I also have a large log combustion heater in an old Queenslander. Unfortunately these ugly things were all the rage in the 80's, 90's. The later ones are a little easier in the eye. Mine is larger than most and has an 8inch diameter flue so does not look like a box with a stick coming out the top. Could be an idea to make a feature out of the flue. Have you seen those open metal mesh flue surrounds? They are a bit..."old fashioned" and are usually brown enamel, and never extended up to the ceiling...so looked like a bit of an excuse for safety. If you do not have pone of these..get one and paint it with a metal/heat resistant paint in a metallic paint of another colour...mabe copper? Or something that matches things in the lounge room...that might help. Other than that...maybe have a shiny chrome or stainless steel flue surround especially made...or get a plumber in to replace the flu with a stainless steel one or even a lighter colour enamel one if you can find such a thing these days.. I bought one that was meant for a combustion cooker of the same era as my heater..it was a golden cream and tan and looked lovely in my timber-walled house. Now for the wall behind the heater. These were usually made of something fireproof and unimaginative like bricks or tiles, were a real eyesore and dated a room terribly. An alternative might be a curved screen of mini orb in aluminium. MIne looks really nice with the new stainless steel flue..( a chimney fire burnt the enamel one I had!). The trick with these boxy ugly heaters is to give them a re-paint occasionally. Fireproof enamels are available in different colours. Hearth? Usually tiles or bricks and not pretty! A solution could be beaten copper or a simple stained timber frame on the floor in front of the heater filled with nice pebbles or even a couple of larger nice-looking ...or all large stones...all available from landscape places. Another idea, since your heater is in a coener, could be to have a decorative metal screen made to curve around the frot of the whole heater. These open fetwork screens seem to be a popular addition to rooms and set in dividing walls just for decoration. Such a decorative screen in front of the heater would not impede the flow of the warmth and you could have a woodbox in the same decorative metal near the heater. Such a screen would need to be moveable of course so you could put the wood in and clean out the ashes. Hope this helps.

Hi Veanne & Denise. Yes, that is a vertical power dock. This kitchen features two, one on either end of the island bench. This particular model is made by Hafele Australia and is great for maximising your bench space, as they neatly disappear when not in use. Here's a close up of one in the up and closed position.

Kerrie, I live in Victoria and my pool in completely internal, that is to say it is part of the house and not an addition to the house. I planned to have an external door with the required regulation lock height and seld closing mechanism. Hubby was dead against this door and so I agreed to have a window instead, not long after, we found out that the laws had changed and you are no longer permitted to access to an indoor pool from the outside, so it was just sheer luck that we changed the door to a window. Further, when we purchased the awning windows (2) with regulation restricted 10cm windouts, our building inspector tried to tell us that the windows weren't allowed and that they would have to remain shut and we were also going to have to concrete "bars" into the brickwork on the outside. I argued that regulation pool fences had the same 10cm restriction and after contacting the Victorian Building Commission, I have confirmation in writing, that the windows are deemed to be adequately safe and the inspector has accepted the finding. My access to our pool now, is only from the inside of the home obviously and if that becomes illegal, then we'll just have to sit and look at the pool longingly through the window, as there won't be any access at all ha-ha I'm not advocating that people argue with regulations but if I hadn't investigated my options further, who knows where I would be, having spent $1,500 on these two windows with laminated glass and how beautiful would my brickwork have looked with prisson bars attached. Cheers, Barbara

I would paint all the brick everywhere warm white...satin for occasional cleaning. That done I think everything else will look OK because the colours are natural. New doorknobs are always good. You could if you wanted paint all the bench and cupboards white or rich cream as well....MUCH more spacious effect. there is a product you put on first and wait and paint...Hardware will knw...something like PSo