Morning Jacky, I am a keen gardener with an RHS course behind me and I was taught that looking for trees with 3 seasons of interest for a garden is always a good idea ie blossom in spring, pretty foliage in summer and autumn fruit. Something like Amelanchier lamarckii which gets to 10m high and 12m wide has pretty dainty blossom in spring delicate bronze foliage in summer and red orange leaves in autumn. The birds also love the purple black fruits which follow. Or a Malus 'John Downie' or Malus Floribunda both vigorous crab apple trees with a long season of interest. I would probably not go for the Tuscan pillar conifers because they will act as pointers drawing your eye to the houses you are trying to screen. Birch (Betula Utilis var Jacquemontii are beautiful however they will reach 15m or possibly consider weeping birch Betula Pendula "Youngii' which makes a dome shape and gets to 8m high and 10m wide. Perhaps have a look at the RHS website which is very helpful.

I think you need to look at the whole house not just the ground floor. I can see why the bathroom on the GF exists because you have 4 beds and only 1 bathroom upstairs so someone installed the bathroom directly below using the same pipework etc., Do you really need that tiny bedroom upstairs at the front of the house? it would make a great en-suite to your master bedroom and balance your home better. You should speak to an estate agent to understand if this will impact the value of your home - personally I doubt it would as the room is very small. In the basement area with utility area, I would add a loo - great for kids in the garden or workmen. Then you could take down the wall between the dining room and kitchen. This is just my view but I am sure others will have better ideas. On your budget of £15k and if you are able to do some DIY you might be able to do it but I think it will be tight. If the budget were higher I would probably move the entire kitchen diner into the basement and take advantage of accessing the garden from that point too.

Cacti and succulants need little care. Echiveria are an attractive choice. Spider plants are virtually unkillable. If you buy from a garden centre rather than a bring-and-buy sale you'll get more modern varieties which are more compact and stay looking good rather than the stringy older varieties. Cane type begonias - particularly Angel's Wing begonias. My mum had one she didn't actually like and would put it in the porch and stop watering it for months, and it would respond by putting out flowers. That plant survived several years of deliberate neglect before it was finally killed by leaving out over winter. Dibleys nursery is a good place to buy these. All plant suggestions courtesy of my mother, who neglects her house plants like you wouldn't believe. My suggestions for care: Beware over watering. I've heard that more house plants die from over watering than underwatering, and I believe it. You check if the plant needs watering by picking it up, and water if it feels too light. Or you can set a reminder on your phone and water all plants once a week (except in very hot weather). The plants I've recommended all cope with being dry.

Hello again, We were originally getting Hammonds 'cashmere' colour TV cabinets all across the bottom of our TV wall plus two shelves on either side of the TV. But now we are reconsidering the cashmere colour. Any suggestions on what colour cabinets to go for and what colour walls to go to compliment a dark room(preferably Dulux)? This is the maximum brightness/natural light this room gets. Its quite dark on a very cloudy day. Attaching the current wall and also the cabinet/unit sketch. Hoping it'll give an idea of what we are trying to achieve. Ignore the colour in the sketch. My husband thinks they'll look too sterile/hospital like if we choose white shades but since that room is pretty dark and the cabinets will be the focal point, I don't know what wall-cabinet colour combinations to go for. The adjoining kitchen/dining room is Country Cream with greenish-grey gloss cabinets. Again that's also a dark room because of a massive Oak Tree. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks for reading thus far. Warm regards, D