Hi Karina. Haha very funny re your art piece, KitchenAid! Baking is so much fun; I'm a baker from way way back, and you learn by just jumping in and doing it. About the height of your combined dining/bench table, it's pretty important to have a height that's comfortable for you whilst you work. I'm tall and my family is too, so we had the benchtop height built higher so we are not getting backaches from constantly having to bend over to work. It's really more important for the one who does all or most of the cooking & baking to be comfortable as you can spend long periods of time reading and working out recipes, then putting it all together. Likewise, if you are shorter, choose a table that suits you. Best wishes and keep us posted.

first thought is to widen the step at the front door, add a wall attached to the extended roof and create a more sheltered porch entrance with a bench seat and place for shoes under the bench and/or in a wall hung cabinet, the first pictures shows what i think is already there this one shows my suggestion a good carpenter should be able to build something out of timber to match the existing in a few days, not especially cheap, but well worth making something to match your gorgeous new home...a quicker, cheaper option would be to have a decorative shoe cabinet on the floor on the right hand side of the front door looking out...the cabinet would be visible from outside through the window next to the front door

Ok, I see ...one possibility would be to retain the unit as shelving where it is and wall mount the tv on the adjacent wall so that you can optimise seating arrangement. Otherwise I think you are on the right track, a circular rug would work, maybe a couple of mid century chairs might look nice, you could put some trailing plants up high away from your little one, maybe a basket or two to keep toddler clutter in check would go with an eclectic kind of look. If you move to a larger space in the future, mid century chairs would be easy to pair with a couch.. I think try and bring as much storage as you can to keep the space manageable.

yep agree, what you are liking is going to cost way more, what your allowance for is for budget/flagfall/basic detail. Maybe 30K suggestion a little inflated for this but certainly 10-15K min Depends upon who, material chosen and extent of finish...possibly you may be able to get away with some quality carpentry to tackle a similar balustrade idea rather than getting a (more expensive) joinery shop to do it, because if it was joinery w' clear 2 pac'd timber screens then arguably yes the number would get pretty scary pretty quickly. You can achieve the screen effect in various ways, but expect to tip in 3-4 times the number allowed at this stage............costs aside though, if it's a U shape set-up, (without knowing how it's planned/positioned etc,) unless you have a fully exposed side (in a significant aspect of the residence), it's questionable whether you'll get the effect you're after and hence if it's the best way to spend money on the screen balustrade - they're a great detail, lovely internal textural element, but arguably best/most striking when implemented on single runs like in the images......