I was thinking about UK vs US style the other day after reading an article on Trump's decorating of the White House: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/aug/24/trumps-3m-white-house-redesign-is-as-drab-as-a-downmarket-hotel There are points where it is difficult to say US or UK, especially in high end apartments in Manhattan, Georgetown in DC and perhaps some part of San Fran which could easily be in London, Bath or Edinburgh. But overall you could put a slide deck up on interiors and most can easily say if they are in the UK or US. Various UK TV shows have changed what used to be dark small spaces into light homes with many people knocking through rooms to add light, removing curtains and painting with light colours. The US is moving that way but still use a lot of darker woods. The US do tend to go for details - window and ceiling mouldings, solid wood doors and outdoor landscaping.

Weeducks, yes, Malaysia actually. I've worked in much of this region over the 28 years I've been out here. Emmerline, I am sat here at 7pm as I write this - it is 35 centigrade and extremely humid (because it has cooled down a bit since mid afternoon). I wanted some exercise yesterday and had to wait till after 9pm before it dropped below 30 centigrade - and then only just. Midnight still saw 26 and early morning isn't much better. It has become much hotter over my years here. Life in the city now is air conditioning in the house, car, shops and offices. It is like being a termite not going outside other than in a climate controlled environment like a car, taxi, bus or train. Mornings used to be cool, but no longer. It is always T-shirt and shorts weather here, only because you can't go to less than that! Gardening here is a chore. (I cut the grass yesterday morning) Go into the garden between 10am and 5pm and get burned by the sun. Before or after that time and get eaten by mosquitoes. I tend to look at the garden from inside the house.

Looks like a bodge job to me too! They should have used pedestal risers under the framework not piles of bricks. Not only would the pedestal risers support the framework securely, they would also be lightweight and spread the weight of the deck more evenly which would be better for a roof terrace. Do a google search for decking pedestals and you'll see what should be there. Good luck.

Hello, HU, how interesting. The pictures really help. May I ask why the floor is so high? Do you have a cellar? or are you on a hill ? Is the garden flat or on a slope? You can ask you neighbours what is underneath? If it is that high you may loose a bit of garden.... Looking at your photo is your kitchen floor lower than the room next door ? If yes lower the floor for sure. It will lessen the gradient of possible steps. But it might be piping underneath just looking at the two pipes on the back ??? But if the wall is going to disappear it will not be an issue as the builders can divert them. But seeing what the neighbours have done I would say if you can afford it a glass box type extension. So that will allow a lot of light into the house and would not feel imposing. Garden storage, bikes etc could be underneath. If you choose to put your patio first then that is slightly lower than the extension. Or the same height then the steps or a slow sloping path will take away the idea of the steps. Have a look at terraced garden pictures, as you can plant to give the look of flattening the height so it looks like you are to create a garden journey. Your patio does not have to cover the whole width of the extension, it could be a semi-circle or an arc with the rest of the ares at that same height with plants and steps that gradually go down and around to flow into the garden. Any steps can be softened by using wood, sleepers... add plant pots to them to create the garden. Soften you garden with curves. If you have kids or not what an amazing height to make a built in slide ! I hope this helps at least start to conversation. But have fun designing.