A couple of things from me. Firstly, the cornice painted a yellow makes the ceilings feel lower than necessary, paint them out white or as per tour ceiling rather than accentuate the highest perimeter moulding, you don't want yo draw attention to the highest detail not being high! Secondly, to make the room feel fully addressed the window has to be looked at in context of your room. The house style is important, but more so the room space and light. As you have a verandah you probably have in direct sunlight, but the room is not large, so i would try to make the window feel part of the bigger picture rather than contrast with it. Which is what the red does, effectively looks like a red rectangle dominating a small wall. Do the opposite, taking colour cues from the room will make it feel unified, therefore bigger. The caramel carpet, for me is where I would draw upwards from. I suggest a rattan roman blind, the texture and stiffness will resolve that terrible sag, let in diffused light and provide a natural element needed in country style schemes. It allows the scenery to stand out, and colour is easily built upon it. If you need further blackout, you can install a uv cheap roller blind within the window frame, which would be hidden from view by the roman blind, so it can remain up most times and the roman can frame the beautiful view, allow light and then use the roller as your night privacy blackout blind. Most Romans look best as a frame treatment, they dress the window better than they function on them. Shutters would also be stunning with their play and filtering of light, but costly. And just a tip, your bed would feel far more luxurious in that space if it were not heavy in colour, the metal and timber, both which are not genuine as in fake cast iron and artificially stained orange pine date your space, that is not a dig, just an observation. You could do an upholstered bedhead for a luxurious look that a linen would tie in with the soft furnishings, you can address colour in many ways, but the blinds, carpet and bedhead should be neutral unless you can afford to upgrade often?.. A layering of texture and tones rather than colour is far softer in a country space, that's why it's done often, creamy whites on a caramel carpet will really brighten and freshen that space, , timber lamp bases, fabric shades, plush pillows and personality pieces, you'll have a space you can't wait to get to. I hope this was helpful!

@urj123, Cricky!!! I knew you were going to ask that, after I looked at the sample I had that was full strength ha-ha.....AND I re-read you post and you wrote quite clearly 1/4 strength!!! I will return to the store, AGAIN, ha-ha and ask for 1/4 strength. All jokes aside, I think 1/4 will probably be real nice, as I didn't dislike the full strength but too creamy for the ceiling. My daughter actually painted all her ceilings the same colour as her walls with Hog Bristle but all the experts seem to say that a ceiling should be white or at least traditionally its always been white and I like the look of that too. I won't be back in town until next week but I'll keep in touch when I have the sample in my hand. Hubby and I are hay contractors and are at our most busy time being in tractors for many long hours but we are nearing the end and then I can take a breath and turn my focus back onto the home. Actually have 80mtrs of edging or capping tiles around the veranda to do and then the same amount of concreting to do on the 1.8m wide veranda and then we can get the colourbond roof on the house and during the cooler months, we can start to lay the limestone bricks, so there's plenty to do on the home!!! I have photo's attached in an earlier post. Best get to bed, more hay baling to do tomorrow. Cheers, Barbara

Oh C'mon V Richards...every epoch has its treasures. B4 you make a mad run for it stop a while and consider the period and the reasons for the style...it can be extremely enlightening....unless its not the period you want to escape from but from some of the opinions. I spent many years of my youth outside of Australia living surrounded by old ruins in Europe. I forgot what it was like here. When finally I returned to Australia and found myself living in some of the 60s and 70s places..I found much to admire and wonder about. I may not have fallen in love with much of it but there was a certain mistique and a feel that I can still conjure when talking about certain places. Not saying that it was all romantic and pleasant but it conveyed something of the era and the kind of Aussie from those days.

Rachael, you’re very welcome! It was fun to draw up. As far as layering photos, I wasn’t suggesting you cover one photo with another, (what is the point of having beautiful photos and memories then! Lol) rather, overlap the edges of the frames (both are quite wide from your photos) so that they are connected without obscuring the images within. Hope that makes sense! What a difference just painting that back wall makes! It really opens up the room now. I think the few bricks around your fireplace now is a very charming feature. It keeps the charm of the original while bringing the rest of the room into a fresh new era! Well done! I would suggest running a long extension chord for your tv for now while you try out a new layout for the space if there are no powerpoints on the far wall, just to be sure you like the arrangement. Can’t wait to see updated images of your new space!