Hi chook! Just a quick pop in to see what's going on and I see where your daughter is getting a new bed. It is very nice and she will love it, I'm sure. So glad you got the winning bid! Exciting, huh? Talk later. :)

Red berm that's very interesting for i appreciate the chemistry behind it but one must remember that olivine being a non-living thing will only absorb only so much CO2 then it's done. An analogy : A sponge (per its size) can only soak up so much water. Tree's & plants thru photosynthesis get rid of CO2 by converting CO2 back to oxygen. But even that process is not perfect, for after a tree dies and falls it starts to decay releasing CO2 back to our atmosphere w/out further producing oxygen (e.g. burning wood for heat produces CO2 & CO...oxygen is not perserved in this case for oxygen is needed to burn the wood. Ideally: Plants surrounding the fireplace shall convert the CO2 back to oxygen as fast as the fireplace converts the oxygen to CO2

Absolutely agree with blueskies60 ! Remove the artwork/bench/plant that's on the left and replace then with either a bookshelf or a tall chest of drawers. Perhaps the plant can be repositioned into the corner on the floor where this troublesome niche is (there seems to be more than enough light there for a plant) and just place something calm and simple in the niche itself - perhaps a Japanese style scroll or pen and ink art work set off with a more rounded object sitting in the left corner of the niche; a gorgeous rock, a lovely candle, a calming statue... If you have (my preference) a chest of timber drawers on the left where the current art work is, you'll break up the symmetry, have more storage and have another surface upon which you can place a changing display of objects. This is the area that I would utilise for a mirror.

lucky you! your water tank is below ground. I have to look at my 20,000 litre tank outside my kitchen window. It sits on a concrete plinth so I can't even plant around it. I'm too terrified to grow creeping fig on it incase it affects the integrity of the tank. At the moment it has wisteria draping over it, looks lovely in spring but deciduous and it's now becoming too invasive so need to get rid of it.. I also have star jasmine approaching from an arch beside - can't wait for it to take over the tank.. I love all the decorative features suggested but I reckon something like star jasmine might work with some other landscaping features to the side: bench, rock, more plants. The beauty of star jasmine is that it doesn't root, will drape over and can be pulled aside. Every couple of years I put the blower over the top of my water tank it to make sure the leaves don't mulch to create soil on top.