I love mirrors - they bounce light around and depending upon what they're reflecting they're great to use for feng shui - if you're really worried about using mirrors - ensure that they reflect back something terrific (say such as green plants outside). You need to review how you use plants - the ones that youve got are low - you need something that is eye height and on your furniture - to create different levels of greenery - so think about taller indoor palms, and when you get your TV wall mounted, you could use the TV unit for storage and put a plant(s) on top of it to give you different levels. If you can replace the map for other keepsakes/accessories from Mongolia I think you'd be better off. Soft fluffy "hairy/furry" cushions will soften your lounge and refer back to traditional heritage. You could replace the map with a Mongolian style rug or traditional artwork. Utilize a strong horse statue or vase, hanging a piece of traditional costume (similar to the way Kimonos are hung) or a piece of reproduction artwork - just pick things that you love on your coffee table and other walls. You could also do shadow box frames traditional jewellery/horse stirrups/bridles for something eye catching (you can source these online or if you've got family still in Mongolia it's well worth asking them to check out markets/antique shops). The map doesn't really do your home or your background justice - Mongolia has such a rich history and culture to pick from - have some fun with it. I think as soon as you remove the vertical blinds and replace them with curtains you'll instantly feel better - (hang them as close to the ceiling as possible - it'll make your room feel taller and the curtains themselves will bring a feeling of soft comfort) and with changing the coffee table you'll be on the right track.

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

If you "change" anything that involves a building approval then the floor area on the plans relevant will count towards the overall amount. If it amounts to beyond 50% of the existing conditions then the whole building becomes applicable to energy calculations and so you enter into up spec'ing existing areas. And yes it can often be a good thing to be doing anyway, but of course it costs money. If the total area being changes is below 50% then only the areas of new work are applicable. I'm honestly not a specialist in this area, but I have to deal with the issues naturally in the course of the design and resolution of project solutions I provide, and hence I use an energy consultant regularly and we have a way/system of working through together how best to achieve the requirements for permit. As far as I understand it's a case by case/project specific exercise and also there's various ways of negotiating/achieving the necessary performance requirements - e.g. you can play around with different levels of insulation together with a particular glazing/window spec, and depending upon circumstances you can save money one way or another. Sometimes I'll squeeze windows overall down to get it under a certain amount to not trigger requirement for expensive glass...also timber windows rate better, but if you are in a bushfire area you'll be caught out or require very expensive timber windows...it's a real juggling act in particular contexts...which is why you really need to be working collaboratively with an energy consultant/specialist to work out the best solution in this regard, as well as the other aspects of design, structure and bushfire etc. It's a true team effort ;) If you're really up for some technical reading you there is some further energy info here NCC Volume One Energy Efficiency Provisions 2016 - Australian ... but it may get confusing........Coming back to the core of it, my advice: 1. define your budget 2. list and prioritise your requirements 3. seek some preliminary advice/assistance from a seasoned designer doing this type of work to test whether or not the general concept of what your endeavouring to achieve is viable, and this depends upon the relevant context/existing conditions etc (and bushfire rating is yet another layer on top of all this), and then refine the concept from there. If you are just doing a bathroom or kitchen isolated then you can arguably do it yourself, but if you're re-jigging the whole house like it appears you are heading towards, and on a very tight budget then I'd highly recommend (to save yourself headaches and frustration going around in never-ending circles) to invest some of your available budget into front-end design, to get to a solution that works to your nominated priorities so you achieve a viable and professionally advised outcome. Trust me it will be money well spent. Have a great Christmas, and best of luck with continuing to work through it all :)

1 -- leave the existing lights , or maybe go bigger but in a similar style . I like those string ball ones -- you could possibly even have some fun and go for a bold colour , depending on the rest of your house . 2 -- wallpaper the feature wall in an 'interesting' burgundy or even reddish/pink pattern , maybe some scrolls or maybe with a fine gold stripe embedded . 3 -- if you want to stay white or any of the 19472 variations through to beige , add a large colourful abstract painting -- at least 1.5metres x 1.2 . 4 -- that 'roof step' where 1 of the lights is looks out of place -- I'd paint the 2 sides in a charcoal/real deep steel blue ( darker than the carpet but still showing some homage to it ) . I doubt it would darken the stairwell too much , but it would look more balanced and cohesive . The bricks are 'interesting' and doing anything with them could be tacky IMO , the stairs and floors are fine as you have worked out , it just needs a feature wall or focus .