You can if the kitchen joinery is a dark enough black, the walnut is stunning. Presuming your timber floor is if any would also be mid toned, the black joinery would simply be a personal accent, and would work best if it's included in small furnishing details elsewhere. I think this would be the same as people with timber floorboards wanting to have black or iron furnishings, including sofas and coffee tables, that wouldn't be dismissed at all, so I think this has merit. I would however keep colour to a minimum to avoid a confused cohesiveness. There's quite a lot of black and beige being done in modern design, because it's organic and can striking and warm at the same time. It's quite architectural and high end. Go for it. I would love a black walnut kitchen!

Thanks for bringing us up to date Kelly, you have been busy. Look forward to an updated photo. Lucky you having the north aspect at the front, lovely and warm in winter, so definitely no trees at the front to block that. Do you know what sort of a lawn you have? If you can repair and keep the brick wall, I think I would, it visually adds width to the house. A timber fence will cut it, add another element that could muddle everything and I worry it could detract from the sandstone. As far as rendering goes, I am not one to follow the crowd, but in this instance, I think I would allow your house to fit in with the neighbourhood. If homes around you are of similar finish and age, then leave the brick as is. Hard to explain but when I see a house that has been rendered in a sea of original homes, it stands out for all the wrong reasons, almost like a desperate fix to update that never quite comes off. Because your home is so distinctive in style, it will be harder to achieve too.

samr63, Honestly, I think this space is quite beautiful and perhaps you're thinking too much about the elephant in the room so to speak!! If there is one thing I have learned on Houzz, is that there does not have to be a specific style in one room and what I mean is, you have a modern bed but it doesn't take away from the antique fireplace nor vice versa. Definitely as I mentioned earlier, the tall boy doesn't gel at all, nor do the bedsides, but purely because of colour, so I would out them and match the bed with your bedside tables and just stop, the room is very elegant and I really can't see anything seriously wrong with it!!! Perhaps a lovely painting on the bed head wall would soften the room as it's a shame not to use at least one of the picture rails in this room!!! Good luck with your decision. Cheers, Barbara

The charring of wood as a method of preservation is nothing new and was known to European and Mediterranean builders as well as Asians. I have for years charred the bases of deck posts and such as a rot preventative. The practice is mentioned in John Fitchen's classic book Building Construction Before Mechanization. Some of the samples of this shown above are a bit crude. The most beautiful finishes of this type are rather labor intensive as some of the char can be brushed back off to some extent to reveal wood grain. The planter shown below has been coated on the interior with linseed oil, blackjack and turpentine and then set alight with a roofer's torch. The finish is cooked into the wood producing a carbonized insect and decay resistant surface. It gets filled with soil and so the char will be seen only at the edges.