I saw these also and loved the idea especially for the sliding door of our new house......however when the quote came in at approximately $4975 for a 3.6m wide set of sliding doors I was shocked!!! Now it's been nearly 20 years since my last build but I never thought window furnishings would/could be so expensive. So I would like you love to know if any other companies do similar at a much lower price.

My advice would be to get rid of the blind as you won't use it once you have the curtains - perhaps you could use it elsewhere or have it as a spare. You would probably find that without the blind you will use the access more often. I would do full height and full width drapes - an inverted pleat is attractive with heavier fabrics but if you have the light fabric on the top keep it simple. How about putting your sheer lighter drape on the side closest to the bedroom and have the blackout lining behind. This gives softer look in your room. You would probably find that without the blind you will use the access more often. If there is a lot of sun take care with the pure linen cotton and natural fibres as they will rot with light and sun. There are many synthetic linen look alternatives that are less expensive, last longer and have the same look. I feel your room could do with some texture - you could possibly have a subtle self coloured stripe in the drape - or go plain and have the interest in your bedding. If you want to go soft grey drapes I would go for a darker charcocal or midnight blue/ teal colour on your walls which would look awesome with a soft grey linen look curtain and natural bedding. You could introduce soft mustard, peachy pinks and soft apple green linens in your bed cushions.

Rachael, you’re very welcome! It was fun to draw up. As far as layering photos, I wasn’t suggesting you cover one photo with another, (what is the point of having beautiful photos and memories then! Lol) rather, overlap the edges of the frames (both are quite wide from your photos) so that they are connected without obscuring the images within. Hope that makes sense! What a difference just painting that back wall makes! It really opens up the room now. I think the few bricks around your fireplace now is a very charming feature. It keeps the charm of the original while bringing the rest of the room into a fresh new era! Well done! I would suggest running a long extension chord for your tv for now while you try out a new layout for the space if there are no powerpoints on the far wall, just to be sure you like the arrangement. Can’t wait to see updated images of your new space!

Thank you all for your advice. In response to the comment about wheelchairs, I actually looked up the legal requirement and found it to be 850mm clear, so even at 900mm this gap would be adequate but most doors in the house would not be wide enough, so I guess we move if either of us is confined to a wheel chair. I don't see us maintaining a large house and 1.5 acres in that situation anyway, as sad as it would be. Interestingly, I am advised that the new building code - to be introduced next year - will require ALL houses to be wheelchair friendly. No steps, wider doorways and halls throughout, disabled toilet and shower facilities. Insane in my opinion, particularly given the cost impact during a massive housing affordability crisis. What planet to these bureaucrats live on? That aside, I take the point about moving the hotplate and changing the shape of the island, but having considered that carefully, the idea doesn't appeal. But the hotplate is only 600mm. I had planned on a 750mm but as we have a 750mm glass top gas cooktop in the alfresco area out back and we hardly ever use more than 2 burners at a time, hubby convinced me to go with the 600. In fact, he ended up choosing the cooktop as he does a lot of the cooking. So at 1050mm, the leg of the L allows up to 450mm between the cooktop and end of the bench. Even if I leave 200mm + the 600 for at the corner at the other end, there is still 250mm. I considered shortening the leg of the L, but I specifically wanted a pullout on the end of it for oils, etc. so I am thinking maybe take the gap back to 950mm. That gives me an extra 150mm in the dining room. Bigreader, I possibly should have included more of the space in the image for clarity. Here it is: There will be a very small table and chair setting for casual meals in the U at the front and biflold doors leading to a terrace where we will often eat, so the gap will be for moving between cooking area and those two eating areas. Generally only one cook though. Drawers are for plates and cutlery. The space to the left is designated ''dining'' but need not be used much for that purpose given the two casual eating areas (both only accommodating 4 people max) and a large 8 person diining setting in the screened outdoor living area at the rear. But there will be a large wall unit along the wall on the left, taking up 500mm of the width, and the current width is only 3.25m, reducing to 2.75m with the wall unit in place. I was thinking of maybe putting a banquette setting - minus the chairs on the left side - in there using a narrow table so that in inclement weather if we had a larger crowd for a meal (which does happen quite often) or if we had more than 8 for a meal (which happens regularly on special occasions) we could move the chairs from one of the other eating areas and eat in the dining space rather than separating people more by putting some at the front of the house and some at the very back. But I don't want to crowd the space such that walking thru to the outdoor room is awkward as that thoroughfare will be used heavily used, especially when we have guests. I did consider leaving it empty but thought that might look rather odd. Or I could just put some casual seating in that space, as there will be a TV in the wall unit. BTW. I deliberately avoided a wider island as I like the raised hob screening the sink area and we hate eating at a bench. Thanks again for all the great advice.