I won't bother with lattice, barrels are partially obscured from the street by fencing and if I put it up I would have to work around the lattice in order to turn the valves for water. If I can just make better use of collected water I'll be happy. We are at the end of our growing season so I should be cleaning up the garden and putting it to bed for the winter, just can't seem to get motivated. We had our first frost last week. Usually, our average early frost date is 1 November. I got almost no produce from garden this year, but there is always next year. Chookchook2 I've seen some of those decorative metal panels and they are gorgeous, sure hope your budget will allow you to get some before too long. Most of our state has been on fire for a good part of the summer. The closest is across the river from us and they have been battling it for almost a month. Some friends have had to evacuate repeatedly. We've only been concerned once, a small grass fire on our side of the river on a day we had wind gusts up to 65mph. Fortunately, it was put out quickly. Australia and New Zealand have both sent firefighters to help with the blazes. I can't begin to tell you how appreciative we are. The closest fire was fought for almost a week by local volunteers only as there were no other resources available. They were all on other fires. The Army National Guard (reserve troops) were called out to help with support duties and for the first time ever the federal Department of Natural Resources (DNR) asked for civilian volunteers to help with non firefighting tasks, cutting fire breaks, moving supplies etc.

Work with teen for the grand plan! Put in this website search box: teen... Look at teen magazines at the library for cool ideas. Think about colors, shapes, patterns. Your creativity has no barriers! Use two color combos that are easy to mix and match. Paint walls, furniture, etc. Think outside the box. Paint a desk two different colors - one on the frame and the other on the drawers. Paint an all over pattern on a tall skinny section of a wall. If you don't want to commit to paint yet, see what it'll look like with dollar store wrapping paper taped to wall. Make pretend wallpaper with paint and a stencil. "Shop" in your house before you go out. Sometimes we have stuff in one room (or basement/attic) that can be used in another. Look for fun, kitschy, or unique items, for visual interest, and for conversation pieces Go to garage sales and thrift stores for big picture books. Use for prints for wall art. Get frames there also, or at dollar store. Get dollar store wrapping paper that is really pretty, interesting, or geometric. Frame it for wall art. Look for bulletin boards at garage sales. Paint frame and use dollar store wrapping paper for cork part. Attach with rubber cement or similar glue. Look for throw at garage sales or thrift store in bright color. Fold long way and put at end of bed. Build a wish list and take it with you when you go out.

Hi, I would like to convert our existing garage and carport space to a second dwelling (2 bedroom+ toilet+kitchen). I am not sure if it can be called a granny flat. We use our garage only for storage and believe if we convert it to rental space, it will benefit us in many ways. And ofcourse, I want to do it with proper consents, but we have a small budget for it. I have checked with Auckland council and our house is situated in a mixed Housing Suburban Zone, so there are no restrictions for building this. I need to get a bank loan to do this conversion. We bought the property this year, so the CV hasn't changed much. All banks wants me to draw a plan for this conversion and have it evaluated it by them. If their evaluated value supports the loan+20% equity, then I will get the loan to proceed. The cost of drawing the plan seems to be around 10K (based on my initial research) and this is a huge amount to take a risk. I am really new to this world of construction/renovation. And any kind of guidance, advice or recommendations will help me heaps. Thanks

I'm not a builder or an expert . The downstairs looks easy -- obviously you want exactly the same width and profile -- take 1 or 2 boards off the end of the house , add new boards , paint the entire thing . The garage will 'hide' the existing side wall , so that can be left as it is , relined , painted , whatever you want , as its now an 'internal' wall . Upstairs though is trickier -- I assume there are horizontal weatherboards along the side of the house , so adding across and 'around the corner' would be more difficult , but not impossible -- it will take more labour and a bit more materials . At the end of the day , talk to your builder -- they are the one that will asked , so if they say No , pretty much the end of the conversation -- you accept , or you look for another builder , who hopefully says yes , and even more hopefully , actually can do it haha !