Unfortunately, you have made the television your focal point, the television should be on the wall where the art is. So put the art where the TV is and put your three seater lounge under it. the two single chairs go directly opposite the TV, also the ottoman should be a rectangle and the white chair should go to the other side of the room near the large window with a small side table as a reading nook. The furniture can float in the room and does not have to sit right near the walls. Also I would mount the TV on the wall and have a full width timber floating shelf (ideally with storage in it) about 30cm top to bottom. Hope this helps and the room appears more open and inviting. Lynda Natural White Interiors. naturalwhiteinteriors.blogspot.com.au

Sue, congratulations. You've not only identified a colour you feel happier about, you've actually created it. I suspect you'll now be able to create a pleasing mix of warm greys, plywood browns, stone tones, coppers or bronzes, warm whites, etc; maybe with a bit of yellow added come spring; and you'll be able to live with the brownish sofa until you're ready to update or reupholster. I have some KAS cushion covers from a couple of years ago which show how this kind of colour mix can be done. One has stylised flowers (a la Mexican) in grey, brown and caramel with a touch of burnt orange. (You mention liking ochre.). Another is lighter grey, brown, taupe and bone-white on a natural linen. A third (less subtle) is warm greens with brown, taupe, yellow, white and a little aqua. I'm not saying go for styles that are a few years out of fashion. But do be confident enough to resist a harsh, hard-edged option if a gentler one is right for your temperament and household and the room's aspect. Robyn

I quite like the idea of concrete sleepers for your retaining wall. They keep the modern mood. Not sold on Ridgi's faux timber look, though. If your drainage profile would allow it, continuing the brick of the pillars would look quite good, too. For me, the biggest landscape issue is the almighty fight happening between the two different sides of the driveway. You have the stick-up-the-rear formality of the camellia hedge fighting the looseness of the grass and shrubs on the other side. You need to decide on a single mood and go with that. Really!! I'd go, actually, with a loose boulder or gabion wall with a planting behind it similar to that on the left (narrower) side of the driveway. Have a think about what you actually use that front lawn for, and if it's only there to keep the dirt from showing, add some trees and shrubs and underplanting. Shout yourself a tame forest! This will take up a lot of water if your climate's a bit wet, and stabilise the slope, too.

living in a place with long cold wet winters our most successful "drying room" was a combined laundry mud room with heated concrete floor and cross ventilation from doors and windows ...clothes were hung on coat hangers suspended from wall to wall steel rails (kept separated for air circulation a 2.5m single rail holds about 20 separate items) a simple clothes rack suspended overhead was used for pegged clothes and wet shoes dry on floor racks overnight... Clothes spun dry in the washer and hung up in a well ventilated room with a bonus heating vent should help maintain a steady supply of ready to iron and/or wear clothes for your family when outside clothes lines aren't available