BEFORE & DURING. I forgot to take a photos of the window before I painted, but you can just see it in the first photo, BLUE! All the skirting & frames were blue! The wardrobe doors had never been painted so were very dirty & stained and the wall colour that I actually thought was a dirty yellow seemed more beige once I painted over it with my lovely pale yellow. It has brightened the room up so much. The only thing I haven't done is the blue door. In my other daughters room (which is mirror image of this room) all four doors were painted blue!! It was a really big job to cover that blue. And so with this room I decided instead I will swap it for another door in house that will be getting taken out when we renovate. :-)

Dear Sophia, I have read your post very carefully and become interested to advise you about flooring. I am a professional flooring consultant. I recommend you the following options : 1. Waterproof Laminate for whole house as you mentioned you want same flooring in Laundry area too. There are few waterproof laminate in the market and I am happy to help you with that if you need me to do that. 2. Carpet (Solution Dyed Nylon or Triexta) for living, dining, study and bedrooms and Vinyl planks or waterproof laminate for Kitchen and Laundry areas. If you need any further please do not hesitate to contact us via http://www.carpetshoponline.com.au/online-enquiry/

Thanks midesign. If you search under Advice for the topic "Asian Eclectic" you will find another post from me that has more photos of the same space. This may help you to orient more. The Cambodian screen is against a half- height wall and is dividing (non-intentionally) the living room from the dining area. There are 2 steps up to the dining area-still within the open plan first floor but also separated by the small "half height" wall I mentioned that the screen is resting against. I had already thought of placing the screen behind a bed. In fact - this is one of three screens I have throughout the house ( this timber carved Cambodian one, a Chinese black lacquer inlaid one with mother of pearl -currently in my home private music studio downstairs in a lower floor of the house - and a Japanese gold leaf screen with Kutani Cranes, which is behind my bed in my master bedroom as headboard centerpiece. ) So, you see- too many beautiful things all fighting for feature space. There seems no other place for this timber screen other than this living room! The kitchen is behind the armchairs in the current arrangement. The sofa is against that wall under the large triangle so it enhances flow of visuals between people in the living room and straight into kitchen. The windows are in fact floor to ceiling sliding doors across the entire back of the house- currently not seen in this post which is why I made a better post with same title that I've referred you to - there I added more photos of the various aspects in the living room. The sliding doors are directly across from the timber screen in these pics. There is a spectacular view from the sliding picture window doors in open plan lounge/kitchen of ocean view looking out across rainforest. The house is quite elevated- being 3 stories and 3 levels built on a hill with large covered decks outside wrapping around 3/4 of the house and views from all decks. The main issue with too many things and all vying for proper space to let them stand alone and show them to full advantage is that the wall space is very limited throughout the home on all levels due to the full length doors covering the rear aspect on every level. The house has wonderful quirky angles and less pure white wall space than most houses as the doors with all the views are the real feature. These are good difficulties to have, I admit, but I really think I need professional advice such as yours to let the house and its contents fully shine. If you are familiar with the pole home style then you will understand many of the challenges designing in such a home to bring out its full potential brings. I will post more pictures of other rooms too if you like? I love your suggestions already! What you say makes sense- I just would love someone to be able to see various things in my collection and know more intuitively in which room and with which other things they would make the greatest impact - yet harmoniously too! Thanks again

We have always done diy but never again!!! Exactly true that it is one of the last things to be done in either a reno or new build & of course it does save money. You should be aware that you pretty much need to spend all those lovely savings on take away food/alcohol/sedatives (personal choice) to compensate for the loss of arm & leg function at the end of the endless days work. Neighbours may complain about loud music & swearing or nudie runs to the pool to refresh & start the process all over again. Deny the urge to diy if possible & pay someone but get referrals first!!! Tips to all who "do it yourself" 1. It starts with the preparation & the plasterer must be on his game...that's where a lot of the trouble starts & ends with a bad finish. 2. Buy everything in bulk from tape to brushes to rollers to trays etc. 3. You will always be back at the paint counter for just one more tin to either start again or finish up. 4. Stock up on fast food standbys like pies, sausage rolls, pastries, microwave dinners etc. or have the pizza guy on speed dial. 9. Don't ask the children to do any painting unless you have the patience of a saint & are prepared to go over everything they do "to help" or "feel included" 10. On that subject if you have small children do not even think about diy. 11. Book & pay for a holiday in advance while you still have money to recuperate from what is essentially the worst job ever with even more precious time to spend reinstating furniture, curtains, long lost essential items of comfort & most of all sanity. 12. Say sorry to everyone you ever knew & you didn't know what you were thinking at the time, have excuses at hand like......................................................................................... I/We saved soooo much money!...They said it would be easy...Everyone does there own painting don't they...I thought this colour was more red/yellow/green/blue like the sample pot...I rather like the spatter effect & I think it will be a new trend...Surely you know that "Marsala" is the Pantone 2015 colour orf the year?...Don't buy any paint, I have plenty of left overs and a complete range of sample pots...here they're all yours! ;))))))