A suggestion that the professionals use and makes it SO much easier choosing colours - and then the perfect shade of that colour. Get a paint swatch of the Hog's Bristle - or paint a little sample card from leftover paint. Bring home 5 or 6 samples shades of navy from the paintshop to get the the closest shade/tone of navy to your couch. Armed with those - and a sample of your bench colour - hit the shops with confidence! You will see easily which yellow, or which Marsala or which 'whatever-colour-you-choose' looks great. There are many shades that might look like they work in the store, but when you get them home will be NQR,,,,you know, not quite right....and you still may not be thrilled with your room. It's a simple and almost foolproof way of choosing colour and has worked for me throughout many renovations.Couldn't do it without those little bits of colour! Have fun...

Louie - pretty well I think. See my latest renditions below. I have been playing around with how to screen off that toilet/shower area from the living room. Not only would it be preferable to keep the toilet out of sight, but it would also be nice if people pop go down and up the stairs to visit the toilet or shower without having to do a short "walk-of-shame" past the potentially occupied living/dining room. I was thinking a of having a partially-drawn pair of curtains or perhaps one of those dangle-y "fly curtain" type things to disrupt the view a bit, but then I thought a set of swinging doors with tinted/diffuse glass in them, because: 1. You can charge in and out of this busy area by just pushing through the set of doors, and letting them swing back in to place behind you (like saloon doors) 2. The glass panes will still allow the person to see if anyone is on the other side, so they don't bowl them over. Will also let natural light in. Also means could do away with the laundry door perhaps, since it will be kind-of redundant (main purpose was to eliminate washing machine noise in the living area) 3. The doors also stop heat from the fireplace drifting up the stairs on cold winter nights when the fire is going. Not a crucial thing at all, but a nice additional benefit Thanks for sharing the floor plans - it's given me a much clearer picture of what you've done with that pole house...looks fantastic! brizcs - great point about the chair by the window, that's really struck a chord with me so I am toying with ways to do this. One idea I had is in the plan below: Rather than put a narrow table hard against the glass, maybe swing the kitchen table 90 degrees, make it longer, and have people sit along the south side looking out the windows most of the time. When it's night time or there are lots of guests or whatever just drag the chairs to the other side and you're back to the conventional set up. If a table where flush against the windows it would mean a lot of direct sunlight on its surface throughout the cooler months, due to the low angle of the sun (glare might become a problem?)

"along the window" was my initial thought too for a long verandah. Try something vertical to the window that will provide an eyeline to the garden outside eg low coffee table and low sofas either side, maybe with a carpet at a right angle to the windows as well? If you want something green inside, I'd be looking at long low planters with a rotating assortment of plants eg orchids (phalenopsis) or Clivea in flower, even just in leaf. While the photo suggests it is a low light area, that may just be the camera trying to deal with the contrast - but rotating plants will address that. Or you can try decorative ceramics on the planters, turned upside down to make low bench/shelves.

You’re right in that it’s quite skinny now. The floor plan I uploaded is actually the original, since then whoever renovated removed the return on the bench and added an island instead. I’ve uploaded a photo of that below (don’t mind the mess :)). We’re struggling to envision how we can modernise the space without shoe horning something in that isn’t quite right, i.e. I’d really love a big island beach but can’t see how we can achieve that without moving the structural wall. As with most families, we spend a lot of time in the kitchen - it’s the busiest part of the house so we’d like it to be modern but also functional with plenty of space for the kids. We see the lounge room as more of a serene, quiet space for us to relax at the end of the day when the kids are in bed. I’ve included more photos of how we currently have the place set up. We’re also going to replace all flooring with vinyl planks (kids and inside dogs don’t mix well with real timber floors).