Hi Leecy, lovely to hear from you and hearty congratulations. No wonder you have been quiet. What a fun time ahead and I'm sure your new addition is going to thoroughly enjoy the attention of his 3 mothers. I can imagine the wonderful feeling of moving into a home that needs no work. It is fun to plan and do the renovations, but there just comes a time in life that freedom is so much more important, especially with babies - you just never get that time back. How far did you get with the renovations? Did you get the kitchen area done at all?? I put my new kitchen in last October while BH was overseas and I had it all to myself, MY decisions MY wants, MY needs. I didn't let on to anyone I was doing it so BH came home to a huge surprise and loved everything - I'm sure mostly because he didn't have to think about it. Everything is in drawers or on pull out shelving so no bending or crawling around the floor, except in the pantry which has all narrow adjustable shelving so the low shelves just have one large item on them making it easy to grab and nothing has to be searched for. All the joeys have been here since then for holidays and it got very high scores of approval. The only problem we have is trying to find things, with cleaning out, there are no hiding places left. Given us lots of laughs at least. Good luck with everything, and don't be a stranger. Sneak peek at part of the kitchen

And to you, and to Chook too, of course. Sydney just has the best fireworks, doesn't it? Though I'm glad that Mr Dog and I don't live there. It'll be rough enough here. Row, I think you've done a great job. Yes, the roller blind may no longer live in that room. Thanks for sharing the other pics -- see, you were dreaming of pattern on walls before I came along.

Absolutely agree with blueskies60 ! Remove the artwork/bench/plant that's on the left and replace then with either a bookshelf or a tall chest of drawers. Perhaps the plant can be repositioned into the corner on the floor where this troublesome niche is (there seems to be more than enough light there for a plant) and just place something calm and simple in the niche itself - perhaps a Japanese style scroll or pen and ink art work set off with a more rounded object sitting in the left corner of the niche; a gorgeous rock, a lovely candle, a calming statue... If you have (my preference) a chest of timber drawers on the left where the current art work is, you'll break up the symmetry, have more storage and have another surface upon which you can place a changing display of objects. This is the area that I would utilise for a mirror.

Sounds like a very stressful situation! If there is absolutely no way the builder will allow you to change things (even if they did, I imagine they would ask you to foot the entire bill of pulling the tiles down and replacing all water proofing in addition to new tiles), I can make a few suggestions for improvement. Firstly I would suggest replacing the tiles above the vanity with a white mosaic, a patterned or a textured feature tile/strip. You could also use this same tile to replace the vertical feature in the shower. There are some beautiful shapes and sizes available to choose from. Secondly I would address the grout situation in this way: Floor - dark colour grout & Walls - Light colour grout. Lastly if it does not prove too difficult or expensive, maybe replace the tiles below the vanity with a plain white tile (could be similar size). Good luck and I am sure once you have a lovely mirror up and some crisp white towels, it will look just wonderful.