The next time I decorate by a colour of the year will be the first time. Don't hold your breath. I have nothing against this particular colour but it doesn't work with all the things I've collected over the years, and I am not about to discard carpets bought after hard bargaining with dubious merchants in Istanbul or Islamabad because they don't "go" with a paint colour that someone voted "colour of the year." In its place, I think the colour would be quite nice (better than this years choices, certainly). It's just that my place isn't the right place for it.

I've used the Feast Watson Liming White. I wanted a finish on pine that wasn't going to look yellow, like the majority of polyurethanes do, but not a heavy whitewash finish. I did 2 coats to get the desired effect, retained the non yellow pine colour and grain showing through. The more coats you apply, the more whitewashed the effect is. Probably a quicker way to achieve your desired affect would be to use a white paint, water based, as a base coat, apply with brush or roller then wipe it off evenly with a rag, then apply a topcoat of water based non yellowing polyurethane to seal. Otherwise numerous coats, 3+, of any of the liming & poly product will be required.

I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale.

Thank you again to everyone for your suggestions, almost all of which have great merit. On reflection, I think removing the old fence is fraught with potential drama, not the least of which is if the idiot neighbour decides to remove the screen which is wholly within his property, we are left without a fence. Many of you seem to have difficulty understanding my reluctance to force the removal of the illegal screen. In an ideal world that is what should happen but as I have already explained my health is up the creek at the moment (never underestimate the effect a tiny mosquito can have on your previously rather pleasant life) and I have learned the hard way with a previous neighbour in another State that councils have limited power and/or care factor when it comes to issues such as this. A threatening letter with no follow up, which was what happened with another non-life threatening issue several years ago ended in an enemy being made with whom I had to live side by side until eventually I sold my house. I am thinking of using several suggestions which will mean bolting new uprights to my side of the existing fence and attaching a lightweight screen of some sort and growing a creeper or preferably a tree in the existing garden bed to the right of the bench which will help replace what we have lost (we being me and the king parrots). Thank you to Bill for the links to the Bunnings screens, I’m heading in there tomorrow to have a closer look. Again, thank you to all!