Thank you @Creative Style Interior Design and @bigreader @Creativelychallenged - Thank you for your nice words. We are indeed very happy with the result. We also went through all these stages you describe, so don't feel depressed... there might be light at the end of the tunnel. Our research stage was so long and quite discouraging at times. We've always wanted to live in a queenslander, but our house is not one. This didn't stop us on going ahead adding some character to our bathrooms design (and kitchen). We started with the idea of making these bathrooms with a colonial touch but we found that it was not easy to find the elements we wanted (tiles, furniture, tapware) at a cost that would fit our budget. We learned that the type of tiles we liked (encaustic) were VERY expensive ($200+), traditional looking furniture was also very expensive... So we shifted to a more modern design...(not very happily though), and after a while of collecting ideas for modern tiles, furniture etc.. we felt quite depressed because we were compromising... updating our bathrooms with something fresher, but far, far away from what we really liked. In our view modern furniture looked very plain, streamlined and... boring, but we were doing 2 bathrooms (on a budget) so we were not prepared to spend a fortune, and we settled with modern. We ordered marble type tiles for the floor 900x600, and wood like tiles for the walls, and booked the builder to start demolition. Luckily for us National tiles called us saying that there was an error and the tiles they promised were not going to be available for 3 more months!!! Depressed again.... It took us so long to find something we liked (kinda) and now we were back to square one. Then my lovely wife said... Why don't we give it another go and try to make a more traditional design as we originally wanted.... So to make it short... we went back online with 'refreshed' energy and pressure (demolition already started) and found many things I coudn't find before: Floor tiles @ $25/m2 Subway tiles for walls @$16 the box on sale... Ensuite furniture and basin from Ikea Main bathroom furniture was an antique dresser we found in an op shop for $150 repainted and repurposed.... etc... In the end we spent approx $12,5K for both bathrooms in total :-) So, to summarise... don't dispair... just look in this website, on pinterest, magazines, google, etc... Play around with ideas and copy!... (you'll see that our ensuite is quite similar to the first photo in this discussion)... Good luck! :-)

Decided on carrara marble 300x600 tiles and honed nero and carrera for the shower floor. Floor to ceiling for the shower and up to the 1300 from the floor and painting the rest. 1. What colour fittings best suit carrara marble and keeps the transitional victorian theme? 2. The 3.24 wall has plasterboard over exposed brick. Do you think it would look nice if I took the plasterboard off and left that part exposed brick? Any Response Appreciated!!

My kitchen is primarily 'burnt red' and the red bricks , which are slightly less brown than the burnt red . the ceiling is white , with stainless downlights , the rest is red , charcoal , white , the odd fleck of grey and black . The floor and blind are brown wood . I don't consider it overly decorated . It opens to the dining room , which is also a natural wooden floor , a black glass top table with black legs , black steel framed chairs with red leather seats and backs , an almost black wooden sideboard , a couple of big colourful abstract paintings , and 3 walls are wallpapered in a wheat weave pattern , the 4th is that red brick . There are 2 large wooden venetians too . The lounge is , yep , red leather lounge suite and extra chairs , there's even a red leather footstool that is heart-shaped ! The TV cabinet is custom made and is nearly 4 metres long , all wood with a dark stain . The floor is wheat coloured carpet with a large shaggy red rug , a black glass coffee table , a 65 inch TV and 7 speaker home theatre , a couple of those polished search light spot lights on wooden tripods , and several original paintings ( only 1 is an abstract , the rest are people , although a couple are Picasso-esque ! ) . Not much white , not a great fan . I'll put up some pics in a couple of years when I've tidied hahaha .

I grew up in the '70's and '80's and can tell you, the warm and cozy feel you mentioned made me feel overwhelmed and depressed! Lighting was always dull. Terribly difficult to notice any dirty cupboards as the colour was so dark! I love the new kitchen, and like others wonder if the rest of the house was done in a French Provincial style as the handles seem to intimate? Not that it matters, the owners would be happy and I am sure love working in there now. Good job!