Oh C'mon V Richards...every epoch has its treasures. B4 you make a mad run for it stop a while and consider the period and the reasons for the style...it can be extremely enlightening....unless its not the period you want to escape from but from some of the opinions. I spent many years of my youth outside of Australia living surrounded by old ruins in Europe. I forgot what it was like here. When finally I returned to Australia and found myself living in some of the 60s and 70s places..I found much to admire and wonder about. I may not have fallen in love with much of it but there was a certain mistique and a feel that I can still conjure when talking about certain places. Not saying that it was all romantic and pleasant but it conveyed something of the era and the kind of Aussie from those days.

I think you can very well still have plants in a windowless room- as long as you're willing to give them regular little 'windowsill holidays' in another room. I'd go with succulents, there are some great warm colour combos (see Pinterest for ideas) and the geometric shapes mimic your tiles. Of course, there are some incredible fake ones around too, saw one last week I could not pick from the real thing. I'd be tempted to mix in some of both to balance aesthetics with practicality! Separately, I'd be careful of adding any soft furnishings (rugs, spare towels, etc) to a small powder room. We are all aware these days that a flushed loo spreads germs a meter around it- I wouldn't want to be collecting and trapping them! I think (subtle) fragrance and votives would warm this lovely space without impeding hygiene.

Well I'm going to avoid that first. I'm going to use grout pen to recolour white and 're Mastic or whatever that seal is called between tiles and benchtop. Do worst area. Then I'm going to paint flower pot yellow and focus on balcony. Will take photos soon of how awful it is

Hi kimvanlogg, re your current styling. Because your mirror is more long than square, I think it needs to be hung on the wall higher. Change over the metal objects, to the side to sit with the vase, then on the other side, group togetherthe cream cone, the plant and the candle holder, I would remove the giraffe. Here are some ideas which I like, preferrably, I would hang or stand the mirror on its end to one side, similar to one of the pictures below, I would then hang two square pictures, same colour tones but of different or similar subjects, with rich frames, one under the other next to the mirror to balance the look out, or you could have a square and an oval picture or brass plate, if you do this I don't think you need a runner. I like the other two pictures below with the lamps I think would work well in your space. They could be more contemporary/more your style, with nice fabric shades to introduce texture. Good luck and pictures please!