Wuff, you wrote my bedroom memories of my room at our farm. Lipstick pink carpet and psychedelic curtains and bedspreads. I still think it was the coolest room I ever had! I am currently using 60's and 70's colours and patterns to decorate my fabulous 1965 built home, with a 1970 sunroom extension. Psychedelic black and white vinyl in the bathroom. The rest is white and beige lamipanel in the wet areas. I have an orange and cream geometric patterned quilt cover and pillow slips I love in my bedroom and found psychedelic lime, purple and hot pink , with white splotches linen for my guest room. I have a lime green glass splashback in my kitchen, with terazzo look minoleum floors and blackwood cabinetry, with butcher block benchtops. I kept to white enamel appliances for 60's authenticity, but did use a stainless steel cooktop. I also have 1960's canisters, two sets one ranges from tangerine, to pale lime, beige, deep aqua and salmon, the others have bight fruits, with black lids. My jug is electric blue, with a matching toaster! I have my original 1970's microwave and food processor, as well as a hand me down 1960's Sunbeam Mixmaster, with all its attachments! My laundry has a mix of cream and beige floral and lime green and more blackwood cabinetry and the benchtop matches that in the kitchen. My sunroom is resplendant with its spotted pine feature wall and lime green and olive cane furniture, with masses of much loved houseplants, including a hoya that occupies one wall, that is as old as I am. Both of us turn 60 next year! The whole house is painted in airey cream, an off white, that just takes the chill out of white white! My lounge is a collection of antique vases, fine bone china, silverware and blond wood lounge and dining furniture, all that were proudly displayed by my parents in the 1960s and 70's when antiques were all the rage! There is not a single tile in my house, by choice, to avoid mould and heavy duty cleaning! I hate cleaning tiles as much as I hate the colour grey! My place is filled with colour! Luckily the beige shot silk curtains that are the bedrooms and lounge are so neutral they go with all the ecclectic items and 60's era styling I so love. Their quality means they should see out at least a century of wear!

Hi Mike and Emma Hope you are slowly but surely getting there... may I make some comments/suggestions that you may or not take on board, but hopefully it may at least give you some ideas/options... Going through a new build ourselves at the moment, and for what it's worth, here's what I personally think: A. Work with what you've got: - additional plumbing work, gas work etc may not be necessary and (particularly gas) can be costly when you're trying to work around existing walls, floors, etc, and as much as possible utilise the existing connections... after whatever you can save here and there, you can spend on nicer cabinetery, gadgets, finishes, etc :) B. Avoid unnecessry structural work: - removing the kitchen/living wall is a must (more space, light, etc) but removing the laundry wall is an unncessary added cost (may even require costly additional strutural support) - putting up a plastered wall on the other hand is inexpensive, allows you to redefine different zones and relocate doors/openings where required (*note: avoid hinged doors in small spaces as you have to allow for wasted space to open door - suggest cavity sliding doors, easy to incorporate in a new wall) C. Don't sacrifice functionality and natural light for design - love full height floor to ceiling cabinets, very much on trend... but they also tend to bring the walls in, which you want to avoid in an already small space... they will also block out more natural ligtht from the only window to the living and breakfast bench (meals area)... not to mention seated guests would be staring at a cabinet tower and fridge - on the other hand a walk in pantry (not that much of a walk in a small space) is also very much on trend, provides more storage and... as entertaining guests in open plan livings tends to happen more in the kitchen... it provides a good hiding place for unsightly items, including frigges... (an underbench bar fridge in the kitchen can easily keep those beers cold... though do consider that means sacrificing some cabinet space) - constantly wiping off the floors from dripping wet dishes across the kictchen from the sink to the dishwaser on the other side bench would personally drive me mad after a while... the dishwasher can easily be connected to the existing sink water and waste points through the cabinerty... any half decent plumber should be able to do that... ON THAT NOTE... or should I say those notes... I know I got a bit carried away :) ... if it were me, here's an idea of what I would try to achieve ...

Love the choice of kitchen - shaker style! I have that style myself and I love it. An interior designer definitely will be able to help you with design and configuration, colour scheme etc. Just letting you know, we had to put 5 structural beams in our ceiling for support and the cost blew us away, it is a very expensive exercise. You'll need an engineer to draw these up. Your draftsman will know of an engineer. Also, as a rule you have to allow for budget blowout. Everyone who has ever done a renovation will tell you. Once you start on the journey, you're emotionally involved and you want it all to be right, and you always add on more changes as you go along. It might be worth pricing things from your kitchen to floorboards to fixtures and fittings, ovens, fridges, lighting choices etc and then draw up your own costings. Builders generally don't do costings, they allow a budget for certain things, like $5 a handle, but then if you choose a $7 handle, then you get hit with a bill at the end of the job with all the extra costs. Make sure you know what the builder has allowed for when it comes to the kitchen, fixtures and fittings etc. I also agree with the others, the oven is too tight in that spot. I would swap that with the sink and put the sink in the island. Hope this is helpful. Good luck with it all, it's very exciting!

First - fix the proportions. remove the square hedge and possibly second hedge in front of the window. The fence on the right should be moved back in line with edge of house as it is making things look out of proportion. Colours - You need more contrast - keep the bricks, paint the garage darker, maybe charcoal. The arch - The arch around the entry is a bit off putting - I think it is because it is blocking view of the door. Could it be removed? If not, might first idea is to add some malibu wood paneling near the door or make a little wooden entry deck in the malibu. Second idea is to grow some vines or greenery on it. and remove the three little scrubs. Or instead of vines add two big potted plants on each side of the arch to make it more welcoming. Hope that helps Best of luck