confirmed this with me. The block is almost 2 years old and all owners are the first occupants. Thank you for taking the time to respond. It is much appreciated.

Yeah I will have to set some time aside to go measure all the rooms, so bear with me. I think I'll need to re-draw the original layout too, so it makes more sense what I'm doing long term. A previous owner opened up the current dining room and kitchen but it means the lounge has 5 doorways and is an awkward thoroughfare with nowhere to put furniture. The kitchen then ends up too visible. I keep hoping the drawing will turn up but it's not so far! My parents are compulsive renovators, so I grew up checking out salvage yards and open houses and worst house in best streets and talking over "what would you do with this space?" We ended up moving like every second year! It means I know I can turn this house around. I don't however intend to do all the hard graft for someone else to enjoy. Its really more of a creek than a river so it's not super wide, so the tree line shades the waterway a bit, but its all gorgeous and green year round. At the moment the windows aren't quite in the right spots. when we reclad I'll open the up more. The bath has a great view.