I've been looking at the Russian Houzz site and I wish I could read Russian! Some of the places are very bare and yet others like the photo above are really into opulence. Reminds me of the '80's in the US and Aus and no doubt Britain, where everything was about extravagance and big hair and big shoulders!

@Tribble - the situation is the same in Em Bee's part of the world as in ours. Aging demographic, lots of immigration and also internal migration, and of course offshore buying. But where I live, the issue isn't so much competition, as the inability of builders/developers to read the market. Our own builder (small builder, one project at a time, some of them industrial, not housing) told us that the two-story houses in our town were simply not selling that quickly, whereas the one-story houses were listed and gone. (He sold us our house before he tore down the old one, and sold the other house on the block about 3/4 of the way through the build and before it was ever listed. The two story house around the corner from us was on the market for 8 months). I'm not a huge fan of government intervention in housing (I saw public housing in the UK and that was not a good thing) but I do think strong regulation on foreign property buyers is appropriate. That said, I also think the builders need to get their heads together and recognize that there's a boomer population that has a bit of money and wants something different than the bog-standard two-storey box house. Time for the developers to catch up. Okay, sorry, second rant for the day.

1) My cost saving suggestion to you is PAINT, this is going to give you the cheapest tool to change the Miners cottage appearance to attract attention. 2) Leave Roof as is, no Paint ,the roof being left natural to me gives it a studio edge.(and saves precious dollars 3) Wall colour in a darkish grey with all white trim, I was going to suggest a beige colour but it looks like your neighbour has these colours so that's why I'd go bold with wall & fence colour. 4) Perhaps you could build a small fence like the metal one I sent you, this would be made up with scrape material nd place to the R/H side of the driveway, can't see whats on that boundary 5) Gutter and eaves same colour as walls 6) Gates shinny black 7) Keep existing window & door shades and paint them all white, no stripes 8)Front door of your choice, Red and make the studio door a different colour to help students find there way, Yellow 9) Looks like you have a crushed gravel path running along the side of the house to the studio, try to define this from the gate so that you don't have everyone cutting across the verandah, 10) It would be good to have some screening on the Verandah, mesh or other affordable material. 11)Trim the grass, plant some hedging behind the fence and plant some red NZ flax plants off to the right side of the garden 12)Paint garage like house this would help to bulk out the building and make it look a bigger property 13) PAINT good luck

Hey Jenny, just a couple of things that come to mind. Keep your telephone table and floor completely clear, with the possible exception of a narrow, medium height pot plant toward the stairs. This will help overcome the proportion issue. Put your decorative items on the wall opposite, unless this is a door? A portrait shaped mirror over the table might be the one exception. And keep the decoration structural / architectural or if art, one minimalist piece, and not “fussy”. A black and white photo or line drawing could look good, too. Is the door we can see an exterior or interior door? If exterior, you could make this a feature. There are some beautiful doors available now. Beauty is enhanced by balance and that is what you should aim for. But also, you have your own style, embrace it. Play around with what decor you love and take your time. The above is only a suggestion. What will make the area sing is the feeling, when you walk in, that this is Jenny’s house and I’m welcome. No amount of decorate by numbers or third party interior design can replace that