I definitely agree that once you live in a home for a few months you will have a good idea of what works and what doesn't. Assuming that the large room with the floorboards is the living space and the room with the slate is the family room, would it work if you knocked out the wall between the kitchen and the family room, rather than just having a pass-through? You could then leave the fireplace wall alone and put a bank of fridge, pantry and wall oven(s) on the kitchen side. You can have a large return (peninsular) between the side walls. This way you have a very open view into the family room where your children will probably spend a lot of time and you get to keep the fireplace or some version of it. If the rooms will not be used in this way, you would be better to remove the fireplace and the wall - but only if you can find another wall in the kitchen to relocate the fridge, etc. From a design perspective, while the kitchen is dated the timber can be painted and new knobs or handles added. You can have the benchtop resurfaced and a new splashback possibly installed over the existing one. However new kitchens would have more drawers than doors. If there was detailing on these it is more commonly a very simple Shaker profile that suits the very popular Hamptons style. Otherwise they are plain with shadowline or push to open. My advice would be to live with it for a while and then as soon as your budget allows get a new kitchen as part of the bigger renovation.

Hello Kelly! The drawing of your soon to be kitchen is amazing, the exposed beams add a raw element and texture to the room whilst keeping the space feel open and inviting. You mentioned you wanted to place your dining table in the opposite direction with white chairs. I get the feeling that you might like a more eclectic or scandi look, timbers and whites! The above pendants you mentioned you loved are beautiful woven baskets, however as someone else mentioned these styles will cast shadows due to their cut outs. To counteract this try using some low wattage globes (if these pendants are only decorative) - look at using downlights for task lighting. Here's some inspiration: You could try these pendants if you are fond of the timber/woven style: https://www.golights.com.au/tuukka-halonen-pilke-pendant-light-in-black-white-or-natural-birch-60cm https://www.golights.com.au/secto-design-seppho-koho-victo-pendant-light-natural-in-46cm https://www.golights.com.au/graypants-scraplight-pendant-light-moon-in-recycled-cardboard https://www.golights.com.au/herr-mandel-lampframe-pendant-light-wood-34cm https://www.golights.com.au/nordic-tales-bright-sprout-pendant-light-wood-holder-w-white-cord Or if you want to add some glass to balance the textures you could try these: https://www.golights.com.au/tom-dixon-fin-light-pendant-round-13-5cm-brown-blue-silver https://www.golights.com.au/pendant-light-metal-industrial-vintage-glass-14cm-in-black https://www.golights.com.au/sandra-lidner-selene-pendant-light-in-clear If you need help find us here: https://www.golights.com.au/ or cal us on 1300 798 220! Good luck with your search can't wait to see the finished result :)

The tile floor will always be the elephant in the room so consider if it is realistic to change. If you must keep the tiles here are some other fixes that will improve the space. 1. Look through Houzz and make a scrapbook of what you like - You need to determine the style of the kitchen -if you are to keep the doors you could head towards a hamptons style. Consider how the adjoining spaces are decorated as any changes may need adjustments elsewhere. I would cost out each element of the job and decide if you can do it all - possibly over time, as when you do one thing it makes others look shabby and the decisions you make for one aspect would have been different with an overall plan. 1. Remove the pelmet in the kitchen. 2. Paint the cupboards - possible going to a darker colour on the bottom and a lighter on the top. A dark charcoal could work and a grey toned white for the top cupboards. There are some nice Caesarstone options that could pick up these tones with a marble look. 3. The handles need to be heavier as they are trying to be contemporary when the cupboard profile is more traditional 4. You need to replace the bench top- this is your biggest problem as it is totally dated. 5. Your pantry doors ? are different and need to have the same handles. 6. Could go with white glass subways with a soft grey toned grout. If you change the cupboard profile - a squared off shaker style would work- remember that many of the gloss white kitchen s being built these days will soon be dated - so depending on the age of the house - stay traditional. good luck.

Bifold windows have been installed in our new kitchen servery opening to the outside pergola as shown in the first picture. The windows are from Trend Windows. The gap at bottom ranges from 4mm to 6mm. There is an obvious concern of weather and insect ingress through the gap. The renovation contractor has stated that Trend offer no sealing solution in this application and was intending to leave it unsealed. There is a channel in the frame under the window as shown in the second picture. The contractor states this is not suitable for a seal installed in the channel (such as from Dooorseals.com) because of the metal plates at the end of each window panel. That is, there would be a gap in the seal at the end of each panel. The contractor’s recommendation is to use a stick on brush type seal adhered to the outer side of the channel and also covering the end plates. Is my contractor right? Has anyone encountered this problem before and can recommend a product that would best suit the purpose. Many thanks.