A similar thing happened to me - a bottle of hand sanitiser exploded in my black leather bag whilst it was laying on my brand new cream leather car seats!!! Soaked through and transferred the black dye from my bag onto the seat, leaving a massive black stain. I tried to remove it gently with leather cleaner, only to find the more I scrubbed, the more I took the cream colour off and started to damage the actual leather of the seat. In the end I took my car to a furniture upholstery place and they colour matched the leather and sprayed the area that was damaged. It looks great now. If you look REALLY hard, you can still see where I took some of the grain out of the leather (too much scrubbing), but otherwise you wouldn't notice - best of all it didn't cost the Earth. I think a small area like what is on your chairs would come up nicely - it would probably cover the ink stains too. I think it's worthwhile getting the job done professionally. Good luck!

Hi I like the idea of a deck that is a common level with the house, but it would be expensive and maybe a waste of materials if the bricks are still level and whole. Consider pressure cleaning the bricks to remove grime and weeds. Imagine a pergola over the existing brick area. Have large pots at the foot of some of the posts with vines growing up the posts to eventually form a cover for seasonal shade. (Don't plant the vines directly into the ground, as they will eventually spoil the brickwork with their roots.) Or maybe the pergola could be covered with a suitable material of your choice which suits your climatic area - shade cloth, timber slats, canvas shades etc. Would you enjoy a fountain or water pool of ssome kind? Perhaps a Moroccan-style raised pool with tiled walls. Add some lovely seating - teak? or cane/rattan? and lots of potted greenery. Have fun with your new look.

I saw the ceiling first. None of it, save the Eames chair, is my idea of cohesive or inspired.

Before replacing your curtains as this can be quite expensive for such a large window, if they are in good condition, add a band of extra fabric to the bottom in what ever suits you, your existing curtain track can then be moved up to the ceiling for good looking full length curtains without the large round eyelets, could save you a lot of money, I would look at replacing/removing the sheers cheers