Hi Mike and Emma Hope you are slowly but surely getting there... may I make some comments/suggestions that you may or not take on board, but hopefully it may at least give you some ideas/options... Going through a new build ourselves at the moment, and for what it's worth, here's what I personally think: A. Work with what you've got: - additional plumbing work, gas work etc may not be necessary and (particularly gas) can be costly when you're trying to work around existing walls, floors, etc, and as much as possible utilise the existing connections... after whatever you can save here and there, you can spend on nicer cabinetery, gadgets, finishes, etc :) B. Avoid unnecessry structural work: - removing the kitchen/living wall is a must (more space, light, etc) but removing the laundry wall is an unncessary added cost (may even require costly additional strutural support) - putting up a plastered wall on the other hand is inexpensive, allows you to redefine different zones and relocate doors/openings where required (*note: avoid hinged doors in small spaces as you have to allow for wasted space to open door - suggest cavity sliding doors, easy to incorporate in a new wall) C. Don't sacrifice functionality and natural light for design - love full height floor to ceiling cabinets, very much on trend... but they also tend to bring the walls in, which you want to avoid in an already small space... they will also block out more natural ligtht from the only window to the living and breakfast bench (meals area)... not to mention seated guests would be staring at a cabinet tower and fridge - on the other hand a walk in pantry (not that much of a walk in a small space) is also very much on trend, provides more storage and... as entertaining guests in open plan livings tends to happen more in the kitchen... it provides a good hiding place for unsightly items, including frigges... (an underbench bar fridge in the kitchen can easily keep those beers cold... though do consider that means sacrificing some cabinet space) - constantly wiping off the floors from dripping wet dishes across the kictchen from the sink to the dishwaser on the other side bench would personally drive me mad after a while... the dishwasher can easily be connected to the existing sink water and waste points through the cabinerty... any half decent plumber should be able to do that... ON THAT NOTE... or should I say those notes... I know I got a bit carried away :) ... if it were me, here's an idea of what I would try to achieve ...

Great work! Thanks for the budget breakdown too. I am always impressed when these fabulous results can be achieved on a small budget

We recently renovated my son's kitchen/ family room in a weekend. His oven needed replacing so it was a good opportunity to 'fix' it all. We rang around and got quotes on having the cupboard doors professionally painted but it was way too expensive so we took the pine laminate cupboard doors off and painted with a white laminate paint and replaced all the timber handles with chrome ones. We retiled with 600x 300 white marble look tiles (leftovers from our bathroom) (cut the old tiles out and re-sheeted the walls so we had a good surface to tile on) and repainted ceilings and walls. Replaced a dark timber venetian blind with a see through 'sun-out' blind and painted all the architraves white (previously mission brown). A new mixer tap replaced very ancient 'double' taps. We were totally shattered at the end of the weekend, but the kitchen looks a million dollars and the room looks twice the size now the pine and mission brown have gone. We are pretty chuffed with the result achieved by us unprofessionals!

The right coffee table, throw and wall art are not going to be enough to disguise the fact that you have downsized from a much larger home with your large, dark, formal furniture that dominates a compact room. Have you considered moving pieces to other rooms, or selling it, and buying clean-lined, contemporary style furniture off eBay? This style will fit the proportions of your room, and make it easier to live with your dust free strategy. The beauty of second-hand furniture is that when you can afford to upgrade you can sell it again on eBay. and recover your costs. Never paint perfectly good pieces of timber furniture as it will devalue the pieces. Sell them as is, somebody will cherish them as they are. I would keep the couch, decide on the tone of your new timber floor, and use these two elements to decide on the rest of your colour scheme. Your celing fan/light is also a distraction, so replace with something sleek and contemporary that is not such a feature. Your room layout is problemmatic with the number of doors coming into the room, but it is hard to suggest a better stategy without a floorplan. Best of luck with making this house your new home, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls