Hello, I don't what to say, I'm really surprised by your generosity and how much time you have put in this for me you. Thank you so much. The kids bathroom design is still up in air too. Their rooms will have windows of course ( silly me ). I love what you have done with the family room. I'm not so sure about the master ensuite. We copied it from the Hyatt hotel where we stayed a couple of months ago( they had 2 sinks though), we loved the fact that the whole family kids adults and pets can take a shower bath together. That's why we liked the tub bath combo enclosure. Your comments about the steam and aroma are very valid that's why I think we will need to have 3 extract fans in there. We are currently living in china but we will be done here within a year. Thanks again for your help.

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.

Lino has been used in bathrooms, laundry rooms, kitchens and entranceways for 150 years (it is the THAT old...yep). The traditional checker board (black/white) is quiet "hot" in many areas of N. America...especially when a "retro" theme has been brought in (think 60's Diner). Lino is the old fashioned "vinyl" before plastics were invented. Then plastic was invented and people switched to "vinyl". Now people are moving away from plastics ('cause we've learned a thing or two about the environment) and are going back to the tried and tested Linoleum (Marmoleum = brand name for lino). Lots of fun in the black and white checkers! I think you'll like it.

This made me laugh: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/09/seagull-turns-orange-after-falling-into-vat-of-chicken-tikka-masala I couldn't copy the picture, but it's hilarious.