Oh, yes. I love your plan. (I never remember names, though...just who I am--can't remember names of composers I like, or book titles, or authors either). Either location will work fine. But, I think I would probably put it on the bedroom hall (the one that runs up and down on the plan, rather than side to side). I think if you use the guest room as a guest room, it would be nicer to not have the laundry room door right there. However, for your convenience, you should do what you like best (since either is really fine). If it would be easier for you to hear the beeps and remember to change the laundry if the door was nearer the living spaces, then put it on the guest hall hall. (But, for this reason (of hearing the beeps in the main living spaces), it might be nice to not have the door on that hall.) Confused yet? :) Really, I like your plan.

Yesterday I planted 12 Lilly Pilly "Backyard Bliss". Each plant is around 80-90cm tall and 50-60cm wide at the base, and I've planted them 77cm apart (weird number, I know, it was to distribute them evenly in the space). What I'd like to know is, what do I do now and in the future to get them to grow into a dense hedge? I'd like them to get to at least 2 to 2.5m tall and obviously to join together into a continuous wall of foliage. I've read about "tip pruning" to get denser growth, but I have no idea if or when I should be doing that. I also don't know if I need to put in stakes as they grow. In short, my knowledge pretty much stopped at fertilising and mulching! ;) Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Lindsay

My husband and I are done remodeling and finally ready to purchase long-term furniture. Exciting, but the great room is giving us such a hard time! As you can see from the floor plan, we only have one wall to the right of the fireplace to anchor furniture, or at least that's the only design we're coming up with. As of now, we don't see any other place for the TV except that wall. We toyed with the idea of hanging it over the fireplace, but our mantle is way too high so that option is out. Keeping the TV on that wall means we have to float all our seating. My dream is a standard sectional with a chaise on one end. Looking at our dimensions, you'd think we have the room, but after taking into account the brick hearth, 3-4' walkway we'd like to leave next to the stairs, AND that small 2' wall next to the stairs that eats into the walkway itself...the room closes in quite a bit. A large sectional seems overwhelming at that point, especially hanging out in the middle of the room. We also have a coat closet at the end of the "walkway." Again, making our large room, not so large after all. We measured off the sectional and it really does seem to swallow the room. (Pics below - and disclaimer - we've since updated our banister and whitewashed our fireplace!) We're expecting our first and only child in May. Again, I'd love a sectional that the 3 of us could snuggle on, but I fear there won't be any room for accent tables, or any room for our baby to crawl around and play. Plus, factor in all the baby gear, although temporary, we'll be pretty cramped for a while. So our next thought was to float a double chaise sofa facing the TV at 129" long with the chaises coming out to 64" each. (Possibly adding a long sofa table behind it depending on the dining table we choose.) We would then float 2 accent chairs just in front of the TV console, facing the sofa. This will leave us with dead corners at the windows, but I can always fill them with blanket baskets, etc. (We have a very spoiled cat, so he'll end up with one corner I'm sure!) And I was thinking once the baby gear days are said and done, we could even do a slim sofa table along the stair wall. At 129" it will still be just as long as the measured off sectional in the photos below, but I'm hoping due to coming out only 64" and remaining low profile, as opposed to a full back 96" along the stair wall side, the room will still feel open. I know how some people feel about the chaises...that they're wasted space and ottomans are more versatile. I agree, however, we're using ottomans now with a standard sofa and I don't care that much for the set up. We do entertain, but I want to design more for our family on a daily basis and I think the double chaise might be a nice way to get my comfy sectional feel without entirely enveloping the room. Thanks so much for reading. I am desperate for thoughts!! If you see an arrangement I haven't thought of, or think what we're planning might be terrible, great, etc...I'd love the feedback!!!

It is impossible to do this on line and you need actual samples to be sure what dried grout will look like. This is mock up of Mapei Alabaster. I would look at backs and sides of this tile and get close to that color.