Hi everyone, I'd like to thank you all for your input. Have been a busy spring and summer, but now I'm back and able to focus on the living room. Couple of things have been done/removed since lately: 1. Leather lounge set: I've (luckily) sold the leather lounge set - absolutely great piece with great quality, but not my taste at all. It made a world difference to the living room and even dear hubby, who liked the set, did acknowledge that the difference of less furnitures is great. 2. The rug 3. The white cabinet 4. New curtains with pelmet I love the pelmet although it's old style and yes, the curtains are too short! Will amend this at later stage :) These changes have made a huge impact on the room. Also, I'm also open to change the dining table with chairs for another nice option in an attempt to make this more interesting/cozy/inviting. So, these are the only things that I won't be able to change (we may (note on may) also move house by the end of this year/early next year) # Blinds # Colour of trims and built-in bookcase # Camel back sofa - I'm happy to reupholster it though and change the fabric. This will cost $2000 but I think it's worth it since they are really comfortable and are of good quality. I'd like to integrate the white frame with the gold poster in the design - an idea is to place 3x posters on the biggest wall of the air conditioner. I'm aware that a brown frame may suit the gold poster better, but I'm so tired of the colour brown at this moment. --------- So, I now feel I'm able to adjust as per your suggestions and recommendations much easier now. Appreciate every response and idea (And sorry for the mess of papers on the desk and floor! We're busy professionals and sometimes I have to let my husband have his creative space despite my OCD when it comes to decluttering and keeping it tidy)

Hi Sharon. Thanks for your suggestion and I agree, it probably could have been placed in a better section. Cheers. Dean

LED lighting has made such a difference to how you can illuminate your home now and they give excellent light so you don't need the number of downlights as before. Strip lighting on stairs, for example, can look amazing and add wow to your home. Be guided by the experts above, or a good electrician should be able to give you practical advice. In some rooms one downlight can even be enough if you plan on having other feature lighting. Pendant lights for your bedroom will look great, but look at what wattage the lights you choose will take and whether you will need any other lights in the room. I have always been very minimalist in my home and try to keep to one light in each room for general access lighting and have alternative feature lighting for atmosphere. For example, I just have one LED downlight over my desk in my bedroom for when I'm working and a lamp each side of my bed for other times, and this is all I need. In my lounge room, I put two pendants, hung at different lengths in one corner of the room as a feature and I have two table lamps for when extra light is needed, but for watching TV or just generally entertaining and relaxing, the two pendants on their own are enough. Like you say, nothing is worse than over lighting a room, it totally loses any atmosphere. Your home theatre for example, could only need two downights for when you need a good light for cleaning and such, otherwise for general use, some wall sconces will give subtle lighting to the room. Have the two types of lights on separate switches naturally. One important thing I always suggest people be mindful of in work areas especially is to place lights so you don't work in your own shadow. One example is the kitchen sink or hotplates - put the light slightly to one side for better visibility.

Hi there, I do like your concept of a gun-metal wall colour however there are a couple of options you may like to consider before using such a striking wall colour in the nursery. Firstly, the predominant colour scheme appears quite muted and calm, but reducing the intensity of gun-metal grey wont work with the beige curtains. To sharpen up the look of the curtain, attach a bit of bling at every 20cm, possibly using that colour on your feature wall. For example if you use colour crystals in purples or topaz, then you could pick up those tones in your new feature wall colour. Secondly, I didn't see any storage in the nursery, so have you consider working some shelving into your decal and installing wall sconces for a soft warm lighting effect. This soft lighting would provide you enough light at night during feeding. Shelving doesn't have to be square timber screw-fixed to your wall, but it can be a composite of materials (some hard and soft) to accommodate all your needs but without cluttering up the floor space. Hope these comments help, sorry I don't have pictures to post on line. All the best, from Halia at Wild Terrain Designs, Melbourne, Australia.