my suggestion would be to move the kitchen into the alcove, enclose the staircase to create storage underneath and a door to shut off light from the stairs and a door to close off the hall to the bathroom, paint the walls in a gorgeous dark colour and cover all the windows with double block out blinds and curtains, install a suitable screen on the end wall with a ceiling mounted projector and choose furniture that is light and moveable so that the room can also be used for other purpose.... the couches shown in the plan are each 3m long and there's still plenty of space for seating and tables around the walls!!...depends on how many people you expect to entertain but it should be a fabulous room, enjoy

Daniel, can imagine you don't deal with a lot of fire places in QLD but South of that we do. It's like any beautiful old building we need to respect and conserve what is already there, a new addition can allow for more sleek and modern design. I had been very fortunate to own a beautiful federation house which was simply white inside with polished floor boards, fire places mostly timber, when we sold the new owners striped all beautiful arch ways and all exterior Fret work. I have recently seen an Architect show his work on this forum where the Bull Nose verandah's and metal posts were removed "they weren't original", even though they would have been a 100 yrs, and were replaced with more modern square posts. Look at what is happening on the North Shore Pacific Highway, the past government (Labor) has approved multi story apartment blocks along this highway destroying beautiful heritage houses and gardens to do this and losing any historic charm a big lose for Sydney and Australia , and while not doing anything to update ANY transport to support .this Conserve what we have as is done in other countries for future generations cheers

You aren't thinking the path needs more width for walking are you? It's a visual consideration only? Then dark river stones would look wonderful and dramatic. Please post an After photo! BTW, you have a lovely front garden and love the black & white diamond pavers on your porch!

Hey Wixy. I think colour schemes are (and should be) very much about personal taste more than current trends and "professional opinions". If it we're the latter all houses would look the same! If you like it, go for it. You're the one that will be living with it for years. The important part is that you keep trialling colour combinations and surface textures (and maybe additional snippets of structural architecture) until you find something that really resonates with you (and your cohabitants). Spend the time BEFORE you commit to building. There's tonnes of tools/websites available for visualising combinations, so there's no excuse for rushing this process. Aside from that blurb, I'll add one small resource for potential ideas: I created a video showcasing a range of designs I produced for a home building company and with each design I made 4 colour schemes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MjE__imOIw Maybe something in there gives you inspiration, but keep researching until it feels right for you. Good luck with your exciting journey.