Hi pjfee2...thanks for your ideas. Have to admit I have not given the reno in MT much thought this summer, here!! Actually been finishing our beach house re-build down here and a bit 'reno'd out' to be honest. BUT we head back in just over a month so it’s time I did give it some serious thought, so your comments very much appreciated. Already got builders organized so that’s a start LOL I love the idea of adding stone on the outside to the turret part – but guessing that is as far as the budget would stretch. The siding is in good shape so need to stain it to work. Love the idea of pulling a color from the turret stone to do this. Will get a stone that has some of the log house gingery color in it and then stain the newer part of house a tone of this?? So far I’m sure we will · Rebuild the deck to run across the front of the house and form the roof over the front door entryway · Make the entry way wider and mud room inside bigger · Replace the small window to the bathroom with a door off the deck, matching the French doors. · Replace the tiny window in the turret with a longer one. · Cover turret with schist or stone cladding Not sure about replacing the windows under the deck. Added a picture of them from the inside. This living space is the hardest to figure out how to furnish in this house. It has quite a lot of light from a large window on the left wall - out of this shot - and across the back of the room through a wide door way to the room at the back. Thinking of opening up this wall? And from the inside they seem pretty well balance? Big problem in that room is that there is not a lot of places that we can use to create a sitting area. Need to get a couple of sofas in there and push them around to see what will work. It has 4 doors leading off and as you can see large log posts dotted about!! ANDd a stairwell going down to lower level and garages. Not a lot of space to play with. OK time for another coffee...its 7.30am down here!!

We have a 900x900 shower and it's plenty big enough. Neither of your proposed layouts looks that great, to be perfectly honest, sorry! In the first layout, you could improve it quite a lot by swapping the toilet and vanity (centre the toilet under the window on the bottom right of the picture if possible), and having the shower door on the other wall (beside the door). Then, you could have a towel rail on the wall beside the door (i.e. behind the door when it's open), which would be accessible from the shower but hidden when the door was open. An 800x1200 shower might be a good size for your space. You'd have to choose a toilet that doesn't protrude too far, plus a narrow vanity. With that layout, you could have a long but narrow wall-hung vanity, with a big mirror covering the wall between the windows, which would make the room feel bigger and would give a good amount of storage. Also, you may find this helpful: http://www.houseplanshelper.com/small-bathroom-floor-plans.html?utm_content=buffer4aa20&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

i changed my setting to OZ as i was told there are not a lot of kiwis here on the forum to give advice:) hopefully some wonderful aussies can help me:)

Hi Joanna, It really comes down to three questions that you will need to ask yourself; 1. How much can you afford now 2. How patient are you... 3. How much maintenance do you want to provide Screens will give you an instant effect and won't require any ongoing maintenance and they would provide a more modern aesthetic to your space. They won't help to soften your space though, and as you have a lot of hard surfaces I would certainly recommend you look at trying to achieve this. You could achieve this by growing some climbers up the screen or by planting planters in front. In terms of colour, I would go or a darker one as this will contrast well to your existing surrounds but darker colours tend to disappear into the background visually, so it won't feel as cramped. In terms of cost, i'm not sure exactly how large of an area you need to cover, but they can get quite expensive. Prefabricated screens you can get from hardware stores are the most cost effective but are limited by design and colour. Custom ones are more flexible but will cost around $900-1500 per 2m H x 1m W panel, plus labour. As for plants, here is where the patience comes in.... If you can wait for the plants to grow in, this will provide you with the most cost-effective approach if you get the plants young. However, you can scale your decision to suit your budget with either small, medium or mature plants. Medium-mature plants are likely to cost less than getting custom screens built and installed, whereas small plants might cost the same as a pre-fabricated screen choice. Plants will also soften your space, but will also require the ongoing maintenance and without a strict schedule, you may end up with a similar problem with pests like your Portgegues Laurel. Gardening and garden design are all about weighing up your priorities vs your ability to compromise against budget, patience and ongoing maintenance. In answer to your question - It's not about what I would do with the space! You need to live in it (and pay for it!), so make a decision based on what you are comfortable with now and into the future. Whatever you decide, any change to your garden is worth the investment! Good Luck! Martin City Botanics