Design
Somewhere to Store Your Bins
Thirty or more years ago storing garbage bins didn’t used to be a problem. There was only one bin and block were big so finding somewhere to leave the bin wasn’t a problem. Now we can have at least three…
Read more
Ceiling Fans
If you have tall rooms a ceiling fan can make a real difference to your comfort without large bills. Summer While a ceiling fan does not lower the temperature it will make the room feel cooler by: The breeze improving…
Read more
Comparing House Sizes
Since 1988 SI, or metric units, have been the sole legal units of measurement in Australia. However many builders and real estate agents still quote property in squares, which is an Imperial measurement. Are they trying to confuse you or…
Read more
Twin Basins – Is It Worth It?
When we first came to Australia and started looking at display houses we often saw En-Suites with two wash basins. We thought it looked fairly classy so that’s what we got in our first Australian new house. Ever since we…
Read more
How Much Garage Do You Need
The trend these days seems to be for double garages……… but how many of them have two cars in them. . . . My guess would be about 10% and quite a few never have a car in them at…
Read more
Small En-Suites
Would you like a small ensuite for a guest bedroom? If you are wondering how small you can go and still fit in a toilet, shower, and wash basin, then visit a budget hotel. Last weekend we stopped at an…
Read more
Induction Hobs
Why we wanted an induction hob About a year ago we started thinking about going all electric. We had previously gone from gas ducted air heating to reverse cycle units and installed photo voltaic solar panels. After installing a heat…
Read more
How Much House?
Do you know that in spite of the standard block getting smaller over the past 20 years the actual size of the houses has been getting bigger. The builders are doing a good job of selling us on the idea…
Read more
Understanding Plans – Basic Floor Plan
A basic floor plan is the sort of plan you will see in the developer’s brochure or on their web site. Most people aren’t used to looking at plans and relating them to what they are going to get. So…
Read more
Rendered Foam Walls
This addendum was added to an original Post from 2014 as there has been a lot of publicity recently (late February 2019) about foam panels and certification has been removed from certain types of panels. A particular issue for apartment…
Read more