Hi Rahul Satija To answer your question, regarding which material to use for the outsides of your home Terracotta Brick - unless you have used bricks that are meant to be left exposed, ordinary bricks will take in a lot of water and leave the walls damp, and hence not a great idea. You could ofcourse cover it with a veneer of brick cladding but that is something we would not propose. Between wooden cladding and paint, it frankly depends completely on your budget. Wooden cladding looks extremely good but is quite pricey. Our suggestion would be to paint the majority of the home, with highlights in parts in wooden cladding.

sararahim123 What constitutes an adequate illumination level varies from person to person. What exactly do you require illuminated? If its simply ambient light you would have tiny lights as shown that throw light on the stairs itself. If a bit more is required you could consider adding a railing with a light under. If general illumination is what you are going after, but in a muted way, would suggest wall scones that throw light upwards onto the ceiling, diffusing the light.

My wife has been getting all kinds of conflicting ideas about the living room furniture we're thinking of buying. So we want 2 leather couches in taupe (whatever that is) which will face each other and then 2 recliners side by side. The recliners are the same model. I want mine is Blue leather (muted) and my wife wants hers in a fabric that has taupe and blue. She said she'll have the ottoman in the same pattern as her recliner and pillows that will match her recliner as well. We're being told that the recliners must match and that she also get the leather. We don't have a formal living room. We have a large family room. Do the recliners have to match as some or telling us or can we do this the way my wife wants. I just want her to be happy, I'm not that big on everything matching. Ideas?

Pournima, this appears to be a high rise building. The design has no markings of columns in it. Your designer is my most likely right. Such structural changes ( beams columns etc) are not recommended without getting an architects buy in as it impacts whole buildings integrity. In balcony, they may have provided a design element which you are referring as slanting cutout column. You may want to share a pic of that one. Thanks Nitin Cornerstone Designs, Bangalore.