I'm quite lucky that we have quite a large bathroom for over here. There all normally so small in older homes! I have a a lot of space to fill and was only going to use the tiles in the bath and on the floor. I find fully tiled bathrooms very very confining. White wall for the rest, apparently, according to the design guru. But it's ok, I've been told when it comes time to decorate the garage I can have whatever I want!!!!

You have several choices at different price points. 1- Sheet rock, plaster and paint This is the most expensive option and will add the most permanent value to your home. 2-Wallpaper over a heavy liner paper. 3-Prime then paint the wood, it will give you a stripe effect. Let me know what you decide to do. Linda

I think the most impact would come from a well placed, well sized Acer. You can get them grown fairly tall already, Tamata have them and I'm sure there are other places. I'd get one that grows to no more than 3 metres (although check this against your property as scale is hard to gauge from photo), and has changing colours of leaves/bark. I'd place it towards the left of the property, looking at it. That will give some balance to the windows, provide some privacy but not obscure light. It wouldn't be a cheap option but cheaper than painting the house, and would need almost no aftercare. Then some easy care phormiums in the border underneath the windows. Both phormiums and acers come in a range of colours- limes, bronze, purples, oranges, dark reds etc, so choose what you like. The acers are soft and provide movement and variety, the phormiums sharp and provide solid consistent structure. This echoes the plants that can be seen already behind and at the side of the house and should make the hour 'sit within' its environment instead of bing perched on top of it. Also, the edge of the driveway- I would dig a border to just beyond the seam of the gate, lay down a weed mat, and put some stones in there. The garden centre has a range of them, in several colours from white through green red greys and blacks. If you chose reddish (or reddish and lime/orange) tones for your acer/phormiums, I would prob buy a large specimen plant in a pot for the top of the driveway, at the eight hand side of the garage, to link the colours. And maybe paint the front door and have some pot plants there that tone in too, especially in the area near the path that can be seen from the street. For a cleaner line I'd consider painting the lower part of the decking (the vertical frontage) to tone in with your house.

Hi Linda. The Resene Merino on the walls may make the trims possibly look more creamy. If you intend to paint your trims, doors etc, I usually tell people to use a stark white like Resene Alabaster because if you change your wall colour again at a later date it will still look good. If you know the trim colour let me know. The inspiration picture of white works well because it is broken up by lots of natural textures and materials.