Timber with timber can work brilliantly, and it's in keeping with the mid century style you want for your home. This room (below) is a little similar to yours, albeit with less of a pitch to the roof - the large feature lighting helps to break up the expanse of timber on the ceiling. You have a lovely open plan area, so I'd be inclined to use rugs to create zones and a cosy feel. Rugs reduce the impact of a large expanse of flooring material. They have the benefit that you can swap things around to change the look and layout at little cost. I think one trick may be to define your "walls" carefully, and paint these before you go with a new floor. This should give you a sense of whether the timber is overwhelming, and how to balance it. E.g. You might decide it works best to paint the kitchen cupboards to white, to give you a more seamless look and work with your new counter tops. If you want to experiment with the "paint ceiling" approach - gulp, it's a big one!! - then maybe that small section above the kitchen bench, at a different angle to the rest of the roof, could be the spot. It seems to have the same horizontal line as the wall, so even if you don't like the painted look for the whole, you might be able to get away with blending this into the walls. Best of luck!

yvonne.. re sanding cupboards I had mine professionally sanded because they were looking worn. timber is American Oak and it really didn't lighten very much by sanding. so depending on your timber you might not achieve much. i would change a few upper cabinets with glass doors, white perspex or remove a few doors, paint the back of shelving and hang wine glasses or whetever and break the load that way. I replaced my range hood with a pull out chrome one and that in itself made a difference nt tying in with the chrome handles. see pictures. maybe you could paint the legs or reupholster the stools to white...all part of the kitchen.

We think the timber in your space works really well - we especially like the feature tiles on you kitchen splashback which balances the timbers you have chosen.

I had some clients that had this colorbond wrap over their timber fascias, which was a similar style to yours and they were very unhappy with the end result. Judging from the age of your home the existing fascia is probabaly a rough sawn oregon timber which has its own character. As timber can be readily trimmed, filled and sanded, the junctions between pieces, and at corners can be easily disguised to give the impression that they are continuous lengths. The problem with the colorbond material is the lengths are limited, and that the joints cannot be readily disguised. In my clients house the installers overlapped the colorbond wrap, and joined the overlapped part with metal rivets. In their case the joint happened directly over the front door and is really obvious. So before you sign a contract to wrap your existing fascia in colorbond there are a few questions you should ask: 1) Do you repair/replace any rotting timber before wrapping? Or is the rot just concealed? 2) What is the maximim length of colourbond fascia that can be supplied, and how is it jointed? Where will these joints occur? Are the joints weatherproof to windblown rain? 3) How is the colorbond fascia jointed at corners, and finished at the ends of the run? The colorbond finish is flat and smooth, so the existing character of the rough sawn oregon fascias will be lost forever. With the eaves, concealed gutters and timber fascias of your home being such an important element to the style of the home I would be considering spending my money on the maintenance and upkeep to preserve the existing character. At least ask your installer to supply addresses of some previous jobs so that you can see how the joints and corners are treated.