Cassansrabrill - This problem intrigues me quite a bit. Would you have the name and brand of that navy please? And thanks in advance! I am sufficiently intrigued with the idea of navy walls to obtain a sample pot and have a 'play'. Its been my life's work studying colour and perfecting a colour-mixing teaching text for artists that is irrefutable... so I am always interested in anything that challenges it. Living spaces are places where we need to feel 'at home' so not so much about what trends and styles dictate, personal preference always prevails. I hope you resolve your problem. I have a dark little house, all natural timber with arctic glass in all the original windows. Whilst it makes for privacy, when the light and sunlight 'bounces' of the disparity in the glass surface, its amazing how the light from a certain angle totally changes the otherwise dark walls of the room. Mydesign0401 would have experience with this too. Try the window film, there's a design for every style and preference, the cost would be minimal if not to your liking....and that's the operative word...LIKEing! I've just had an idea from something Mdesign0401 said...'vertical space'... Are you going to anything more with the ceiling? We are fortunate to have so many products today that you should not have any drama finding some sort of paint or application for the ceiling that will reflect the light downwards. A brand called RESENE manufactures "shimmer" colours.Some very interesting effects can be achieved with this product. If you likethe idea of navy walls you may wish to consider sampling the RESENE Digital Blue ()Astronaut)...that's the base colour... M40-046-279 The base colour is applied first then a transparent coat of what they call "Pearl Shimmer",.another is "Pixie Dust", both are waterbourne pearlescent glazes..=overcoats..(.not meaning shiny like varnishes). but nevertheless ideal for creating shimmering and softly sparkled finishes over colour. Alternatively, although I have not experimented with this myself (yet!)...from what I can acertain from the manufacturers...the "shimmer overcoats"...and there are several different types, I suspect may be applicable over...'ordinary-other brand' colours.....Just an idea...something I would try myself over either acrylic or enamel paint. Houzz is such an inspirational site!...from the above I've recalled that there's a clear metallic for application over timber... exciting! I'm like a kid in a candy shop whenever new paint products appear! RESENE's staff (not the retails stockists in hardware shops) are highly trained in properties of their product. Should you want any firther information I suggest you go directly to the manufacturer. 1800 758 383 QLD Gold Coast. Happy Houzzing!

Treasure it for the gem of a 1940s/50s home it is, complete with glorious wrought iron work. Suggestions have been made as to how to boost the height to meet current building codes. You will regret updating the exterior for what is likely to be a one that will date quickly and be higher maintenance . It is only a matter of time until such homes are as treasured as Victorian terraces or Californian bungalows. It is an icon of its time. Accept it for what t is. Why make your house look like a fashion victim of 2019, when it stands in almost the full glory of its original period? It will also save you a fortune too! But yes, minimise the concrete! and add a garden that refects the period the house was built. Roses if you like them, with maybe a magnolia or crepe myrtle feature tree but for lower maintenance try some architectural and ground covering succulents. You could also go with edibles like feature citrus and olives for a Mediterranean feel.

Thank you @Creative Style Interior Design and @bigreader @Creativelychallenged - Thank you for your nice words. We are indeed very happy with the result. We also went through all these stages you describe, so don't feel depressed... there might be light at the end of the tunnel. Our research stage was so long and quite discouraging at times. We've always wanted to live in a queenslander, but our house is not one. This didn't stop us on going ahead adding some character to our bathrooms design (and kitchen). We started with the idea of making these bathrooms with a colonial touch but we found that it was not easy to find the elements we wanted (tiles, furniture, tapware) at a cost that would fit our budget. We learned that the type of tiles we liked (encaustic) were VERY expensive ($200+), traditional looking furniture was also very expensive... So we shifted to a more modern design...(not very happily though), and after a while of collecting ideas for modern tiles, furniture etc.. we felt quite depressed because we were compromising... updating our bathrooms with something fresher, but far, far away from what we really liked. In our view modern furniture looked very plain, streamlined and... boring, but we were doing 2 bathrooms (on a budget) so we were not prepared to spend a fortune, and we settled with modern. We ordered marble type tiles for the floor 900x600, and wood like tiles for the walls, and booked the builder to start demolition. Luckily for us National tiles called us saying that there was an error and the tiles they promised were not going to be available for 3 more months!!! Depressed again.... It took us so long to find something we liked (kinda) and now we were back to square one. Then my lovely wife said... Why don't we give it another go and try to make a more traditional design as we originally wanted.... So to make it short... we went back online with 'refreshed' energy and pressure (demolition already started) and found many things I coudn't find before: Floor tiles @ $25/m2 Subway tiles for walls @$16 the box on sale... Ensuite furniture and basin from Ikea Main bathroom furniture was an antique dresser we found in an op shop for $150 repainted and repurposed.... etc... In the end we spent approx $12,5K for both bathrooms in total :-) So, to summarise... don't dispair... just look in this website, on pinterest, magazines, google, etc... Play around with ideas and copy!... (you'll see that our ensuite is quite similar to the first photo in this discussion)... Good luck! :-)

I know this is an old post but just in case anyone is still looking for Sherwin Williams Sea Salt paint...... When Wattyle were still owned by Sherwin Williams, a couple of years ago now??, I asked the Head Office of Wattyl if they could help me get some Sea Salt in Australia. I'm in Sydney and they advised I needed to find one of their stores with a Hydrochroma machine(not all of them have one) to have Sea Salt made up due to the type of tint used in the paint. They also provided the tint mix. I went to Wattyl in Brookvale and they made me up 4 litres of Sea Salt paint. It's a great colour but looks pretty bland in the tin. I don't know whether the Wattyl white base changes how it looks either. Anyway, anyone wanting Sea Salt can have it made up at the Brookvale store because they have the name and tint mix in their computer. Now they aren't owned by Sherwin Williams I don't know if they can access any other of their colours as they don't have access to their database anymore.