I think if you found a subtle mosaic tile to do the backsplash with blues/greys/white it would tie it in together fine. Honestly I get the feeling that when in the kitchen it would seem quite nice (as far as blue kitchens go). What jumps out at me is the back of the cabinet that is facing the carpet. I think if you could cover that with something neutral the kitchen would blend in better with the rest of the room. You could get a cheap vinyl cover/end panel to put over it (even one that matches the Benchtop would be better), or tiles, or wood panels/slats - so many options :) Can I suggest you take a photo looking straight into the kitchen & then re-assess what bothers you from just that perspective?

Thanks for your advice, you have some great points. I agree, we don't want to go crazy at the start - just do the bits that we need to make the house safe/comfortable to live in (eg fix electrical, put in heating and cooling) plus do the basics to make it look "nice" inside (paint walls, polish floorboards and new light fittings like you suggested). I'm sure this will end up costing quite a bit anyway so this might be it for now! We also found today a few hidden surprises that will require attention asap, like asbestos vinyl in between the carpet and floorboards unfortunately and the fact that there used to be chimney hearths in the bedrooms that they have just replaced with cheap pine boards (not matching the rest of the boards). Having a nice garden design will also make a huge difference I think. You are right, there is lots of concrete and a bit of grass - very different from what we are used to (coming from an established garden) so I'm longing for some trees there already!

I would definitely keep your taps and sink, but replace/go over the top of the bench top! It would be nice to price replacing that shower door - change to a frameless or semi frameless piece of glass. Change out all towel rails and such wall fixtures - you can get good chrome looking budget ones at Bunnings that will last three years. Personally, I would definitely paint the vanity doors white gloss - a 2-pak look. You might find the only available options for going over your current floor (other than tiles), are pretty ugly and I wouldn't trust tile paint on the floor it has been known to wear badly. If you don't mind a very small step up into the bathroom, you can tile straight over the top of those tiles, Go to a tile outlet place and you will get very nice tiles in the small quantity you need for less than $100, and the tiling job shouldn't take long or cost much. I have done exactly that myself and I would look into that if you really hate the floor tiles. If the wall tiles are cream and not white, I would paint them with white tile paint. If you do change the floor at all, I would get tile paint in a similar tone - say a stone or grey colour or something similar to the floor colour you go with and use that tile paint to paint carefully over the dark brown stripes in those wall tiles - or better still - try white tile paint over them first and see how they look. I would definitely be painting all that mission brown trim and the inside of the door white if it were me as it will modernise and freshen the space right up, but if you really want to stick to a timber stain, then yes, I would go much lighter than it currently is. Definitely paint the vanity doors in my opinion though if you want to update the whole look in there. Would be best to get rid of that piece of timber between the shower and the door too! That's just me though! Best of luck with it!

This is what our 80's kitchen looked like when we bought the house, it's now lovely and simple, we have a long tall black wall which starts at the courtyard and runs all the way down the passage. That black wall along with white cabinets and timber work for us. Would have loved a timber floor but the tiles worked better in our situation. But if you were wanting to stay true to 80's you would look to use simple timber cabinets to work with your floor adding a concrete look benchtop, which I would loved if it wasn't so darned expensive at the time