Lighting is so much about personal preference. There is a huge resurgence in the market for antique style light bulbs, and done right, they are cool. Why these vintage style lamps were made in LED is beyond comprehension. Other exposed bulb types in hip and traditional clear fixtures can bring a nice sparkle to a room as as decorative accent, NOT for work lighting or reading (even menus)! My rule of thumb is "a light bulb should never hit you in the eye". I cannot stress enough the importance of the right light bulb in the right fixture by design. I have neighbors with those clear pillar lights for lighting outdoors. The big box stores are full of them. When I drive past this house on the way home, it nearly blinds me. It creates disharmony. It is not beautiful, it is offensive to my eye and my psyche. I would close my eyes going by if it weren't unsafe. Well designed, proper lighting creates an experience, subliminal or otherwise. If you are not glaringly aware of lighting in a room after you appreciate the ambiance, a good designer was at work.

love your house...pipes are a necessary part of most homes and paint has already blended them in a little, the simplest option for the gas bottles is to talk to the gas supplier and a plumber about moving them around the side..as long as they're still accessible for refilling they can be in a more discreet location. A wide "footpath" across the whole back of the house covered with an open pergola and a covered area extending to the brick barbq? with a screen to add privacy from the neighbours would look fabulous and also disguise some of the pipes... add a few big pot plants and some furniture and there won't be any ugly bits

Love the black/charcoal look as accent colour (with brown undertone to complement bricks). if you could sand back some of the wood and stain it, maybe paint some of it black/charcoal to break it up would look amazing. If the wood does not stand up to sanding (no grain or not made for raw wood look) then you could add some panels to break it up/add texture not too much black - weathertex is a material I've used recently and can highly recommend.

Thank you so much for your advice, in particular to bigreader and Julie Herbert. Here's a photo but note Im awaiting all that timber to be removed and daughter yet to sweep up the potting mix. I tried a blue one on each side as well but it didn't look quite right. I actually think 2 on each side might be enough. Note, in the big pot on left is a ground cover that will sprawl and out and done pot all going well. Do you think/Any suggestions for anything else I could do in this area? I'm still getting used to colour of mat. Now for the back door. Ive put some pots there that I had painted a light grey. Im wondering if they dont provide enough contrast with deck. Your thoughts? I was going to put a buxus in the one on the right (purely because they're are numerous in garden I can poach).