lyndalcrombie, you are most welcome, I was a bit worried when you felt you needed to be defensive about your likes and dislikes. As I said I got allot out of your post, as I too am building and have themes and colours racing through my head and if I had any doubts about picking a colour, this forum has helped me enormously especially the informative comments on other Houzz forums from both Midesign0401 and Ladyrob1. Together they have helped me choose colours that will work for "ME" as that's the only person that has to be happy ultimately, "ME", not wanting to leave hubby out of the mix but he couldn't care less about colours and themes, I mean, most men don't care, as long as they have their chair and the remote ha-ha.....thank goodness we still have to buy all our lounge furniture, or hubby would want to take the ugly old thing he's sitting on at present, thank goodness it's not particularly comfortable, or I'd have buckleys of keeping it out of the house ha-ha Enjoy your house!!

I agree about the idea of putting roller blinds on your door , matching the colours of the others must mention about Annie Sloan paint : it is a chalk paint and you can apply it on any wood surface with at having to use primer, what " seals" the pain is the Annie Sloan wax you apply afterwards. You can Buy Annie Sloan on line , i use Annie Sloan a lot.it is expensive if you want the legs painted black to be smooth, just paint and wax , but one coat of Annie Sloan does not give a good coverage. It you want it " distressed" slightly, then just sand a few it on the edges afterwards, before the waxing With a slight " distressed" leg look, but you would need to give the top of the table a light sanding to " rough it up" on the edges if you want a good solid, coverage, Annie Sloan is not the right choice have a look on eBay, I have just bought some cages light to fit near my table outside ( I was just playing around with them yesterday before the electrician comes toda), they were only like $46 each

I spent ages figuring out the lay out of our kitchen and am really happy with the result (four months in). We put the sink on the back wall, under a window and love looking out. Make sure there is a bin drawer next to the sink. Ours goes bin, sink, dishwasher, drawers, stove, drawers, oven stack. I think the passages in your kitchen area are a bit narrow. We have 1300mm between the benchtop edges. People can then pass each other easily and it doesn't matter if the drawers or dishwasher is open. The island then has drawers holding the plates and cutlery. You can unload the dishwasher straight into the opposite drawers which the kids love. You have two lots of corner cupboards in the pantry and might be better off with one straight line as I don't believe you gain much more and it will feel more spacious. Consider leaving a space on the kitchen side of the island so you can sit too. I hate standing while entertaining and everyone else is sitting at the island! Hope that helps.

Hi Bonnie, What a beautiful kitchen. The overhead black glass doors look great. My thoughts are: Option 1, modern look: Black glass splashback to match the beautiful glass doors. I have used on my projects before, link below for your reference, and they work beautifully for a modern look and very easy to clean and maintain. https://www.houzz.com.au/hznb/photos/kitchen-design-monia-basso-architects-modern-kitchen-melbourne-phvw-vp~144827524 Option 2, industrial chic look: Stainless steel splashback to match benchtop. I have used on my projects before, link below for your reference, and they work very well for a industrial chic/or industrial modern look and, also, very easy to clean or maintain. https://www.houzz.com.au/hznb/photos/industrial-kitchen-monia-basso-architects-industrial-kitchen-melbourne-phvw-vp~144828526 My other thought is to keep the splashback height the same across the kitchen to align with the underside of the overhead cupboards, although you must check Australian Standards for minimum height for the area behind cooktop, this is a must for safety. All the best. I hope this helps. Monia Basso