It all began when I said

'We ought to get the back yard paved and put some tubs and plants out there. Something to make it look better.'

In truth a bomb dropping on it would make it look better.

Husband immediately started coming up with bigger and wilder and more expensive ideas for extending the house outwards. And the days went by, and the months went by, and the years went by, and still the back yard looked a tip. In fact it got even worse now it was under a 'we can dump it here for now as we're going to be improving soon' curse.

This is what I see when I open the back door:

Not a pretty sight. So last night Wayne came to see us. I'd asked him to call and give us some ideas and a price for a conservatory-type utility room. There's no point having a proper conservatory because, as you can see, we have no view and not that much sunlight.

So Wayne looked and thought and said, 'Yes, we could do what you've suggested but what if ...' and he came up with idea of making it a little wider than we thought and creating a more useable room.

Now Husband has said that as I arranged for Wayne to come, I can make the decision. So do I opt for:

a) no extension but just paving stones and pots (which we can still have either way);

b) our original slim lined-up with the house extension;

c) Wayne's wider more room-sized idea?

I don't think the cost of the smaller one would be much less than the larger as all the basic work would still need to be done and it's not that much less material, but do we need what would be an extra room? Indeed, do we need a utility room at all? And if we do, do we go for how it looks or for usefulness? And if ... oh, I could go on and on. Flipping Wayne making it even more difficult.