I'm from a European background ... Italian and Catholic. Christmas means celebrating the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. I hold onto generations of passed down tradition ... We celebrate December 6th as St. Nicholas Day (European Father Christmas) ... this is the day that all the house & garden decorations go up! We celebrate January 6th as The Epiphany (this is the 12th day of Christmas - when the Kings went back home) ... this is the day that all decorations get packed away. That's one month of relevant religious dates/events ... just enough time to truly appreciate celebrating the birth of Jesus with family and friends - whether gift giving or not - and "ooh-ing and ahh-ing" over the home Christmas decorations without getting bored with them.

Hi there, I do like your concept of a gun-metal wall colour however there are a couple of options you may like to consider before using such a striking wall colour in the nursery. Firstly, the predominant colour scheme appears quite muted and calm, but reducing the intensity of gun-metal grey wont work with the beige curtains. To sharpen up the look of the curtain, attach a bit of bling at every 20cm, possibly using that colour on your feature wall. For example if you use colour crystals in purples or topaz, then you could pick up those tones in your new feature wall colour. Secondly, I didn't see any storage in the nursery, so have you consider working some shelving into your decal and installing wall sconces for a soft warm lighting effect. This soft lighting would provide you enough light at night during feeding. Shelving doesn't have to be square timber screw-fixed to your wall, but it can be a composite of materials (some hard and soft) to accommodate all your needs but without cluttering up the floor space. Hope these comments help, sorry I don't have pictures to post on line. All the best, from Halia at Wild Terrain Designs, Melbourne, Australia.

Unfortunately it looks as if the rocker above is in front of the opening section of the sliding door. The other glass door section probably doesn't open anyway, so treat it as a wall to some extent, this will allow more useable space - just leave a bit of a gap for window furnishings to operate. Having the crib on the original layout allows you to peek more easily when baby is asleep - although with the cameras now, this isn't a priority. My grandaughter waves at the camera when she has done something she knows she shouldn't. As far as layout is concerned, don't stick to a too regimented idea, but if placing overhead shelving, the southern wall would be best, as this is not a thoroughfare. Pottery Barn make some delightful storage items. Just remember to anchor them to the wall, as no matter how difficult it is for children to access, they will - make it safe for them. You could incorporate the change table in a long low storage section for the relevant time, then turn it into a desk - see Ikea Stuva.

I hope you don't feel offended or that you wasted precious time and energy, siriuskey? I really do wish we'd reached the point of seeing your concept earlier. But I am happy with the design we settled on. Perfection isn't achievable. There will be things that we wish we'd done differently for sure, but overall I think we will end up with a home we can enjoy living in and be very happy with. This will be the 28th house we've lived in, and definitely the last (Said that four time before, but we really are getting too old to be moving! And this move is only happening because of a family crisis. We had renovated this house to be forever.). You do get a feel for the things that work best for your lifestyle after living in that many different homes. Things like the sewing nook in the laundry, for example, I wouldn't have considered years ago, but having had to run from one end of the house to the other to press a seam open, it's a biggy! And laundries today are not like they once were. They are clean, streamlined and pleasant to be in. My sewing bench will be under a north-facing window with a pleasant outlook and the washing area will be at the other end of the room. The kitchen will be very close so I can keep an eye on any cooking in progress while sewing or ironing. I have also decided that for me, the cooktop should be on the same bench as the sink - not opposite as is usual. So we have settled on an L-shaped island with the sink tucked behind a raised section so it's largely out of sight (as was suggested here), and the cooktop in the leg of the L. Hubby cooks a lot so the kitchen design ended up being important to him and he hated the main sink being far away from the cooktop. For some reason, the small sink on the island didn't work for him. Little things - but little things can be really annoying sometimes. I loved the idea of the sink near the servery window but it didn't appeal to him at all. In the end, we compromised on having the pantry sink under a servery window to the terrace, since the outdoor room won't be used a lot for dining and when it is, there will be a team to carry things out from the kitchen, whereas we will dine on the terrace frequently, especially when we have just one or two guests, and the servery there will be useful. So, final draft this weekend and on to working drawings, shed plans and council applications.