I was 23 years old and our first home (1982) was $42,000 but interest rates were 21%!!! It was in Otorohanga NZ and mortgages were tough to get. Best decision ever though. We had second hand everything, even using an old beer crate as coffee tables and book shelves lol. Over the years we have owned only 3 homes though, and if we were to start again we have learned to not over capitalise on homes we have bought instead upgrade sooner. Finally we are ebarking on our first new home build ... bettter late than never though definately!

Hi Sofia I definitely think brick lay would work better on the walls in the bathroom purely because you have a 30x30 on the floor and a 30x60 on the wall. You will find the tiles could look out of place trying to stack them. It would be a different matter if they did not share 1 or more dimension. Perhaps in the ensuite, consider doing something like this: [https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/what-architecture-beirutful-house-eclectic-patio-london-phvw-vp~14310278[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/what-architecture-beirutful-house-eclectic-patio-london-phvw-vp~14310278) Tile the floor and half way up the back wall with the "floor tiles", perhaps a tile or 2 above the vanity unit and then continue with the white tiles to the ceiling. You could hang your mirror so it covered about 1/4 of the "floor tile" and 3/4 of the white above the centre of the sink. In the main bathroom consider something like this: [https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/victorian-dream-bathroom-victorian-bathroom-london-phvw-vp~39122647[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/victorian-dream-bathroom-victorian-bathroom-london-phvw-vp~39122647) Tiling the back wall to the shower in the "floor tile" to the ceiling with the white tiles behind the loo to the ceiling. Alternatively, tiling the entire back wall with the "floor tiles". The first option may make the bathroom feel smaller if the shower takes up more than 1/3 of the back wall. Doing the two different options would give the bathrooms continuity, but also some individuality. I hope this helps. Look forward to perhaps seeing the outcome. James

Definitely paint. And an extra tip: We moved into a house with so many boldly coloured walls (turquoise, salmon, yellow, dark blue...!) and ended up finding the Haymes paint was amazing at covering all the colours. In the bathroom we used 2 other brands (Duluxand Taubmans) and they needed manymore coats, I'll only use Haymes now I've tried it. Only needed 2 coats over all the colours, it's not at Bunnings but worth seeking out. We got ours from Paint Spot and the staff were so helpful.

Hey annb, Siri and bigreader - thank you so much all of you, for taking the time to explain your personal stories to me... I loved reading your replies. Have given me much to think about :) I love the idea of a couple of shelves with photos... one or two select albums around our coffee table and a family wall collection I think - a real talking feature. Any other spaces will have some nice artwork I think? Storytelling through photos and beautiful artwork on our walls - I hope - we can find a nice balance. Now.... the task of working out which specific photos to put where lol! I don't want it to look cluttered.... so it may take some playing with configurations on the floor - to work out which layout will look the best :)