I have had my kitchen area painted with Dulux Cowardly Custard half strength walls for years now and I love it and never tire of it. I love how cheerful and clean the rooms always look and the colour is not overpowering. Other areas in my home have walls in green and aqua blue and the three colours mix together well and stronger shades of yellow can be mixed with it also. I have just redone the kitchen cupboards and did them in Cowardly Custard too with white benchtop and white glass mosaic tiles and my small kitchen looks so much bigger now. A pale colour will not make a room look smaller.

Those holes in the concrete are from the concrete pour. These are not tilt panels as tilt panels are cast lying flat and do not have the holes apart from 1 or 2 from lifting. This concrete is insitu cast. The walls would be formed up with form ply, lvl formwork and the ties. The holes you are talking about are from the formwork ties. As concrete, when wet, is extremly heavy and fluid. The concrete is constantly trying to escape the formwork and get to the ground. The avoid formwork blow outs from the pressure, they use tie rods between the form walls. These rods go through conduit pipes which are in between the formwork. They use the conduit so the tie rods are not encased in concrete making them a permanent fixture. Once the concrete is cured, and the formwork is removed. The tie rods can then be taken out leaving only the conduit. These are then tapped out leaving you with those holes you talk about. If you wish to replicate the look, it will require an engineer, plans and permits and an experienced formworker and concretor. I will attach a photo for further understanding. Scott.

I really like the pic that LesleyH posted. The wooden rail will be 'warmer' to the touch too, show less dirt and tie is with the stairs beautifully.....I thin it will 'ground' the whole look because, if I remember rightly, the stairs and front door are the only wooden features and the rest is a lot of very modern light grey/white/shiny features. I think another touch of warmth in the wood will be beautiful.

Can I throw a spanner in the works here , and suggest 1 stone , but make it dark ? A charcoal , a schist , even something 'mottled' using mainly charcoal and grey and brown tones - your joinery looks to be dark , the rest is presumably rendered in some off-white variation -- anything in a gold toned stone is already dated IMO , and that square look yellowy gold stone ( your first choice ) may as well be pink or purple -- it will stand out , for the wrong reasons !