Hi Kathy, so thrilled to hear my comments got you started thinking of the big picture, it has been a pleasure working with this. When you are starting totally from scratch like this it is easy to become too close to the issues and the brain becomes overloaded so you can't see the woods for the trees. I think this is also a classic example of why I always tell people to live in a house for a year before beginning to decorate, as hard as it is to be patient and wait, you do need to get the feel for a house and relate your lifestyle to it. I do like your idea of splitting the room into two areas, the room looks big enough to give you this option, and to me intimate spaces within a room create a more welcoming and homely feel. When you have a good idea of the furniture you would like, put what you have in the room and measure anything else before you buy it, use newspaper or cardboard boxes the size of the pieces and put them around the room to ensure you are going to get the desired result. It can be so easy to over or under estimate just how much space furniture will take up. Sorry the green lounge in the study didn't work out, but glad this has helped you see options. Just my personal opinion, one of my joeys had a lovely old grandfather clock in her lounge room and while it was a beautiful piece of furniture to look at, I just found it a little on the intrusive side - with its constant chiming it just didn't make the room feel relaxing, one was just so aware of the passing of time. Of course this can be advantageous when certain rellies visit. She ended up moving hers to her entrance foyer where it was a stand out feature and the lounge room became so much more relaxing. Love to see some photos of your landscaping.

I love Julie and Big reader's comments. I would change the window treatment to soft colourful curtaining and incorporate the suggestions already made. I like your coffee table and tv unit together btw. And a nice bit of artwork could pick up the curtain colour.

Thanks everyone. Still a lot to consider. We will do boards throughout the house one day in the future, probably not bedrooms though. The Jarrah is on top of radiata or cypress pine that is full of inspection hatches so will be a bit soft and rough to polish up. After living with a softwood polished floor I’d be hesitant to do it again. Looking at these photos I’ve saved for ideas I think we can use the beige. Which actually comes up a warm grey in certain lighting….

Thank you both! Yes, we are using contractors, but will do labour/DIY where we can to save $$ (iie pulling off wallpaper and other prep). My brother is a builder so will be organising the trades as they are mates of his, but I know I will need to get him onto it rather than wait for him to so he can get everyone booked in :D he will also be able to help with some of the prep work. So if we get the keys on the Fri would the below work - Fri-Sun/Mon wallpaper off, carpet off, prep Mon-Thurs floors sanded polished Thurs-Fri bedrooms (where there is carpet not floorboards painted Mon-Wed hallway and living room painted Thur-Fri carpets in bedrooms Fri/Sat move in :D