Thanks everyone for all the advice. I've become increasingly sceptical about the merits of thermilate. I found some more feedback from some UK forums and they have come to similar conclusions as you all have. I've decided to bin the idea of thermilate and stick with more "bread and butter"...

Hi, Wondered if anyone had any experience with "Thermilate"? thermilate.com.au We are thinking of using it for our ceiling and external rendering.

daikin out of that bunch - but the actronair digitial scroll is also a very good unit however keep in mind that electric heating can be very expensive, particularly here in melbourne. A lesser known but very effective alternative is gas ducted heating with add-on air-conditioning. All the benefits ...

I like them both, but for some reason, option B makes the door look wider in my eyes. Optical illusion. Option B for me, but I'm splitting hairs.

...I have seen white tiles with dark grey grout which looked quite striking....we've gone the opposite with dark tiles and light grout. They did the dark grout with light tiles on Home Made the other week. I didn't mind the look of it... but hubby screwed his nose up We saw that episode too! I didn...

A contrast in sizes can look good too - large tiles on the floor and then smaller ones for the shower walls or splashbacks. Are you going to go for all one type and colour of tile, or did you have something different in mind for walls and floors? I have seen white tiles with dark grey grout which l...

Just remember larger tiles need more cutting to achieve the correct fall for water to drain - so cost more in the laying.....that said when laid look great and make the room look larger. We are hoping to have grate drain for the shower to make tiling easier. We are not so fussed about the size of t...

Hi, We are wondering what size wall tiles to use in the bathroom, laundry and toilet. The bigger the better, to reduce the amount of grouting we will need cleaning. We are thinking of 600x600 for wall. Or should we go for 600x300? or even 450x450? Our wall tiles are cream, and we also wondered if an...

Thanks Rod for your suggestions. We have a modern house and so I guess Ornamental Pear is the way to go? But I fell in love with the Japanese maple (love the colours of the leaves :D )... no idea about Ornamental Pear. What's the difference between the two in terms of maximum height when it matures...

We have a miele gas cooktop, oven and a Qasar rangehood, and are very happy with all of them. Miele no longer make the cooktop we have but the 24034 is the closest to it. We do a fair bit of wok cooking and prefer gas. The only complaint is the weight of the iron trivets makes cleaning them an exer...

We have a miele gas cooktop, oven and a Qasar rangehood, and are very happy with all of them. Miele no longer make the cooktop we have but the 24034 is the closest to it. We do a fair bit of wok cooking and prefer gas. The only complaint is the weight of the iron trivets makes cleaning them an exerc...

I have (two) standard definition Topfield recorders with twin tuners. I don't have an HD TV so I haven't yet upgraded to an HD recorder. I like the topfields because you can add applications (called "TAPS") and you can transfer recordings onto a PC for editing. Funny thing is, even though ...

My In-Laws' house which is less than 5 years old has aluminium Dowell windows. They look good. We are about to get our house renovated and are going to install aluminium Rylock windows. We looked at Trend windows, and they seemed pretty good too. My sister had Stegbar aluminium windows installed in ...

We have been thinking about installing an in-wall cistern toilet but I'm worried about access to the cistern in case something goes wrong. I thought about having a access panel, but it would have to be located on the external brick wall. My wife feels I'm being paranoid and having an access panel wo...

Dear Michelle, Thanks again. We think we'll go with Dune for the walls, downpipes, and Dutch gables. and 1/2 strength Dune for the eaves. (I've always wondered why many recommend reducing the strength for the eaves) We'll post our house when it is finished - hopefully sometime around Xmas. Cheers Bo...

This article explains some of the factors forcing up fixed interest mortgage rates. http://business.theage.com.au/business/longterm-rates-being-forced-up-20090421-ae3y.html Interestingly it states that "the current take-up of fixed-rate mortgages is at record lows in a reflection of the huge dr...

I heard one economist suggest that the Reserve Bank might cut interest rates later on in the year when unfortunately unemployment increases. Whether the banks pass on any future rate cut in another matter. Plus I think Westpac and CBA have just raised their fixed loan rates. Some suggest hedging you...

Dear Michelle, The Silkwort matches well, but we wondered whether we should try a warmer colour and would love your thoughts on colourbond Dune as an alternative render. And if we were to go with Dune (or a similar colour), should we change the colour of the aluminium window frames? We are worried t...

Dear Michelle, Thanks muchly! I intend to pickup a sample pot ASAP.