@ sally wastie....Would have loved those pine kitchen cupboards....before they were painted. Had I a strong yen for :a bit of colour"...(and I do love colour), I would have had a new glossy multi coloured counter top, probably something very striking and then oiled the pine cupboard doors There were no work benches in the kitchen of my 1920s all pine cottage ( always say that the kitchen was an afterthought since it is positioned just of a hallway and consisted only of a sink and a wood burning stove.) I built a small bench/table using VJ pine slats I'd removed from elsewhere and then put a thick pine top that curved out from the small straight bench to form a little round kitchen table..Then came the fun, I painted the benchtop and table a datk teale colour, gave it a flecked faux marble finish and a couple of coats of high gloss waterproof varnish. Nothing terribly amazing but it did give the old...'kitchen space' a bit of a lift. Had a larger round kitchen table with a formica top and timber legs...so gave the table-top the same teale treatment as the bench and it now lives on the veranda that came a few years later. Yes! Teale of any shade always looks good with timber. The only pity was that the kitchen walls and ceiling here were terribly smoke stained and had been painted a really horrible pre WWII green. Begrudgingly, I repainted the walls but used a bright orange/yellow to complement the dark teale colour ( this particular yellow is a good colour to keep the flies out) and, in keeping with the era of the house, I installed a built in dark timber kitchen hutch found at the dump shop. The kitchen is the only room to have been painted and repainted....but still have the dark timber parquetry floors. If you get tired of all timber a few splashes of bright colour in well-thought-out places do not go astray. If you have vertical timber panelled walls and you are feeling hemmed in... a good trick is to stain a small section of panels a darker wood colour or with a coloured stain to shift the focus from all the timber. or you can bleach the timber panels lighter. This idea can create interest extending ceilngward from behind a furniture piece...say low display cabinet...or just in a section of wall. You enhance the all timber 'look' with an eye -catching timber panel of another timber hue...like having a mahogany panel set in a light timber wall... Just a few ideas for those feeling a bit claustrphobic in an all timber house....understandable, not all of us aspire to live in a log cabin...but if carefully accented, an all timber interior can be extremely impressive and will not date. This is a pre-digital shot of the glass panels I had installed in the wall around my bed head...its really faded PIC but you can get the idea. Looks better today since the glass has been decoratively frosted with patterns. The sunroom behind the bedroomThis is also a pre-digital PIC showing the little timber kitchen bench with the teale table top. The end and other side of the bench is stained timber. This little table seats 3 or 4. Pity you can't see the old parquetry floor here. Old formica table given a lift with a Teale coloured painted top...there's no room for it in the ' kitchen space'. Amazing what a little lick of the right colour can do in an all timber house.

Firstly I would have to ask if you bought this cottage because you truely love "vintage" or did you buy on a budget with the sole purpose of renovating to A. keep it traditional or B. make it so modern the the very hint of it ever being traditional will be almost unrecognisable in the end??? If you in fact love traditional, there are ways to make it modern enough to suit but still retain enough of a "traditional" feel in any single room or space, as to still be able to see the homes"roots" For example, retaining high ceilings, or ornate cornices, timber floors or timber windows etc... If your reasons are to make it modern but maintain tradional, then definitely seek professional help to get it right and that may only mean paying someone "once" to tell you what you should or shouldn't do to make the transformation successful. The picture provided by carthiefintexas is outstanding, showing traditional timber and unusual ceiling heights but with that most gorgeous kitchen/dining table albeit that this picture appears to be that of an inclosed barbecue/outdoor eating area and an add on to the existing home. Even the outside of your home, if council permits, can be partly traditional and partly modern but again, you really need to seek help so as not to get it wrong. Would love to know what you really want for this home??? For instance, if it's on acres and you are going to have pets, traditional homes look and feel more like you could let the dog in so to speak, if you know what I mean, versus a fully transformed modern home that the dog can only look at through the double glazed windows with perfect white tiles and a perfect white couch etc... etc...ha-ha!!!

Umm, I think you could afford an interior designer! But as I'm awfully generous with my pearls, here goes. The lower balcony is an informal extension or your living areas, and will probably count as living floorspace more often than not. I would include an outdoor kitchen along the side wall, and install a floating timber bar top along the balcony wall, as a drinks bench or informal dining slab overlooking the city skyline. At the opposite end a vertical garden wall and a grass carpet, turf lawn rug in that area. I would introduce round outdoor furniture to encourage relaxing, perhaps exterior grade beanbag or more contemporary rattan tub chairs, with charcoal upholstery. Ones that can rotate to face your flat screen when entertaining. So one end is lounge the other dining, although not sure a table would be needed as the dining area links from the inside and doors can open Ruhr up, so the bench and stools is all I'd do, to keep it feeling light and spacious. Use bold and bright pops of colour in cushions along a built in timber slatted bench at the lounge end along the balcony wall, build this is a seat with storage capacity running almost full length stopping a t the mid wall section, change direction so it's an L shape, with the L a planter box also in slatted timber, but filled with plants like ginger plants. Tis will act as a divider between both ends but not all across. Upstairs as it's huge, divide with a slatted wall, perhaps with stainless steel mirror sandwiched here to reflect each end, my reason is to give both bedrooms their own private balcony. Box furniture each end, and Provide a pull out line both sides of the screen. Mobile planter boxes on castors so they can be moved for sunlight. Let these two separate decks be an extension of the personal bedrooms, with individual colour and finish. Although I'd paint the inside of your balconies in a concrete grey so they disappear into the horizon. Try horizontal bands of grey, graduating from charcoal at the bae, then into lighter greys at the top, take your colour cues from the city skyline.

Depending on your budget I’d paint the cabinetry, replacing the doors if you can afford to and just painting them if the budget is tight. Just a thought, maybe it’s possible to fill that detailing in the doors to make them appear flat once painted. Not sure if it’s possible. It’d be a shit of a job but then you’d have solid wooden doors. And new handles. The same with the tiles. Paint is a cheaper option. New tiles would give a better finish. Remove the window valance. Perhaps resurface the benchtop with a product like rustoleum. Replacing the oyster light with something more contemporary. Open shelving can look great and lighten a space but think about whether this compromises your storage capacity. Everything will be on show. I think if you paint the cabinets then the floor won’t look so bad as there will be separation between the similarly coloured floor and ceiling. Cork is great in kitchens as it’s soft so it’s easy on your legs and back and forgiving if you drop things. It’s also making a comeback, as are timber ceilings. I would choose soft flooring for a kitchen over hard flooring. Kitchen floor tiles are a pet hate of mine. In my next build we’re putting rubber or cork in the kitchen. You’d struggle to put a double oven next to the fridge as it’s a thoroughfare. You’d also lose your pantry. Is two side by side 60cm ovens a possibility where your oven currently is?