To da_jg_king...This thread is about Stephanie's dilemma and all responses are directed to giving her some suggestions....its grown to be a rather long article and it is unlikely that anyone will respond to your dilemma. Why don't you start a post about your house and put up some really good photos to give Houzzers a "look in"? I bet you will get lots of respnse if Stephanie's post is anything to go by. Its hard to imagine your environment and make alternative suggestions without having photos. Cedar or any timber panelling can be deceptive depending on the area of the room and on the lighting that would change during the day..really need photos! I'm sure Houzzers would love to pitch in with suggestions...some of the ideas given to Stephanie might inspire you too! I love the challenge of natural timber. I've come across and advert for a beautiful new paint colour from the RESENE company..They have some amazing stuff that gets me quite excited imagining what I could do with some of it...You ask for suggestions for flooring that would look good against cedar walls....You do not say whether you want colour suggestions or materials suggestions...so...Go to the RESENE paint site and have a look at all their paint products, you might be inspired by the colours and that could lead you to other ideas...like tiles, floor renders..etc. Lately I've had a "thing" for a definite shade of Wedgewood Blue..( and I don't particularly like blue in my environment), but there's something very appealing about a dusty, light, warm-looking exact BLUE...leaning neither towards green nor purple...a perfect blue that I just love next to my timber walls.....That might be a clue for you...though it would depend, as colour always does, on the natural hue of your timber walls...Wood has its natural colour variations according to its type that also change with age....lots to consider. Put up some PICS! Yes?

Hi kelly. can see you are going for a classic kitchen that transitions between traditional styles such as provincial, hamptons and a slightly more modern take on them. your island will be hero, and it's bespoke finish will make or break the whole room. The layout is quite practical, although the abundance of bench space used as a seated area will undoubtedly clutter up your prep space and designated walkway around it when stools come into play. as for the fluted columns and turned legs, I do like them, however the Georgian blocks (your pyramids) which are referred to as rosettes, regardless of the design, are perhaps not being used to best effect on your rangehood area, and in fact, are better used either side of the adjoining wall cabinets. They are typically used in place of fillers, which go between Walls and cupboards, and symmetrically flank a show cabinet - ie glazed display cabinet, a function cabinet such as a sink or cooktop/oven unit. i have designed many provincial kitchens including the schots showroom in Clifton hill, and have many years experience in applying these ornaments to otherwise simple kitchens to great effect. I am a kitchen designer, and from my stance, the proportion is what is not working for me. the island is going to dominate, but it will feel somewhat domineering to the kitchens detriment if it is not suitably complimented by same scale cabinets around the perimeter. In these style kitchens, the trick is to emphasise and highlight the main function areas, the cooking zone, typically by over scaling the rangehood with a nice mantel, rangehood cabinet or mouldings, the sink, and the storage or prep areas. Your rangehood cabinet needs to be wider, wider than the cooktop, and as important, the glass doors either side need to be narrower, regardless of storage, they will look grander, and have more impact with the fluted column either side of these. Also, varying depth is important, the side glazed cabinets should be standard -330mm and the rangehood deeper, and higher, so it stands out dramatically, make it 450mm deep, and 900mm wide, irrespective of the cooktop width. I encourage making it higher, so the capping mould on top of the glass cabinets abut the rangehood cabinet, and the central rangehood capping then stands out framing the focus, it also makes your ceiling appear larger. if your render is representative of your layout, align the top height of the glazed cabinet with the bulkhead, and then the rangehood unit to the ceiling, then actually run the ceiling cornice around that to provide an illusion of high ceilings! i would also consider lowering the side cabinets with Undermount lighting to illuminate your workspace. Do the same highlighting your sink, by flanking the cupboard with the fluted columns, perhaps even protruding it 100mm, so the stone bench top enjoys a beautiful stone edge on show. It also allows your tapware hob more generous space. The Columns will then make sense, and link into your dramatic and over scaled island. Your designer can easily modify this render in 15 minutes or so, and show you just how proportion alters an image, and will instantly provide insight to a successful aesthetic, or whether you want to rethink the layout. Last tip, when you kitchen has one plain wall with upper cabinets, but others are left without any, I would suggest considering tiling up to a bulkhead on adjacent wall,s perhaps a subway, or marble hexagonal small tile like a penny round, it will provide balance to both style and surfaces. good luck. ML

Hi Suzanne The panelling in Perth is usually done with (believe it or not) Cedar panels / planks which are then prepped and painted. Most of the high end work is done this way. You can do it in MDF however and any good chippie will make it work. We recently restored a 100 year home in a Hamptons Style home and all of the stair well panels were cedar also. The second storey panelling we did had to be fabricated in MDF to get the detailed sizes and other than the dents in the old (from many years of enthusiastic use) you can't tell the difference. For skirting, a lot of the profiles are made up as one offs by builders that are used as a kind of signature. The same with doors. We made new solid doors to match the old at a timber joiner. The skirting and door profiles are usually made up by executive doors and mouldings in Malaga. They have a good range for you to start with as does Subiaco Restorations in Osborne Park. Cheers

Thank you for your response siriuskey. Several reasons as to why I would like to line the wall: We use the garage as the main entry/exit to the house. We don’t park our cars inside, and the kids play in the garage frequently. So I just thought I’ll give the space a mini makeover. We will be getting some new tall cabinetry that will run along approx three-quarters of the wall. The cabinets will need to be anchored onto the wall for safety reasons, but due to the current recessed brick work I’m unsure how. The most viable option I could come up with is to straighten out the wall. DIY Vj paneling is a cheaper option to getting the wall plastered. It will probably cost me a few hundred dollars as opposed to $1200+. Any other suggestions you may have is most welcome, thank you so much.