I really like the suggestion Modern feature walls. Combined with some greenery inside and out as suggested by chookchook2 , you can start to soften the 'boxy' look of the space which is now reinforced by the line shape and form of the couch you introduced in the updated image. If it is a breakout or meeting room could I suggest, budget permitting, some form of window treatment. Some simple and relatively cheap e-screens would add a degree of privacy, but more importantly remove potentially annoying distractions from outside; important if you are using the room both for work that requires concentration' .. or alternatively, impromptu meetings with others that may be held in the room. I do like the green, but the photo projects a rather drab uninteresting interior despite your efforts thus far.(imho). I think making a call to Modern feature walls should be on your call list. Something has to be done with that ceiling which I find not only distracting but is actively working against your attempts at creating a really inviting space that people will want to break into. I can a hint of a table off to the right in front of the window. The best breakout spaces I've used have the facility to informally and casually sit across a table with sufficient desk or table space to spread drawings, images and presentation ideas. .. It just doesn't work as well if you and a colleague(s) are forced to sit or stand along one side of a table with the yard providing tempting distractions when the focus should be on communication and collaboration. Mounting the TV and raising it would open the room up further and likely break up the 'box-iness' further. .. A bit beyond my field (Window Treatments) ... but you did ask. lol.

Hi Sally, not sure where/how to message you other than here. LOVE your house! It is going to be beautiful! - Looks very much like you are going to have to do the same sorts of things that we have too. ( BTDT with the lifted floorboards and view to the ground!) Is your house on sandstone piers too? In our case we did not have to do anything with the internal piers but we did need to lift one side of the house by about 20 cm. We haven't had to remove all our wall cladding as you have done. And we were lucky - the only remnant of lathe and plaster was a small part of the hall. And we are lucky with the ceilings too We haven't had to take them our as you have. And as they are so high we can plaster over where we need to repair - even in the hall where the fist sized crack in the ceiling has closed as we hoped it would. Your boards look magnificent - will you be able to relay them once the restumping is done? I would imagine that they would be hard to replace. Your place is the total opposite of ours though for all that they areboth old country homes. Ours is a cool climate house - located in the Huon Valley (Tasmania) - and big - 24 squares (with an additional 6 squares in deck). Not sure off-hand how big our block is, - but certainly not 1.25 acres! Large block by today's standards though. Tucked into the back of the block since it was originally part of the larger church grounds. So, as is unusual for a house of it's type, the front yard is much larger than the back. There are other similarities between us it seems. (It is just us at home too ...though in our case the pet is a rather senile feline! ...and as to how we came to be restoring the largest house that either of us have ever lived in at a time in our lives when most are downsizing, - well that is another story!) Our latest project is the repair of the bay window in the lounge...(when I say 'we are doing this' - I actually mean that HE is doing it, and I am providing help in the form of lots of encouragement! Must get my act together and post some of our pics. Will you keep putting yours up? I would love to see what you do with your house.

All and any lifestyle/real estate, fixer upper shows, watch the lot, on 9Now/life, then Escape to the Country/Continent, all the American ones: Buying the View, Lakefront Bargain Hunt, etc also Masterchef, SVU and Criminal Minds, also looks like a good season 8 coming up on SBS with Who Do You Think You Are Australia, will be watching with my square eyes!

I must be getting really old - it is interesting where technology is taking us but there is nothing there that I could not live without.