I really like the pic that LesleyH posted. The wooden rail will be 'warmer' to the touch too, show less dirt and tie is with the stairs beautifully.....I thin it will 'ground' the whole look because, if I remember rightly, the stairs and front door are the only wooden features and the rest is a lot of very modern light grey/white/shiny features. I think another touch of warmth in the wood will be beautiful.

At this stage I would just keep attacking on the path your on. I think that right now the brick is too much but when you start to add detail, like plants, furniture, you will be happy you did nothing. You can always decide later.

Yes. I couldn’t find it in my profile though but here is the link. https://www.houzz.co.uk/discussions/5879722/ceilings-floors-and-weatherboard-questions it was kind of an unrelated question re matching ceilings Which is now redundant as it was a question pertaining to the old floor plan. If we keep our current floor plan, we don’t need to match the ceilings as we no longer have the combined dining living - theyre now separated by the kitchen. The deck on the floor plan is now to be knocked down and turned into a dining room. Haven’t got a floor plan for that since we just got the news from council. Trying to warm my husband to it. Otherwise he wants to move! I’m wanting the wall to be weatherboard under the windows to match our weatherboard living room. We have a nice view from the deck hence to keep that going in the new dining room w these windows. this is advice from council. The deck would eventually need to be replaced in the next ten years as it’s an old house so I’m not bothered we would pull it down as we would have to anyway but to be replaced w a new deck. Just looking for advice on type of window rather than any comments on council is. My hubby is doing a lot of dining about it!

I think if you want a modern table re-sell this one and start again. The old fashioned style rosewood/mahogany tables which were French polished were very popular in the 80s and 90s and some people who have old homes still love them. I think there is no point trying to completely change it because the leg style etc is still old fashioned.