Thanks all for the suggestions! White ceiling really makes sense thanks Helen. I would not have thought to do that but as i sat out there over the weekend it makes perfect sense. At this stage I'll stick to repainting the deck as well due to the cost but long term I'll definitely be looking at sanding or replacing the timbers of the deck. With all the dark colours it really does have an oppressive feeling and i almost feel like i need to hunch over as i walk through so lightening up the colour scheme is definitely the way to go. And yes Angela those blind will be going :)

It's the floor colour that's the main problem, neither one thing nor the other, and certainly wrong with the benchtop. Leave the wall tiles if you like that sort of thing and find a way of covering the floor probably with laminate planks on an underlay. We have a European Birch golden coloured timber floor but softer grey splashback and it looks fine. It's not an award winner but the floor and cabinet carcases had been there twenty years and it was affordable. Don't even think about painting the floor or putting down mats but a clear plastic runner in front of the sink works well for us.

paint the whole shed in the darkest grey and enlarge the pergola and the kids play area and, once the grass grows the whole space will be a great looking kids backyard with plenty of shade

Thankyou for all help and suggestions. We are going with brick pillars and hedge between, with chain wire fence for security whilst the hedges grow. We want to tie it in with the front brick pillar and panel fence. We would not the pillars as close t ogeather as the fence, but we arent sure if to do every second, third or fourth pillar spacing?. Appreciate opinions.