As always your ideas are lovely.....I will probably need to take some better pics..its a bit of a squeeze in that bathroom..maybe just focussed on things like the timber wall, the pressed metal, the new rose shower over the bath...its not a shower recess...no room! I'll try. The bathroom has a tall silky oak and frosted glass door leading out onto a northern slatted, roofed verandah...full of hanging baskets and flowering vines creeping in through the slats from the gardens outside. Where you see that old chair is actually the doorway...to the garden verandah..I dry off out there. I can see out but nobody can see in. I can loll in the plunge bath with the door open and see the garden and the plants so its already like bathing outside. If my mastiff is inside I have to close the door or he'll get in the bath with me! I used to bathe him with me when he was a 15 week old puppy the size of a 1yr old baby. His reward was ..the plug..replaced so many plugs..then we'd both dry off on the verandah. He misses his baths with me but he is now 76K. PRESSED METAL ....Maybe pressed metal higher up the wall behind the bath is the answer...and paint the remainder of the wall peppermint...mmmm? That was sort of a colour in the kitchen when I bought it..only it was smoke dirty. The shade of mint I like is too cold for the bathroom and somehow I "feel" it to be a bit insubstantial as a colour..not enough body...just how I feel about it. Good for a loo though. What do you think of a pale Olive rather than Mint green and a washable matt rather than shiny? . When I think of Olive I can feel my hand running over it as if it were a suede. You've led me to recall a range of paint I came across ages ago...RESENE...it has some beautiful metallics...maybe worth considering. A pale Olive would go with the Shell pink colour already in the bathroom which I really do love and, WHEN I get the pressed metal all of that will be Shell.( Hermit Crab's bathroom?) Don't like mini orb for the bathroom. .,So, pressed,metal it is although$$$....all comes to those who wait and know what they want! Maybe I'll go to town and do the ceiling in pressed metal too...and maybe continue the Olive into the ceiling...it won't feel so high and so cold....mmmm need to do a sample of that weird colour scheme I think....You've go me thinking! Funny that - I did paint the boards white initially but ended up stripping it all off, it just didn't look right and felt fake...silly isn't it? FLOOR - currently its the poor man's version...(thick vinol) of large Shell, marble tiles. with light grey grout. Like it. Its soft underfoot and safe....(not so steady on my feet now). I'd love a random stone paved floor but maybe a bit impractical...but...if I did a random stone up the wall behind the bath rather than the pressed metal, I would do the floor and would choose natural ribbonstone as it is a bit sandy-feeling and not slippery. Many years ago a friend and I put up a ribbon stone wall behind the fireplace....it has a pinky hue...of course. PIC here. if that came to pass I'd grout it in grey. How am I doing bouncing off your suggestions in all directions? FOUND SOMETHING online....textured, waterproof, paintable wallpaper! Tempting! Cheaper than pressed metal! I'd love the old ladder idea but sadly there's nowhere to put it. Fluffy towels...OH YES! And candles...that's not too hard...and want one of those heatlamp/lights. Clean towels and some bath essentials have a shelf at the back of the bath. Towels in use each have their own antique brass or copper. mini rail...( long plain handles from an old chest of drawers). Brass clothes hooks for robe and clothes.....and, with the house came an antique pine slatted chair with a seat curved at the fron under the knees and a high curved back. It is designed for inside the bath for someone who needs to sit under the shower rather than stand. The bottoms of the legs where they stand in the bath have been curved to fit the curve of the inside of the tub! Some dill painted it white. I am going to strip it back to the pine and oil and seal it...Strangely, it can also be used outside the bath and stands on the floor without juggling. SO.. mydesign 1401 you've given me an overall atmospheric idea of my bathroom and I'll hang out for the pressed metal...might need to re-do the old stuff around the bath and the strip around the wall above the bath because cannot find a match...its very plain. Just squares separated with rounded edges and a circle in each corner of all the squares. Its not even very pretty... but it isthe poor man's pressed galvanised iron metal. *****Tell me what you think of the colour OLIVE...for the boards above the metal and maybe continuing into the ceiling...maybe too much?

According to the converts they are the wonder machines that do absolutely everything!! They chop, blend, cook and have a steamer thingy which goes on top, but I'm sure Sharon can explain better, it will be good practice for her giving her husband the sales pitch!

Hi Tenia Another quality option is "floating" - meaning a click system, akin to tongue & groove - Luxury Vinyl Plank. These are 100% waterproof, can go anywhere. They are soft underfoot and a breeze to clean. Check out Godfrey Hirst and Quickstep websites for their products, which we highly recommend. We are putting a lot of this flooring into new builds in NZ, as well as existing homes who are updating their flooring. Doesn't require glue or underlay, which keeps costs down, as well as ease of install. The range of colours is amazing.

I have never been one to follow trends. I don't care whether my kitchen is suitable to appear in the next glossy magazine, as long as it is functional for what I want. I look at "trends" just in case there is something new out there that looks functional for my needs, but I certainly wouldn't care if something I like is no longer "on trend" What is funny, I think, is that (having come from Europe) my grandmother's kitchen, complete with butler's pantry (not called that, of course) was very much like the kitchen I want today (with more power points, of course) I really think it is amazing how we are back to the future. When I came to Australia, no one heard of parquetry (or even timber - HAD to be covered with wall to wall carpet) I remember my Aunty was having a house built in the 60s and had huge arguments with the builder... She wanted ceramic tiles in her kitchen and laundry and the builder told her she was mad. She also wanted parquetry. She won the argument (had a lot of trouble finding a person the lay the parquetry) but the builder told her that she will be calling him back in 6 months to rip it all up. We also had an indoor clothes line, that you could pull up and down to the ceiling with a pulley. I just read about someone "inventing" this here. :-) Just remembered another thing we have recently invented here. Double glazing :-)