Neighbours that let you be you. I like it if neighbours help each other out, but above that I'd place letting you live as you like. The suburbs drive me insane with the lawnmowing fanaticism and treehating. The suburban hegemony has destroyed every wildflower/natural style garden I've had. Letters from council that tell you to mow your modern ornamental grass garden or cop a fine are disappointing. And neighbours that poison your screening hedge through the fence break my heart. I'm quite comfortable with there being a style or a look maintained in the front yard, but backyards should be how you want them. I'd love to be able to relax outside my house without neighbours gawking. It creeps me out. I would love it if neighbours were sensitive to the fact that what they do impacts others re: spraying pesticides, not cleaning their chimneys, burning off rubbish when you have washing out etc... There seem to be some things that are sacrosanct in Australian neigbourhoods... eg. ultrashort lawns and pitiful treescapes, while casual alcoholism and environmental degradation are totally fair game.

I have two tortured willow trees...(sometimes I wish I didn't since they grow fast and get all tangled up in themselves...and everything else) BUT... if I harvest some of the more interestingly 'tortured' young branches, denude them of their leaves and young bark, I have the frameworks for Christmas wreaths and other interesting decorations. The young little branches, once stripped of their outer soft bark and when dry, can be painted and decorated with glitter or whatever and stood in floor vases. This year, rather than a Christmas tree, having a large mixed pot of coloured, decorated and natural tortured willow branches...and maybe a few wreaths here and there, maybe some of the sentimental tree decos that come out every year and...since this is a cat friendly house...lots of curly ribbons hanging down from the tortured willow 'tree' with the odd fluffy little toy to intrigue. I prefer to bring nature into the house for Christmas. In pagan times at Yule...branches from Fir trees were brought inside and hung with apples and oranges Use was made of dried pine cones and home made candles were an everyday thing only some special ones were made for Yuletide...and that harks back to the cold climate countries...hence the sleigh bells and snow etc. For Australia I prefer to use our native trees and leaves for adornment also for the fragrance these waft around the house. I lovely big frondy lot of gum tree leaves all tied and arranged well and sat in a metal bucket can be a lovely natural touch more in keeping with am Aussie Christmas. Personally I think the commercialisation of tree and home decorations has become rather....'ratty-looking'..fake green pine branches, gaudy baubles etc. Well in advance we go collecting dried seed pods, pine cones and any other nature-products for Christmas decos...all natural and really beautiful!

Keep it light otherwise it makes the low ceilings feel even lower. I will share our story in the hope it may help you! Picture 1. We moved from a house with high ceilings to one with low bedroom ceilings and it felt claustrophobic for a while (2 years we put up with it). Our bedroom, when we moved in, had burgundy walls, dark wooden doors into the ensuite and wardrobe, b&w zigzag curtains and pink carpet (yes someone thought pink carpets and burgundy walls would be a good idea!). The one redeeming feature was large glass sliding doors that led out onto a covered deck which provided a view and let in some light (which pretty much got swallowed by all the dark features). We faced our bed towards the doors when we moved in to have a view - as who wants to look into the bathroom like the previous owners did in the picture! Transforming the space: We pulled up the carpet and laid medium coloured wood floors (dark floors were too much for this space and needed to work through entire house), we painted the whole room including the ensuite and bathroom slatted doors white - all of which transformed the space in a way that really surprised me. A tallish wooden bed head and antique dresser, along with tall (rather than wide) artwork help add height to the room as do the doors now that they are white. To keep a feeling of warmth in the room (sorry minimalists out there) I used linen bedding in greys and used blue accessories in rugs and cushions which compliment the artwork which we picked up from a painter on the streets of Paris (framed on our return). We used a muted rug on the floor to bring elements together and for warmth for our feet as we live in a very cool climate during winter months. I simply wanted colour that wouldn't overpower the space. Since pics were taken: We have since started revamping the outside deck and removed some of the lattice which has brought a beautiful flood of natural light flooding in and a view of the garden. Our next step: will be to add some white linen or silk curtains at the highest height possible to maintain an illusion of height. We will extend the curtains to land either side of the doors when open, as while we now need to have them for some added privacy, we still want the light and the view most of the time including when the deck is lit up at night. We will keep the curtains light as colour would encroach on the room size which isn't very big. Our dream addition is to replace the sliding doors with white French doors. Hope this is helpful.

I was looking at the plan and although your question is about styling I noticed something. It doesn't look like the wc has a washbasin which would make it a proper powder room and it seems to me you could do that by borrowing a corner from one of the walk-in robes. Corners in robes are difficult spaces to utilise efficiently anyway. If you want to avoid arguments over who gets the bigger walk-in robe you could perhaps take the corner out of the other one to create a cupboard in the hallway. I agree with the comments about your home being shared with the people and things that matter to you and reflecting your travels and interests. I'm not sure you can 'buy' instant character, even if your builder was amenable to using recycled materials. I think getting the basic colours right to begin with is the main thing, and as suggested, an Ideabook will help you get ideas and get feedback on them. For street appeal I think landscaping is more important than people sometimes allow. Display homes look impressive but have been lushly planted for instant effect and I have seen some that looked terrible a few years after being sold. On the other hand some new houses don't have enough planting, and that can also look terrible even when the house itself is architecturally impressive. The token row of whichever plant is in fashion in an expanse of pebbles does not necessarily enhance the architecture and certainly does not make the house look like a much-loved home. When browsing Houzz or the real estate websites, I sometimes see houses I dislike even though they tick all the boxes for colours and features I like, and I sometimes see houses I like despite having colours and features I would not personally choose. There is something that comes together to create a home that looks happy and loved which is very appealing.