Hi Maria, we love the wood but it is a little overwhelming in that space with the timber floor. A liming white is a great idea as mentioned by a few people here. This will let you have the best of both worlds, a lighter, brighter finish while still allowing the wood grain to show through. You could try Feast Watson Liming White Floor Finish (yes, it's not a floor but it has the size of a floor!) and build up the number of coats until you are happy with the amount of timber grain showing through. You'll probably need to give it a light sand first as it's most likely already got some type of coating on it. The other option would be to leave the walls as is and consider a large, light neutral coloured rug as pompom suggested on the timber floor and perhaps a good sized piece of art on the wall or white wall shelving instead of the dark side unit you have to reduce the amount of timber in the room.

I like the bricks and their texture My advise : fill the gaps in the bricks with more mortar use either white or natural in colour keeping the lines as straight an even as possible I think I was on the boral website the other day and they had a link where you could play around with different cladding and mortar Paint the beams in with the ceiling and add as much white/China white/antique white paint as possible Alternatively go to Pinterest search colour palettes or colour combinations You will definitely find some unreal colour ideas there Libby rip out the carpet and see what's underneath if concrete get it polished if timber do the same

Hi Stacey, I know you like the white wash look and the photos you posted were great examples of this finish. No one really likes that dark brick look so why not do the ceiling first after you knock out that wall in the middle & step back in to look at the changes. I'm sure you will be tiling before the new kitchen goes in so after this is done your room will be lighter again. The ugly duckling is becoming more like a swan! At this point you will be more certain of the finished look so before the kitchen is installed do a patch behind where the cupboards will go to see how you like it.There are some you tube videos of the process if you want to diy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkVBm3bitEE And here's a before & after story like yours with a happy ending on Houzz. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/before-and-after-brick-and-dark-wood-transformation-dsvw-vd~3130506 Good luck!

I don’t want to paint the beams I want to paint in between them but as my walls are beamed and the ceiling is vaulted I don’t know whether the whole room has to be painted the same colour or I can paint the ceiling one colour and do the walls in another.