Hi Katrina, I really love the horizontal wood panelling I think it's a great feature and from the look of it dark beams with upstairs floor timber on show. If this was my room I would likely make a feature of the wall panels and work around that. I find that because of all the dark, heavy timber the panelling is getting a bit lost (I lived in a house like this in Eltham many years ago and at the time loved it...but it's a bit dated these days) As I can't make out the layout of the room my suggestions are based solely on the picture you have provided. My first suggestion is to sand the beams back to their natural wood because I feel that the darkness of the beams is competing too heavily with the timber of the rest of the room. I'm thinking something like this: https://au.pinterest.com/pin/520588038153372539/ I would then find a cabinet maker to change the cd shelves and open shelves underneath to match the cupboards already in place and put in a continuous benchtop along the top of the cupboards. I would then extend the top shelf to match the other two long shelves and replace the baseboard so it is continuous. I would then ask the cabinetmaker to make more streamlined cupboard doors as I find the vertical lines in the current doors detract from the wall panelling. https://au.pinterest.com/pin/353814114454459992/ or if your cabinetmaker has some clever friends maybe something like this: https://au.pinterest.com/pin/518265869604062708/ I would also remove the light fitting poking out of the left of the picture. I don't know what colour carpet you intend to have laid so it is difficult to suggest a colour palette however I am a huge fan of charcoal and timber: https://au.pinterest.com/pin/406168460122166906/ I would paint the back wall only in charcoal much like the colour above to give a sense of depth. All books would be on the shelves. I'm sorry to say that the ducks would sadly have to be ditched. The bench would be used to hold that gorgeous clock and some of those special pictures that you have on show. Good luck, I hope I have been helpful :D

Hi kristymacd, after changing my mind many times we went for a built in 1700 bath! Mostly as builder and tiler thought it would be easier to slope the floor properly and I liked the idea of the slightly larger built in compared to the 1590 back to wall. I’m sure a back to wall would’ve been possible and been fine, it all just got a bit hard and I knew both would look good. And I don’t think a back to wall would be any harder to clean than a built in - with a built in you have the hob and tiled face of the bath and back to wall there is the floor either side of the bath - same same! Here’s a pic of ours, not totally finished yet but really happy with it.

Hi How2Girl, I appreciate your follow up! The Reece document is good - thanks - I wish there was something concrete in the Standards though. Worth notiing is that a shower over the bath needs the same wall-sheeting details as if it was a shower base. Also wall framing in the bathroom needs to be done to AS 1684.2-2010 Residential timber-framed construction - Non-cyclonic areas (Which the James Hardie 'wet area design book' is based on) Very frustrating that the Australian Standards are not readily available - ie FREE- or at least, latest copies at local libraries. How are we meant to build to standards when they are inaccessible. Another factor in determining the overall quality of the Australian construction industry Also what I've found frustrating in this instance is that other trades in my small town are unwilling to agree that the work is of very poor quality - there is an unstated 'brotherhood' at work. So Im going to have to engage an independent Building Certifier, probably from out of town. Of course,the cost for this will come off the builder's fees on a pro-rata basis for below-par work

you will be able to find out whats behind the wall by first going into the room next door to see see if there's a recess from the other side and/or going up inside the roof space to look down from above to check if the walls around the oven are supporting the roof or hiding a chimney or some other mystery but if the house is not very old it's probably just a timber framed section with the oven installed into the space instead of the more standard technique of installing the oven into a kitchen cabinet..but, after an electrician has removed the old oven it's quite simple to remove the old plasterboard and the framing if it's not supporting any roof and then the gap in the wall and ceiling can be easily repaired by a plasterer and painted ready for a new kitchen...BUT it's never a good idea to rip out anything until you have a clear plan of exactly what you want to do and the new kitchen cabinets, plumber and electrician are all ready for installation and that's probably better left until you live in a house for a while