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.

As an architect, I have a list of words saved on my desktop that I am conscious can sound confusing to the client! One day I hope to write a little archi-dictionary to help clients work out what we mean when we use so many of the words that seem natural to us! 'Form', 'honest materials', 'warmth', 'documentation', 'draft', 'sketch plan', 'detail', 'mass', 'spine', 'circulation', 'water harvesting', 'floating', 'dynamic', 'heavy', 'celebrate'... etc.

This is going to come down to what your space is like, light, how you use the kitchen, how does it relate to other areas of the house ie. is it open plan, so needs to complement other areas such as dining & family? Here are a few examples of backsplashes with concrete benchtops. Depends on your personal style & taste as to what appeals to you. My 1st reaction was marble, it would give interest & movement but without knowing what else you have going on in the room...

Just like birth, death and taxes, renovation surprises are guaranteed. I think Micheal Bell's suggestion to add a contingency is a good one. Also finalising your design before looking for your builder will save on mid project variations. For those interested in estimating the cost of their renovation before going too far into their plans, try this renovation and extension cost calculator. Good luck. richard@makeovergroup (Melbourne)