My house, built in 2003, has purple feature walls in the dining room and 2 bedrooms and green feature walls in 1 bedroom and 2 living areas. That was the fashion then. Recently I decided it's time for an update as the feature walls seem to be absorbing all the light and making the house very dark. So far I've undercoated 2 of the feature walls and what a difference it makes! The rooms are much lighter and now I have to decide on whether to add a lighter colour as feature walls or paint them the same colour as the rest of the room.

Neryl, like you I'm trying to decide should I replace my kitchen (total redesign) renovate (new bench, stove etc) or larger renovation (bench, doors, stove, etc). My dilemma with the Renos are there is always a little bit more to do; the stove won't fit into the existing space or the new sink is now in metric and won't fit and of course what about the taps??? As with your kitchen I have a breakfast bar that I'm thinking of removing (swinging back 90 deg to the wall running down from the sink, but what do I do then will the floor. The whole area would have to be done. As soon as you start one job there are four or five that will follow. So do I want to spend big dollars on a new kitchen, really I think that is the question. I would say to you don't pending anything at all until you have really thought through exactly what you want and what you can spend, don't through money away on a patch up that you will find in the long term unsatisfactory. About the design though, if you are renovating your house, what is behind that wall the stove is on and what space is there in front of the breakfast bar, where you stood to take the photo? Perhaps you could take a wall out and like me open up your space.. If you can put in a skylight for both light and aesthetics. But the only thing I would say though about the previous comments is unless you want to spend hours cleaning don't go for shelves and open displays unless you cook outside. I have a 'Chinese' kitchen and it tends to be very greasy but friends who have regular cooking and open shelves say they have to not just wipe the shelves over but clean all the display item really very often. I'm sorry all for having so much to say, I've never contributed before to something like this but I do really enjoy reading all the posts. Cheryl

Well after a very (very very very) long time my Living Room is all but complete. There is some work to do behind the new steps and some trim to be put on the bookshelves. A light is to be put between the couches (that the electrical cable hanging down) and the wall lights are going to be removed. So just a quick rundown on what has been achieved; Two sky windows - Velux - roofing guy Sheeted under the beams - plasterer New carpet – Bunnings – carpet layer Closed off the old bar and put in a door – builder and plasterer Installed ceiling fans – Hunter, remote control, reversible – electrician Installed downlights - electrician Painted the endwalls – Solver Paint but Dulux Chine White colour - me Painted the ceiling – 2 x coats Solver Ceiling White over 2 x coats plaster board sealer - me New blinds (venetians) and curtains - from Spotlight - me Installed a gas bayonet heater (until I can afford a gas ‘wood’ fire for the fireplace – cripes they are expensive) – secondhand from Garage Sale - me Installed bookshelves – 2 x 202mm high + 2 x 106mm high Billy Bookshelf and 2 x Brimnes Cabinet - me Built and installed new steps and bench top on bookshelf – laminated Beech bench top, cut to size and routed, stained and oiled - me Sofas – Ikea Ektorp - me So some things I would have done differently. The downlights would be warm white not welding mask white. In fact I would re-think the whole light thing and possibly use lights with reflectors that were dark so that light was only reflected down. They would ‘lower’ the ceiling and make the room cosier I think. I kinda like the ceiling fans but had seen some which were awesome but really expensive. Then I saw ones very similar to the awesome ones but much cheaper but by then it was too late. I should have put bi-fold doors where the old bar was instead of a swinging door. I suspect that it will be unlikely now that I can use the room for its intended purpose. In fact with hindsight I coulda shoulda done the job myself rather than getting a builder in. It’s not as good as it should be and that has disappointed me. The bookshelves have come a up a treat – need to finish them off though with some trim. All from ‘Ikea’ except for the timber bench top. The bench top was a light bulb moment and breaks up the all-white appearance of the shelves. Also the white of the shelves and the white of the cabinet were slightly different and the bench has helped disguise that. The bench top and the steps were laminated beech panels from ‘Bunnings’ that I had cut to size. I stained them, put a router over the edge to round it off and then coated with Tung Oil. The bookshelves look bigger in real life than they do in the photos too. So now to sit and enjoy my handy work.

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