Nothing will affect the feel of your house as much as the quality of the light. If you can at all swing it, keep your divided lights. Looking at your photo, those windows are gorgeous. Can you place glass on the exterior? I have some lead light windows in 2 locations. I made new frames with the leaded old glass on the inside and plain glass on the outside. While not as weather-tight, it's much better than single glass. While not as neat as your present windows, the new windows that have the interior and exterior lights with the spacers between the glass also look great and are at the present standards for energy efficient. We live in the PNW and used Milgard; less expensive than Anderson and Marvin, but so far I'm very happy with them.

I love all your ideas....bu as we currently have a new + good bin in there already, i don't want to spend another $100+ on another..and this is only a temporary solution...for the nxt few years..as the kitchen won't last much longer. I already have my 'kitchen' cleaning products under my sink..which is unfortunately a separate cupboard to my bin. We couldn't fit the bin under the sink! Prob not much point me taking the cleaning stuff out of my laundry to put in the bin cupboard!! I think i might put some plywood up beside the bin to keep one side of the cupboard separate! That way i have at least 1/2 cupboard of useful space!!

I would clean up first. Especially the stuff growing in the paving. Then get gardening with pot plants and start experimenting with different plants and the positions. See what you like and if you can keep it alive! Our house has the sun setting over the back fence and we've done a few inexpensive things to reduce that issue (most expensive were outdoor blinds around the verandah) but for most of the year we just don't want to be out there. It is hard work to keep the plants going in summer, there is a lot of sand due to the difficulty in keeping lawn alive and it is just bloody hot. So, that's why I'm saying clean up, start gardening small and see how you go before committing to structures that might not address the real issues you have with the yard. Just my 2 cents! :)

I'm about to take the plunge and re-paint the lounge. It is long, narrow, with high curved ceiling. In plan shape it's like a slice of cake :-). I hope the pic shows it well enough. I'm standing at the other end of the room, which is basically 5m of stacker doors to the deck/archgola. The colour is Dulux Brick Red. I've been agonising over colour - I'm after a coastal vibe. I'd like to maybe wallpaper the short wall with the Island Lady triptych on it, to give some interest and contrast. I'm thinking Resene Robin's Egg Blue, with the end walls Resene Inside Back. I've been playing with a free design programme and I've run out of brain space! Would love to hear any comments, advice from other Houzzers please!