Ok, well apologies in advance, but pics are making the walls look more washed out then they are, and I possibly could have gone one more shade darker in Sherwin Williams...but furniture is dark, and I did not want it to look oppressive.(ignore my recliner, please, LOL--and my couch is not raspberry colored, but deep wine...ugh, limitations of cheap camera). Anyway, I have several Karastan carpets, same pattern, but despite them having every color imaginable, only certain wall colors work with them. I opted for SW "bagel" in LR and "Earl Grey" in DR.--basically going with a complimentary color scheme (orang-ish and blue-ish). Again the DR looks darker in person. The only thing that bugs me is the whiteness of ceiling...but I was not brave enough to do the color on ceiling trend. Beryl, I doubt that this is very much help, but glad to share pics. Incidentally, I have several decorating books from the 80's. I find them much more fun than modern ones in that things like your hall tree, especially since it is a nice piece, could be incorporated in your intimate space by hanging fun collections from it (like funky old hats) or ornate walking sticks in the umbrella holders, etc. I just cannot seem to banish clutter, so I embrace it. ;-)

The layout of the kitchen did change slightly. We opened up from where the stove and peninsula was. Added the island and put double pantry on the opposite wall. Effectively the kitchen now takes up double the floor space.

Hi Rach163 So the splashback is along the wall behind the stove? And is full height to the ceiling? No overhead cabinets there? Certainly for an all-white kitchen, and a very small wood-element on the table, I'd suggest a feature colour splashback. There's a few ways you could make it pop - a colour such as a rich red, or a striking (but not bright) green, or even a blue would work well. We used colour-backed glass for our splashback in our all-white (but dark benchtop) kitchen, which is low maintenance and looks very "rich". It's a red (burgundy?) feature "wall" below overhead cabinets on two sides of our mostly L-shaped kitchen, and we also put it under the island bench/table, to tie the two together. The other idea that struck me is that you have a view to the outside (albeit a covered courtyard dining area now?). That made me think of a mirror to reflect the view, or at least the light - so something like a polished stainless steel. Perhaps in sections or strips with brushed steel, to reduce maintenance :-) For the lighting, we used an led strip under our overhead cabinets, either side of the range-hood, and around the corner to where our sink is. You could do something similar with a narrow aluminium channel either at the ceiling (probably too high) or at range-hood level with an led strip (a waterproof one!) inside it. It's nearly invisible when not on, just a crisp brushed/polished metal line, but gives a really bright uniform light across the whole bench area, and no shading issues with the main room lights behind you. If you wanted real wow, get a multi-colour led strip that can be colour changed (and be dimmed) to suit your needs and moods. And if you wanted to freak people out, you can get a multi-colour programmable led strip that can also do things like active lightwaves, pulsing and respond to music and a bunch of other things :-) All of the strips are dirt cheap, unless you buy them through most Australian lighting stores :-/ We also put a dimmer led strip underneath our island benchtop, to pick up the splashback/underbench colour, and as a nice 'night-light' of an evening. Works really nicely. I've seen some people do it at the kickboard level (i.e. 140mm above the floor), to make it look like everything is floating, but I've found that only works for some kitchens. One of the benefits of controllable coloured led lighting can be that the splashback can also be white or silver, and it's the lighting that determines the perceived colour. Leds are quite directional though, great for benches but less for wider room lighting, unless you have them in a diffuser. We use led lightbulbs in four high ceiling fixtures, and one long-drop over-dining-bench light, since they are lovely and bright and warm (if chosen that way), and as the ambient light source. You can also get colour/controllable led lightbulbs but $$$. You want to think about where you want feature lighting (up or down), work lighting and ambient lighting. Think about where you will stand to work, and which lights you will be shading, which will be shining in your face, and which will actually help. We pushed around our lighting points on the design, and even over-catered on the number of fixtures, just in case we missed something. You can always disconnect a light and cover it trivially, but putting one in later or shifting one is a bit messy. Anyway, my two bits. :-) Cheers, Markus

Without knowing what the benchtop is , it may be able to be cut and joined -- in that case I would look and see if the breakfast bar part can be either moved a metre 'left' ( in the picture just above ) and then either keep the DW there , or under the new 'joiner' piece . Alternatively , if you got rid of the breakfast bar ( or spun it 90 degrees so it raan along the wall ) , and moved the DW under there , you MAY just be able to sneek a 1 metre or so wide island in there . I assume you like the colour scheme , and don't want to change , but personally I find the darker grey ( especially the ceiling roses and the ceiling corniches ) is overdone . It may be an optical illusion , but the veranda doors and kitchen windows look lighter , obviously the dining chairs and even the kitchen bench are lighter again -- that darker grey just seems 'very old' to me , and not in a good way . I would have gone maybe 50% lighter , or even a rich yellowy English cream -- halfway between the wall tone and the gold . Nice but quite 'grey' in attitude at present IMO .