I came across your post and I think we have the same house! I was just pondering whether to paint or not. What was your verdict on painting the beams? I was leaning toward preserving the mission brown.

Try any of these. You have dark window frames and they look good against the brick. I would prefer for a solar passive solution for you to have Colorbond shale grey or similar for your roof tiles. And the trim everywhere else in Dulux Ticking. But it depends where you live in Australia to whether you have extensive days of hot sun.

Hi Amy, I haven't had a lot of success reading dimensions but I make the following suggestions to you. By running the Island of a support wall will allow you to open up both walls on either side to ceiling height. If My dimensions are correct you will also have enough space to run a WIP behind the kitchen and connecting to the BBQ and Outdoor kitchen. The WIP could be divided for dual purpose and you could also open to the WIP from both ends of the wall cabinets. You mention 4 Kids needing a study desk within that space, without correct dimensions I could suggest that a desk backs onto the laundry wall and keeping the living room space free. I also think it could be a good idea to move the new Master Ensuite to the wall between the Theatre and bedroom to further sound proof the bedroom.

I don't think the trim looks too bad in Mission Brown , and I love that panelled cupboard . I can't see the doors properly , although the bits I can see , they look to me in a brown stain ? I'd stick with that for the trim , rather than paint -- I like the warmth of wood . Obviously , that would take sanding , sorry , but the end result would look better than white IMO , and while it would take time ( or maybe it could be left as it is and age naturally ? ) it would be the route I'd take . In the bigger scheme of things , I'd get rid of the gold wallpaper ( absolutely nothing wrong with the gold , just that pattern looks so old ) and curtains ( same reasoning as the wallpaper ) . Interestingly , the one light by the gold wallpaper looks nice in white and gold , but the 2 in the dining area look badly yellowed -- can they be cleaned ? In other words , if you are wanting to go white for walls and trim , to look modern -- personally , I wouldn't , but I'd go for more modern wallpaper and curtains and maybe lights , as opposed to doing the trim .