@wuff, Actually, I found a Chesterfield look alike some years ago at Domain I think, called the Americana, amazingly comfortable but huge, built for giants, even the chairs were like a day bed in length and I mean by that, that the distance from your butt to your knees was very long but they were indeed comfortable but I wasn't so comfortable with the price, at over $3,000 for a single lounge chair. Cheers, Barbara

Hi Complete Kitchens....Yes, I realise that 20k could get a good standard kitchen (our own one recently done was about 26k including scullery), I'm more talking about the ones that talk about doing kitchen, bathroom, painting and even moving some walls on 20k. What my point was, is its great when people like you actually give an idea of a cost of a project - it's easy to get fired up with inspiration and then get thoroughly dissapointed when reality hits! Things are expensive these days and I think for some who may not have done any renovations to their house for years, they don't really have a lot of idea of the costs involved.

if the original asbestos walls are in good condition then they can re-be painted but if the walls are too damaged to be saved the asbestos needs to be removed by professionals and the cladding replaced, no reason you can't have different profiles on the front and sides as long as joints and corners are sealed properly but if you plan to install new windows it could be better to wait to repair sections of wall as the windows are replaced (i'd prefer to have all the roof and external walls in good condition and then do the internal work at leisure)... .modern fibrous cements are excellent ...we've just used flat fibrous cement with curved battens over joints and very happy with the results for our 50's house (there are several different brands available through the big hardware stores and research on line is much easier than trying to work out the variations in store) the gabled portico can be made as a separate structure or as a extension to the roof with valley gutters depending on placement of the solar panels (and/or solar panels can be moved)

continue with the rocks plus ground cover that will eventually cover the rocks...in the meantime the rocks will provide a nice clean surface and be mulch while the ground covers become established but you may find that the path isn't wide enough so some big stepping stones set into the stone mulch will make walking more comfortable and the fence looks good..perhaps you could use the same fencing to create screens for the tank and aircon