Hi everyone, so... 3 years later and after many back and forth we have decided to knock down the house and rebuild. The cost of renovating was just too prohibitive and not to mention the unexpected surprises that surely would come with it. We should start the building of the new home in a month or less. Just wanted to thank everyone who helped in this thread, your opinions were very important and helped us decide. We are not doing a custom build, instead we chose one of those pre-designed homes (Dennis Family) but we are very happy and excited. Cant wait for it to be done. Will post photos when ready.

Hello, We sell both so I have no reason to suggest one over the other. However, yes Roller blinds are very functional and right on trend for a modern decor. He is absolutely correct. Its not just the window furnishings that create softness to a room. You could even automate them for about the same cost as buying curtains. We do a lot of homes with double roller blinds right thought. However if you like curtains there is nor reason you shouldn't have them. Its your home and you need to love been there. It really comes down to picking the right fabrics and pleat types to work with your look. Blinds are great in smaller spaces and can achieve a clean lined open look wheres curtains can soften a room and add warmth .. be ware that curtains can close a room in and make it appear smaller. It can also make furniture placement difficult. Might I suggest a mix? Sheer curtains hung from the ceiling with a roller blinds behind can look very sleek in apartments. You can have the best of both :) I would just suggest you don't go with anything too "fussy" keep the lines clean and don't go to full with your curtains. You don't want lots of fabric cluttering your room. Here's an apartment with automated rollers. Another with just rollers. Here's a space with a mix. still very modern. A child's room with a mix of rollers and Chain Drive Roman Blinds. Great for reducing daytime heat. Day time privacy and the roman Blinds is block out to help them sleep. Roman Blinds are great for kids rooms as the add softness, are practical and you can place furniture below the windows. Another example Hope this was at all helpful ;)

Two years later... We ended up purchasing a 3-seater for wall opposite fireplace, a 2-seater for under the highlight window (leaves a comfortable space to enter the room) and an armchair placed diagonally opposite the couches. I've fooled the advice to pull the furniture in off the walls a little. We have just updated the fireplace with the (professional) installation of an insert wood heater and (DIY) replacement of hearth and tiles/timber mantel to conceal the brick while meeting the safety specifications of the heater (required a much wider/deeper hearth than the existing brick one so we removed and replaced with a slab of honed granite, and the minimum height for breastplate/mantel shelf posed a few design limitations). TV mounted above fireplace to allow for better furniture placement. Not quite the picture I had settled on 2 years ago, but works with the style of updates we have made elsewhere. Thank you for all the advice. before: After:

The last home we had was a very small workers cottage so I kept the walls a light off white, table and to unit tops were gloss white to bounce the light around. My dining chairs and bar stools were clear acrylic so that I could see through them, the ends of my island bench/brekky bar were mirrored and my curtains were textured white sheers so that they also didn't take up too much visual room. All of my furniture was on legs so that I could see under it and the lounge room rug was pulled away from the lounge just a teeny bit so that I could see a little bit of timber flooring all the way round it, that all made the floor size look just a bit bigger. Bedrooms had mirrored wardrobe doors and bathroom was almost completely white (except for dark floor) and had frameless shower screen and oversized vanity mirror to reflect as much light as possible. Friends and visitors would comment that the house was bigger than they had imagined from the outside.......it wasn't, it was just styled inside to make it look larger.