Hello people, Question time again. Im trying to match indoor and outdoor colour to my project around the living and pool area. I have 10 Meters of space to work with which includes 5 meters width of the living area. If i break the colours indoor v's outdoor it will make my area look smaller, more confined ? If i use polished concrete inside and try and match the colour outside, the surface will get hot. Soooooo... I have added some photos here. I went and purchased a box of man made granit tiles 80x 80cm. Keeping the shiny for the inside and tried "honing" the surface of the other tile as a test so i could use it outside and keeping the surface of the 'honed tile" slightly textured to ensure not so slippery and matching the inside colour. After coating this honed tile it has gone slightly darker which is ok. What im wanting to know, is this ok to do ? will there be any down the line effects of the tile if its outside in a wet area ? it maybe only wet for 3 months of the year for a few hours at a time. My challenge here is price V's product / Styling / practacality -Timber is too expensive for outdoor application / requires maintenance -Marble expensive -Natural stone expensive also if anyone has any solutions / kmowledge / advice it its ok to hone an indoor tile and add a protective coating for the outside. this would be much appreciated. Thanks Houzz'ers! Justin :)

Thanks Mel. We'll see what we can do to make the rumpus enclosed - it's probably more of a "man cave" at the moment :) Grandad had a dining table in his current place (which is bigger) and got rid of it because he never used it. He also wants more bench space than he currently has. So, this was a deliberate choice rather than a compromise due to lack of space. You've reminded me now that someone did warn us earlier in the design process about the back and forth between wardrobe and bathroom becoming annoying over time. We don't currently have an en suite so it feels wonderfully convenient for us by comparison. However, that feeling will change if we realise it could have been even better. We did have the en suite off the wardrobe in some designs but have been warned this can lead to dampness in your clothes no matter how well ventilated the bathroom is (especially in Auckland's humidity). Would love to hear people's experiences of this configuration - good and bad. On top of that, there are lovely private bush views to the south so we've tried to make the most of those.

We are also building in Christchurch :) So also had to look at these kind of requirements for sun, but we had a much smaller section to work with (800sqm). If cost is OK ideally a 2 story would get light into more of the rooms. You also saod the street frontage is 35m but the plans say currently the width of the house is only 15m, so you could run more of the house along the frontage to get it aligned with North. Its a big section are you setting it very far back from the street? Or are you worried about privacy? Is there a view Northwards, otherwise if you can set back from the street and add hedging or plantings to increase privacy I would try and align as much of the living space to get the North and west sun. Depending on what your roof is like you could also add a clerestory to get light towards the back - we are using skylights as well for our back hall and bathrooms to make sure they get as much natural light as possible.

As well as echoing homeprojects advice , a few other things that look a bit 'funny' to me . Firest thing I would say is I'm on a 13" tablet , so everything is small , and I can't read quite a bit , like measurements , but I think I've got a fair idea of the design . TRhe other thing is that it says proposed groundfloor , but there's no stairs I can see , so is there an upstairs , and if so , what is there , and how do you get there ? The garage looks small , if its to scale you won't fit tools or the other 1001 things in there , you'll bash the car doors on each other , no bikes , all problems , nothing much positive . The laundry looks weirdly positioned , on several 'levels' . I'd possibly move/rearrange things so the laundry was about where the pantry is , with an external door . That means though the pantry has to go somewhere , so maybe where the bathroom is , and move the bathroom to where the laundry is ? Another , more logical ( to me anyway ) option would be a long ( or wide -- widthwise behind the kitchen ) pantry , and a long laundry that slots between the 'left' bedroom and the pantry . Basically , split the existing pantry and bathroom down the middles horizontally , whereas now it is vertical . That gets that bathroom closer to the bedrooms ( by moving it to the proposed laundry site ) , but also closer to the hallway for guests . The master with ensuite in the middle is unconventional , not neccessarily bad , but most people would expect the master to be the front bedroom . More an observation than a criticism , but of course , up to you ( and whether you intend to resell ) . And my final observation -- the lounge looks cramped , even the dining is a bit of a compromise . If there is another storey , that may answer that , but its got me confused . Some rooms are quite large and not quite indulgent , but generous -- others are smaller than I'd expect . Just my weird take .