JudyG – Happy Birthday!! Tras – I had that exact issue with where to transition colors, because my house is open concept. The kitchen & dinette are a pale teal .. but they’re open to the great room & foyer, which are peach. I paid the color expert at the paint store for a consultation, and we talked about how far towards the blue I really wanted, I could go in the kitchen/dinette .. leaving a medium green ceramic backsplash, and where to transition colors. We also talked about light & warm colors to replace the dark colors in the main bathroom & finished basement. It was worth the $125, and I didn’t have to wade thru 100 conflicting comments on Houzz! Darzy – I so agree with you, about the scope of fixes some posters recommend. If I asked how well a fabric I was considering for the couch went with other furniture already in that room, I wouldn’t appreciate people telling me to paint the walls, change the windows, replace the flooring, and change the stone on the fireplace! Another subject for us OLLDs to chat about – Consumer Reports magazine/website – are they really unbiased & even handed? Do they have a bias against high-end manufacturers or products?

Hi meusm, and thanks everyone for the comments. The open shower is a dream to use, there is so much space it feels like showering outdoors. The shower screen in 90cm wide. I was always worried about the splash, but its not a problem at all. A small amount of water does get out (I estimate 1/2 a cup), but we have a bath mat. If the screen was 1m I think there would be almost none (although this obviously depends on your shower head, water pressure and fall of the shower - make sure you get the fall in the floor right!). Because it is all open it dries very quickly. The pocket door is a cavity slider, which slides between the wall behind the towel rails. The sliding door was essential in such a tight space. All the best with your reno!

Hi everyone, You may remember my posting Design Dilemma back inJune/July 2017? Thanks for all your amazing suggestions and ideas. Many of our grand plans were just beyond our budget. We had considered so many professional recommendations, -removing load bearing walls, -installing larger windows. -Restoration of the copper rangehood ...a total rebuild as copper was on the front surface only with limited space contained within structure for ducting and fans. Time to rethink ! -Remove the tiled floor?...the tiles covered an extensive area with underfloor heating so jack hammering would have been our only option. Another rethink! -Skylights ? Not an option and we already had solartube type skylights installed in a very steep roof. No other choices available. Paint over internal cedar and brick walls? We were left totally confused!! Enter kitchen consultant number 4! A fresh look and approach to solving our dingy outdated kitchen, yet keep with integrity of our cedar lined and brick interior. All renovations now completed. We are really happy with the outcome. Before...

All - Thank you so much for your suggestions. Very helpful! Oklouise – Thanks for your suggestions. I like what you’ve done. I had not thought of the the off-centre solid wall suggestion in the tv room. This will make the space more functional. Very helpful. Thanks. Siriuskey – your design was similar to oklouise’s, so again many thanks for this. I like what you did with the entry area so will see if I can make this work given the dimensions of the house. BTW - the house is brick but I am thinking of partly limewashing/whitewashing it - but this is a very low priority item right now. Dr Retro – thanks for your comments. Appreciated. Yes, I'll check the sizing of furniture etc. Kate – thanks for your question re: wall at the end of the dining area. I’d like to create an attractive focal point from the kitchen to the garage wall, rather than just have an off-centre garage door (i.e. going for a look more like the below). I’d also like more storage so I added the partition wall, which could also have cupboards on the garage side. But your vestibule idea could work too. I will look into that while taking into account the other ideas from houzzers here too. All very helpful. Thank you. Dreamer – thanks for your suggestions as well. These give me food for thought so need to ponder more. I’m not sure there will be enough space for a fridge and an island but will draw it up and see. Just to give you more info here, not essential, but I would have liked to be able to have another tv (hidden in a wall-mounted cabinet) on the existing east-west wall that divides the kitchen-tv-formal zones now where the tv faces the kitchen so I can watch the news while cooking. I have looked at adding storage to the entry area as I think the house needs more storage so I will look at this some more again. Thanks again. Really appreciate you taking the time to get back to me on this. Cheers. Thanks again everyone. Cheers.