Hello! A mirror splashback looks great and would definitely bounce light around and reflect the view out the window - but you are right that they can be particularly hard to clean behind an oven. I'm speaking from personal experience and also from when we have installed mirrors in clients homes. Have you thought about subway tiles? These will keep the space bright, are relatively inexpensive and timeless - which will help with resale down the track. I've attached an example from a recent project I've completed. Colour and warmth can be brought in with accessories and can be easily updated as trends change. Hope that's of some use to you! Cheers Clare

Know exactly how you want to use your garden, not just now but in the future. Do you have children where you want a safe place for them to play, will you want to add swings, a trampoline, a sandpit, a cubby house and other play toys kids love, but in years to come these will be replaced with other features. Allow for shade trees not just for your garden but to keep your house cool too. Depending on aspect decide if you need evergreen or deciduous trees - if your garden faces north, for example, deciduous trees are best, they provide cooling shade in summer but allow you to enjoy the winter sun both inside and out. What local wildlife do you have? Consider them when planting too. Use graph paper to draw your garden to scale to get a good idea of how much space you need for features. Measure carefully for space needed for a table and chairs for example and allow sufficient room for access in and around the area. Search "Planning a garden for beginners" on Google - lots of ideas here, practical advice and links to You Tube videos. You will even find garden design ideas on-line. Walk around your local area checking what plants neighbours are successfully growing to get you started on what is best for your area. Bunnings do employ Horticulturists to advise you too. If you have patience, look at buying tubestock plants, these actually grow faster than a larger plant and are so much cheaper. Finally try not to make too much hard work of it, a garden is to be enjoyed, take your time and enjoy the creation as well.

My first thought -- the picture ! It detracts from what you are trying to achieve IMO -- move it to another wall . Or another room . Put some vases there . Family pics . The TV . That is my next thought -- the TV should be where the picture is . Yes , there is the fire below . Yes , heat rises . But if you can hang a painting there , you can probably hang a TV there . Although there is a temptation to just swap the picture and TV , I think the picture will still distract . A non-landscape picture may look better , but that one is almost competing with the TV . The frame . The colours . In my mind , you either don't have a TV in a room , or you make it part of the concept -- you have basically done that with the picture , the TV is now a 'nothing' . A poorly executed nothing IMO . But another option if you are wanting the TV to stay where it is -- move it to your bedroom . Or sell it . Get a bigger TV , and mount it a bit higher and equi-distant on that wall -- it looks too low , too far to the right , and although maybe a bit small , the positioning makes it worse . Make it look like it was planned , not planned to fail .

Its really nice , really modern . I'd agree with Kates idea -- get your logo/name laser cut from stainless , get it mounted so it is 40mm 'out' from the wall ( spacers behind the sign ) . Depending on size and cost , if you still have money and'or space , how about a couple of brushed stainless 'poster frames' , get the reps to supply some advertising posters ( hair styles/hair products ) or even make your own ( 'this months special' printed across a models picture or similar ) . Another option may be a 42 or 55 inch TV -- even if you just have the music channel or something on it , it creates colour and movement and gives clients something to look at ( and music at a low volume for staff ) -- the sign and/or poster idea gets boring after 30 seconds , a TV shouldn't .