Congratulations on your new home. I think you have been very sensible to live in it for a year before starting your decorating, it has given you time to consider the lighting and aspect of each room in all seasons as well as time to evaluate how you want to live in your home and exactly what you need. The lounge does look very big and bulky and will definitely dominate the room, so I would keep to the lighter colour. Don't worry about the kids and dirt - as Kookykaren said, leather cleans easily - sharp objects and textas are your bigger worry regardless of what colour you choose. Laying newspaper on the floor to the size of the lounge is another way of checking how it will look as it gives you a better indication of bulk than tape. I would keep your ottoman simple (one with storage is an excellent idea with the children), just a tone on tone fabric or a pattern using the colours in the rug on the floor of the photo of the lounge. I don't think you have room for too large an ottoman but I would have a square one made the same height as the lounge so when just you and DH are watching TV you can push it against the other end of the lounge and both have a chaise. You can then bring some colour with art work or some patterned cushions on the lounges.

Hi rissv100 It is rare that I would endorse living rooms on the upper floor over the lower floor. Exceptional views are one reason - however even then, especially for family homes, I would still recommend a living area of some sort on the ground level. With families of any age, but particularly with young children, the ability to have them move easily in and out of the home, be supervised from inside, but also be within easy reach should you need to get to them, and that indoor/outdoor connection physical connection ... all bode very well for a functional, flexible family home. Perhaps as has been suggested, consider a double height living space that can access natural light at high level clerestory glazing to light the lower level too. Using other devices in the home to get light from a higher level to below can be through locating the stair void near the living areas, and using an open design to help light get access. Voids are also good. Alternatively, you can consider your home seasonally ... a living / kitchen / dining area on the ground floor that helps with entertaining, and daily living with a family ... and then a upper floor family area / snug that may have a small kitchenette in it. Based on where you are, the warming north-west sun is generally most useful in winter to help you have warmer evenings in your home - which works with that idea of a family/TV/relaxing evening space. Other times of the year, you generally want to keep the heat of that sun out of your home. I have an 8, 6 and 4 year old who all sleep on a separate level to us and we generally don't have issues. I have designed lots of homes for families of different ages and there are various views on where kids' bedrooms should be. Some families like having the parents on the lower floor, and the kids on the upper floor because they think this is better security. Some don't mind kids on the lower floor as long as they can manage their access outside and security of openings, especially at night. I recommend to all my clients that your kids are big for a lot longer than they're little - and having separation between bedrooms is good for long term use of your home ... however maintaining some visual and audio connection is useful for that casual surveillance of their activities with each other and when friends are over. We renovated our homes for resale (it was how we got ourselves to our current home in the Byron Hinterland), and getting a big living/kitchen/dining area well connected to the garden was always a winner for a family home that sells quickly and sells well. Even though you may have no intention to sell in the near future, your home is generally your biggest asset, and you never know what's around the corner. So any money you invest in it should give you the biggest bang for buck, and help you improve the value of your asset. Hope that helps - best wishes with your renovation - it's an exciting (and daunting) adventure you're about to embark on! Regards Amelia, UA www.undercoverarchitect.com amelia@undercoverarchitect.com Get your free guide to keep your renovation project on budget - CLICK HERE

I never like walking in a front door and looking at everyone at the dining table. You could consider having the support post for the beam, up at the dining end of the room and enclose it with some pretty glass. That would, in effect, give you an un-obtrusive sort of foyer, that still allowed light to penetrate, while closing off the dining room from view and leading you into the open lounge/kitchen. Google Sarah Richardson split house photos. You will have to use your imagination, but I think you'll get the idea. Pretend that the double doors in the photo are your front main entrance. Good luck.

simply put - massively pushing the functional envelope in such tight/small limits. To achieve this you have to seriously limit/streamline flow/access points and maximise any wall space. So for example the only window into the kitchen really should be say a splashback window. The double access into the kitchen/living is a luxury in context - something has to give here otherwise you'll end up with something that ticks boxes but in reality is not actually very usable .......recommend you check out some Japanese & northern European work to see how this type of thing can be achieved effectively/cleverly when space is limited....possibly here you may be best to consider a living/kitchen/bedroom setup that is functionally zoned/separated with strategic furniture/joinery placement, simple kitchen at one end and bathroom the only "room" created within existing structure.......remember, depending upon existing conditions and what the ultimately outcome it can sometimes be false economy rearranging/re-using elements when you'll get a better bang for buck by popping out a little here and there to free up certain details for certain functional gains......good luck! PD