@Karen Hodge, I hear you!! Sometimes I think the estate agent should carry quite a bit of the blame actually. If they do their job correctly like you see in the adds on TV, they should bring these discrepancies to the attention of the sellers, stand on their morals and say if you can't get it better than this, then you'll have to find someone else to sell your home!! I know you can't make everybody "house proud" but the saying "do unto others" springs to mind. I bet if these same people bought a house not up to scratch, "a current affair" would hear about it but they don't think it wrong to simply walk out on a house that isn't being left nicely for the next family!! I have some friends that recently sold a house in Essendon, Melb and whilst the buyers were back and forth selling their own home, my friends kept watering the plants and even did things like painted out the wardrobes because of the scuff marks made over time!! They cleaned the entire two storey house from top to bottom and finished by mopping the floors as they were exiting. The buyers were so taken by the entire home, they bought it with almost all the furniture that my friends had in it!!

I have one of those Monika and I would venture to say that you wouldn't be able to cut it flat because with everything around everywhere having the waved top it would look really odd I think, and I doubt whether you would be able to paint it at least until the development is well over or you could find the developers all over you, along with residents who like yourselves have signed to agree to the covenants. A lot of people enter into these developments because there is a better chance of people looking after their properties however I will say that I am the only owner occupied in my part of the street, and I am forever weeding everyone else's garden, picking up the rubbish blown from the sea breeze on new builders not looking after their rubbish and the renters chucking empty beer bottles where they have sat on the steps drinking and throw the bottles into the garden and I actually water the rental alongside me as our gardens join, as yours probably does, and they refuse to water it. I want my place to look nice and if left to these renters it would look like homeless shelters. I think the tall pots and something like the black bamboo could look really good :)

I really feel for you. I had a similar experience when a neighbour recommended someone she knew who was 'really good'! He was extremely lazy and, apparently, suffering from depression and he had split up with his girlfriend! He did a dreadful job which took a week - because he was too depressed to work on some days - he only did about half the job and I wasn't impressed. It has ruined my relationship with my neighbour because she knew him to be really good. She won't even come into my place - I assume she doesn't want to see the mess he created! To top it all off (I had paid him cash - fortunately only half of what he 'wanted' (not 'earned') so he wouldn't be paying tax on it )- I didn't get a receipt. He also took my house keys so I had to have the locks replaced. Such a mess and then, I had some tradies through a couple of weeks later for an unrelated job and they asked me when I was getting the place painted? When I told them it had just been done, they really didn't know where to look. I seem to constantly get ripped off, so I'm not getting much done any more - too expensive and depressing.

Hi Anne, Your home is beautiful with so much potential. There have been some clever ideas presented but I think its important to have an overall plan that you're working towards. This way you avoid needing to re-do certain areas. With the overall plan you would decide which materials you like and what needs to change and then you can stick to that plan as you roll out the changes. For instance, I think the brick on fireplace wall is a lovely feature of the home but the brick in the kitchen area is competing with it. With the timber panelling, it was certainly a feature of the home originally but these days we tend to paint out the panelling to make spaces feel lighter and more open. We often use Dulux China White when working with robust materials like brick and timber as it has a warm stone like tone. In one of the pictures, I can see that there is a full feature brick wall in another room which should creates a lovely flow and consistency. This is a home in Fairhaven Victoria that looked just like yours (but without the brick) and was painted in the China White. Cheers, Vikki. Your bathroom will also looks great with a touch of paint and a new vanity.