That is a hard one with those tiles. I would have to think if you did a white, it would kind of work with the colour of your tiles. At the end of the day, they do need to be replaces, but as you said, due to budgeting reasons, you cannot, I can pass on this photo of a nice bathroom with those tiles for you though for inspiration... : )

HI All....read everything and to me it would appear the main cause is your slab, albeit issues around the slab. A trench is a start, with extra drainage (black round pipe with heaps of holes in it, and loads of scoria). My opinion is that the actual ground is damp and unfortunately concrete is porous, so as long as there's heaps of water around that cannot drain away, the concrete will slurp it up. (I'm no drainage expert) As far as your gib goes, I don't think you have any option but to replace it (then insulate wall by wall as you go.) Here in NZ, I previously worked for a company that did leaky building repairs, and honestly, that black mould is a very real danger to the family's health, so it's got to go. Like others have said, you may get rid of it visually for a period of time, but once you rip the gib off, you may come across other issues. I'd also invest in a dehumdifier and keep that cranked to start getting moisture out of the air, or other options as others have mentioned. Sorry Cathy, ain't no easy fix there..................... Is it possible to have a look into council records to see what the land back in the day was actually used for? That may give you an insight into what the problem could be.

I guess all people don't have the same budget with which they can purchase a home so the demands of the people who have less drives the 'cookie cutter' home I guess it is then up to the home owner to stamp their own individuality in both garden and inside the home so that each and everyone who enters said home can express how much they love the owners sense of style, these days if you look about you can take a lot of great ideas and you can buy items that look very similar from a 'cheaper' end shop to achieve a lux look that can also be enhanced by buying a few 'good or lux items to uplift the style. I am lucky to have a bluestone villa on a fair piece of surrounding land which we have lawn and garden which over the years, inside have decorated as well as built on making sure the features are in keeping with the age of the home (over 100 years old) but yet bringing it into the modern comfort we all desire. I say if you want to do design of any kind go for it, don't wonder if, but in saying that make it both lux and affordable and I am sure you will gain many clients, each person has their own ideas that can be incorporated or enhanced. Here in Adelaide there is SO much 3-5 story and more, what I call 'boxes' and even in the inner city area where I live a few streets away the road is being taken over with these ugly monstrosities but I then think that it is so expensive for a lot of people to even own a house that the 'boxes' are driven by the need for housing by those who want to own but can't afford a house. We have many antiques that suit our home but these days people don't want antiques as the homes are so modern, I have added more eclectic pieces with our antiques that suit so it is not all old looking, I love my home and how it looks and no matter what, I think that is all most people aspire to, a home they can be proud of and a place to live a life with family around them. Alisa go find your inner artistic side, I lived my life as an art restorer and LOVED every minute of it, it is feeding the inner soul and gave me so much pleasure as well as pleasing the clients, that never gets old, good luck if you go down that path.

Thank you siriuskey. Yes that's what I was referring to, but I think I wasn't giving credit to the island sink, which would also serve for food prep. I was thinking about efficiency from my perspective. Euro bins next to sink in island, would be beneficial for ease of handling waste. Another consideration is: when using cooktop and extraction fan, will noise from fan interfere with person in study? Also, will steam from say, boiling water steam bother anyone using the study desk? I am not trying to throw cold water on the plan by my questions, I'm merely trying to imagine diff scenarios so as much as can be taken into consideration is. I have a glass splashback behind induction cooktop and a very effective extraction fan; however, when a large pot of water is at full boil, the glass steams up something chronic and I have to constantly wipe it and the underside of exhaust fan or else water drips down onto the cooktop (and any food I'm cooking).