Wuff, that's how it should be...unfortuntely things are hardly ever as they should be and mny people these days haven't a clue about ettiquette....that applies to some adults in particular. I agree that fine dining restaurants are not suitable for children...unless of course, as you describe, the children hav been schooled in proper behaviour. One restaurants I've been taken to on specil occasions actually has a policy of "no children"..but in order not to breach discrimination ettiquette they have a special chidren's dining room with waiters dressed in colorful uniforms. There's also a fine dining children's menu. The children are called 'maam' and 'sir' and have their chairs pulled out for them....they have their non alcoholic drinks served in lovly glases as if it were champagne or wine....it really delightful. They also have themed evenings. There's a dining etiquette that the children are expected to observe..and how to hold and use the cutlery. Parents are given a little booklet about it.. I thought it a good way to instruct the adults under the guise of instructing the children. It works well and the restaurant owners are to be commended for such a novel approach to...well, it "manners" isn't it? And not many know the mening ot the word these days. The children come away from such an experience feeling important..and I think some parents learn a few things too. There's nothing worse that not being able to go out for a dignified meal because other people don't realise that some places are just not for children..especilly their chidren. Its one thing being well-to-do and completely another having manners. My dear old Mum was the eldest of 12 children...their Dad was an Engine Driver, but he insisted that each and every one of the children learn manners.. As disadvantaged as they were, they "dressed" for dinner in their best always clean, pressed, starched clothes,,, darns, mends and all, and he'd inspect them all before they were allowed to be seated. Mum's Aunt Laura taught her to..."be a lady" and educated her about the arts, taught her how to dance, how to set a table for a three course meal, how to dress, how to be polite, and..how to cook and manage a home...so she would be able to "mix it with the best" and not be thought out of place. How things have changed...its all more relaxed. Manners and respect for others seem to have..."Gone With The Wind"..regarded as outmoded and old fashioned. Pity! Wonder how we can get a gracious, respecful society back?

I agree about the idea of putting roller blinds on your door , matching the colours of the others must mention about Annie Sloan paint : it is a chalk paint and you can apply it on any wood surface with at having to use primer, what " seals" the pain is the Annie Sloan wax you apply afterwards. You can Buy Annie Sloan on line , i use Annie Sloan a lot.it is expensive if you want the legs painted black to be smooth, just paint and wax , but one coat of Annie Sloan does not give a good coverage. It you want it " distressed" slightly, then just sand a few it on the edges afterwards, before the waxing With a slight " distressed" leg look, but you would need to give the top of the table a light sanding to " rough it up" on the edges if you want a good solid, coverage, Annie Sloan is not the right choice have a look on eBay, I have just bought some cages light to fit near my table outside ( I was just playing around with them yesterday before the electrician comes toda), they were only like $46 each

You are most welcome, I have always said that I haven't been put on this earth to "Hug" toilets, so I'am wondering who is going to clean all of these Bathrooms. Our two kids a boy and a girl had the upstairs "apartment" which they and all their friends loved. I have added a timber stair case for fun, there's plenty of space but you will need to decide what you want to do in the attic and place the stairs to open up into a tall space. I have also turned one of the ensuites into a powder room. Your Jacaranda's only drop once a year!, you used to be able to trim them by 25% each year, you would need to check with your council, we were on the lower North Shore, I think you should consider the patio side of the house and make better use of that, is the front deck something you plan on adding because of aspect, and plant some tall growing hedge ready for the apartments. Our kids Attic desk/study space over looked our pool in the rear garden. With respect to using the formal rooms for bedrooms, you will find that once you have your large family/alfresco and the kids have their upstairs space if you still feel you need it, it would make a great office. You spend most of the time there only using only using the front room in the evening for watching movies etc. I have had another play with my floor plan, I think if your wife sees this you may be in trouble, it's a Master Suite, the free standing bath in the window alcove with white timber shutters for sun and privacy control..... Iam' adding a couple of photos of our old Federation which wasn't protected, when we sold it the new owners removed all of the Fret work & posts replacing them with simple timber posts. The front rooms which we didn't use very much once we opened up the rear rooms into a family area. The room with the Bay window had a Baby grand sitting there, we sold the piano before we took the photo. Cheers

oklouise and dreamer, thank you so much for your input! Sorry I disappeared for a while, the weekend was a little crazy, also a lot to process after your suggestions. oklouise, your idea to turn the island 90 degrees is genius! I was obviously mentally stuck on the existing wall and could only imagine the island going along (instead of) it, not across it. I can see the beauty of the suggestion to use that whole "left" wall for the kitchen. I have even walked the rooms imagining how it could work. However after much thinking and discussions with my husband, we prefer to have the living/TV area in that corner rather than in the open area as suggested. Again, I see how this suggestion will work beautifully for many families but not for us. Also, the window in the living area (on the left wall) is 190cm wide and floor to ceiling, and looks into a park. It's the top floor and no neighbours on that side, the view is lovely and we would really like to keep it unobstructed. dreamer, thank you for the idea of a portable island. However, I am very keen on having a second sink and there seems to be no other place for it (provided I'm sticking with what ). Also I thought I'd have a couple of power points there to be able to use my appliances, also it'll be around 2m long, so probably either way too big to be portable. For now I've used oklouise's fantastic suggestion and rotated the island, and made it smaller, now it perfectly aligns with the window on the left and the door at the bottom of the plan. It now looks like there is quite enough space to have a proper dining table to the right of the kitchen. What do you think? I'm providing the current floor plan with the dimensions, the grey area is the existing kitchen/dining footprint. This plan is accurate (done by an experienced person) but my design is probably off as I'm not experienced at all, was just playing with some ideas and a design tool.