Hi Sandra, what a beautiful room you can make, I would love your fire place, my thoughts would be to go the lighter colours including painting you panelling, as a few others above have suggested keep the trim and wall colour similar, big floor rug as suggested also. Our sitting room is 4x4 metres, when we first moved in, I painted it quite a dark pink shade and had way too much dark furniture from our downsize that I thought I could not live without. After two years of trying to make myself like it, I finally heavily culled furniture and changed paint colour to a very light grey tone. It probably isn't my perfect colour choice but heaps better, I also purchased some lighter profile furniture, I sit in this room so often now, I just love it, it has gone from a room I tried not to look at, to a room I really like being in. I will put a couple of before and after in for looking at darker colours to lighter colours from very similar angles

Timber and brick house built in the 70’s. All exterior trims originally painted Mission Brown plus colorbond on garage doors. Updated in the 90’s repainted with lighter sand colour to match bricks. Another paint job required for 2018... what paint colour would suit modern ideas? Fascias have been replaced and undercoated. Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks

I’d suggest using pieces of plaster, painted in your chosen colours, to see what the colours look like in different rooms and at different times of the day. We were always going for Natural White which ended up having a pink tinge in certain light in our home. Our large back area is east facing (8m of glass stacking doors) with two south facing windows and two large skylights for northern light. Our colour consultant suggested Dulux Snowy Mountains Qtr strength and it is great for our home. Not stark (no blue/grey tinge) but definitely not too warm. We went all the same colour - walls, trims, ceilings - just in different finishes. Modern home with squareset ceilings. White is so hard. Good luck with your choice!

1 -- leave the existing lights , or maybe go bigger but in a similar style . I like those string ball ones -- you could possibly even have some fun and go for a bold colour , depending on the rest of your house . 2 -- wallpaper the feature wall in an 'interesting' burgundy or even reddish/pink pattern , maybe some scrolls or maybe with a fine gold stripe embedded . 3 -- if you want to stay white or any of the 19472 variations through to beige , add a large colourful abstract painting -- at least 1.5metres x 1.2 . 4 -- that 'roof step' where 1 of the lights is looks out of place -- I'd paint the 2 sides in a charcoal/real deep steel blue ( darker than the carpet but still showing some homage to it ) . I doubt it would darken the stairwell too much , but it would look more balanced and cohesive . The bricks are 'interesting' and doing anything with them could be tacky IMO , the stairs and floors are fine as you have worked out , it just needs a feature wall or focus .