Thank you so much, Julie. I thought you would be interested in the end result, given how much encouragement and advice you so generously gave me. :-) I do love it. It has made such a difference and I think (fingers crossed) the landscaping will give it the finishing touch. We are reroofing the pergola, so will post photos when that is completed. The gazebo looks great after its facelift, too.

We have just finished renovating two bathrooms and I was adamant I didn’t want shiny chrome. I insisted on Astra Walker’s brushed platinum tapware and fittings. Whilst it does look a bit gorgeous, I’m afraid it’s not worth the extra 25-30% we paid for it (shhhh, thank god my husband isn’t on Houzz!!). With all special finishes I find you need to be quite particular about wiping down the fittings otherwise they look grubby with water stains. Hindsight you marvelous thing, you’re always 20/20 aren’t you??!! I’ll be sticking to good quality chrome if we ever renovate again. Especially since you can get such a wide variety of styles that suit anything from a Victorian style bathroom to pure minimalism. Good luck.

In my early twenties I designed kitchens for my mother and two aunts (Uncle built them and they worked), but when it came to designing my own - had to fit a constrained space and no possibility of extension - I chewed my lips for ages - like Nicole, I drew and measured ad infinitum, and used graph book walls, views etc. I did one extra thing - which I think worked - I listed all that I wanted to store, and tried to analyse how I liked working in the kitchen. Some things I had to settle for because of space (such as a smaller dishwasher) but most of it has worked. We have a corner pantry, which I (and the cat, husband a bit larger) can walk into, but have not put small appliances in there - they sit in a large drawer beneath the main working bench, which also works well. It all looks good to me Nicole and thinking carefully about needs and how things work in advance usually results in something you'll be happy with. Good luck!

The Kitchen -- it is very much a 1970's intrepretation of Colonial IMO , and ties in with the front door , so presumably thge rest of the house is similarly dated -- and thats not a bad thing . In one of the other pictures is a white 'panelled' door -- in a lot of ways its a pity that the rest of the doors weren't wood . Anyway , IMO painting the kitchen white will not achieve anything -- it won't look more modern , and it won't look warmer . The only slight argument is that it may look 'cleaner' but I don't think that's enough reason to do it . Your front door looks a few shades darker , and better for it IMO . So if you are keeping the kitchen , stain it darker , embrace the scrolls and the fake latticework , and the appliances all look reasonably modern . Its a decent size and has a good flow . Even the tiles look okay , but my criticism of them is you actually have to look -- they blend into the walls , because they appear to be exactly the same colour . The kickboards look grey -- you could repaint the upper parts of the walls in a similar grey , but my preference with slightly darker and slightly redder stained cabinets would be stay with a white or off-white , but re-grout in a mid to charcoal grey , and make a bit of a feature with the tiles , and it also ties in with your bench colour . The downlights are good -- the bug catcher UFO light definitely not so . Get something with character , but NOT 1970's , and definitely not 1970's faux colonial . Clean and modern would be the buzzwords . You could start again , or paint the frames white and change the doors to white or grey , lose some character and lose some warmth IMO -- it suits the house , just needs a lift .