At Designer Plants we often help customers with privacy needs. We have products such as our Photinia and Laurel Trellis' that I think might interest you. They are Artificial so they require absolutely no maintenance and they are build to last in the sun - In fact, they come with a 5-year guarantee against cracking and fading. Each screen is 1 meter by 2 meters however they contract and retract from 1 meter all the way out to approximately 2.5 meters. If you're Interested check out our website - www.designerplants.com.au Alternatively you can contact me directly with any questions - aaron.quarrell@designerplants.com.au - and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Good Luck with the project!

THANKYOU all so much for your input!!!!Its been so hard to get my head around...but its confirming for me the look and the relaxed feel that we are trying to achieve.I don't think we could go far wrong with whitewashing or painting the pine, which will once again lighten up the space..just painting the roof has made a huge difference. Lexicon is such a great white!!!!Yes I am considering art work to bring colours together and also the brick wall colours..... Thankyou also for the pics...so helpful!!!

adding some extra living space at the side will take away from the lovely courtyard and would not create the occasional guest bedroom that's already available with Siriusky's sliding door partitions in the living area but a loft over the kitchen could add an additional bedroom overlooking the garden and you haven't mentioned if there is rear car access into the yard and if so the option for a carport and or "studio bedroom" at th rear could also be a very cost effective means of adding extra space.....always subject to council regulations and dimensions btw if the kitchen cabinets are in good condition they can be reconfigured with sections having a deeper counter (with void at the back ) to allow for extra depth needed for DW etc and the shallow cabinets can still be a useful space savers in smaller kitchen with a new counter to suit the new arrangements

Hi Linda You'll have to weigh up the cost of painting the doors or completely new fronts as with existing you are stuck with design feature. (Unsure whether you can turns cupboards inside out.. after painting and patching?). Love the idea of white door with frosted glass - slider would be better but that's getting structural. I would get rid of the cream so replace splashback with new fresh tiles, glass etc If go with a paint spruce up, paint all the cabinetry white EXCEPT the built in unit with the fridge, oven and shelves in it, paint that dark like your beams in the living space. Some nice pops of colour accessories on the shelves would look funky. It will be a feature. Lighting pendant as mentioned would be white with dark feature. If you decide everything white, then black pendants. If you paint the back wall cabinetry white you could also put some wallpaper at the back of the shelving for fun. Paint existing walls in kitchen area white as well (the living area looks white?). Best of luck. Please post end result.