Painting the splash back behind the cooktop is not recommended as it's flammable and will likely peel, blister at least or ignite or release chemical fumes at worst. I love the chalkboard though, although I would mask up a doorway on your wall between the fridge and island and paint that, like a menu board, handy for shopping lists or recipes, and will look clever without being permanent. For the window area, I think those two narrow windows are smart and have personality. You can make a mdf pelmet for above them, simple as. Measure the width of the window frame, and cut about 150mm for each side. Ou can have the timber yard cut the mdf into a 200mm strip, and you simply cut the lengths, 1 x front measurement, 2 x side measurements (150mm). Say. Screw sides through front board and cover with wadding also know as Dacron from fabric store, about $10.00 worth, secure with staple gun and repeat with a fabric of your choice. This is where it's fun, I think something like a lemon lime print or citrus stripe, and perhaps make the top of those pellets have a mdf top also so you can place mason jars filled with lemons or limes on them like a ledge, it will look like fresh preserves in a kitchen window and the blackboard wall will tie that into a theme. Like the roman blinds too because fabric will add colour and style cheaply. Don't mind you took off the doors because you are neat, and items seem to match but that can become messy quickly. Reconsider the blackboard behind your cooktop for safety, and even could go to a tile supplier, buy a heap of se nods or discontinued tiles in your mustards, yellows and teals, break them up and mosaic a sheet of fibre cement sheet cut to fit. Then you could attach that to the wall directly over the old tiles, and it would be made by you, the right colours and have that bespoke eclectic look in a cooks kitchen. Sometimes it's as simple as grouping things like a timber chopping board leaning up the wall,a bowl of picked lemons with leaves on, and a teal striped washcloth for it to have those zingy pops of colour.

thanks to everyone for your helpful comments! I was going to have to pay around $190 for 6 more, but will order them from Beaumont who have a 25% sale on at the moment. I agree that I need to just live with the cost and finish the job properly, but your shortcut suggestions were all really interesting and much appreciated. And archimondo, I'd say it's like having a kangaroo loose in the top paddock.

I made the mistake of getting wavy tiles for our ensuite - even though I was going to shop for something else :-) I got caught up in all the options! Being typical glazed tiles, we have never have any issues cleaning them - even with the texture. I just found that the texture dated them very quickly - more so then a similar flat tile.

Hi all, I can't seem to reply individually to your comments so here's a general one :) Thanks all for the suggestions and experience-I'm really intrigued by these suggestions of pavilion extensions, those links you attached Kate are super striking! Unfortunately for us we are on a fairly small block of land and one side of the house is a narrow driveway-we looked into building a garage/study on the ground but as we have to be 900mm from the neighbouring fence it was going to be very skinny and just not worth it. I appreciate the thoughts shared on keeping our feet on the ground but as we've two young kids and two dogs (and would love to have chickens again) I'm less and less inclined to give up more of the garden which is what we'd have to do if we extend out. Our verandah roof was done back in the 60's and slopes down and leaks in the rain so hence it needs to be lifted up if we were to build out. Kate, I LOVE your idea of the shed! We actually converted a massive steel shed into a gorgeous shed home when we lived in QLD on a massive rural block of land, loved how easy it was to 'knock' down a wall! :) Sadly we have learned the hard way that trying to save money by hiring a draftsperson that didn't ask us what our budget was has cost us time and money, but I guess in a way I'm grateful as this extra time has given me time to consider building up now instead of out. I'm getting a sense that it will be a lot more expensive to do so so might have to wait another 2-3 years to get re-finance happening. In the meantime we are making some changes to the current set up, slowly adding value and making it more enjoyable to live in :)