Wow!!! thank you so much for responding and for the ideas. Cyn222 I love your drawing of the area I think I might try that one in another spot , I wanted to have an area for a memorial seat, your drawing looks lovely and I think it’ll suit a spot just up the path. It’ll look down over the pond. I'm going to have to work out plan as I learnt that lesson once before. lol. I did wonder about a swing, the large tree sits on the top of a bank, it then goes down about 8 meters. It’s reeeeeally steep. I do like the idea of secret gardens and seats along the tracks. I was tossing up about a waterfall over in the far corner. Since the water flows down a stream and then though the overgrown swamp at the bottom. Gez I wish money grew on trees, lol. Actually I call them ponds but they are really dams on a natural water way. Decoenthusiaste, Thank you, you made a very good point about starting with the ponds and working out. I think you are right. It’ll probably take me awhile to tidy up the area. I’ll also have to check what kind of wild flowers are around as I'm sure there must be some. It would look nice with a bit of colour, I never thought of that. The ground down at the bottom is swampy like wet lands. I also wondered about board walks through it. We are building soon on the land, so this will be the back yard. There is also lot of native bush. Here’s a photo from the side of the pond. I’ll have to get it cleaned up somehow and figure out the best way to improve the water quality. If I start with that 1st, and then do the memorial garden I can then work from there. Lol I’m keen on getting the ashes out of the cupboard. Thanks, you both have given me direction, I appreciate it.

If you use masonry paint, we could head in a warm greige direction for all of it - not so yellow . .. something that can give you a bit more contrast against the white windows and trim - even 40 does a lot for us . . . what about a blue green gray? You will get a coastal / mod vibe and it will relate to the farmhouse look .. .above bm silver mink http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/silvermink and below . . . gilbraltar cliffs . . http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/gibraltarcliffs Shingle look siding on the side dormers would be neat to get that cottage mod. . . you can stick with yellow but I don't think it complements the roof tone. With the blue-green grays, the white windows and trim will really pop beautifully. . . You can also go more neutral with a warm gray - greige . . . here's the siding tone http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/capemaycobblestone paired with this for brick - http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/graystone potential future red windows . . .aluminum pits over time, so if you have just one side you want to try, you don't have to powder coat, you can take a small brush and just do them by hand with latex paint if they are 10 yrs old or more. . . one advantage to gray . . future see [houzz=]

You need light and bright. Being rented is tough. First change out the drapes with to the floor length. Cream with a horizontal stripe of brown to match or furniture. This will 1. get rid of the horrid things hanging there 2. pull the initial visual to that wall instead of the floor. Tall and high colors ( mango, aqua, yellow) decorations on your mantel with shorter cream and brown items. Then a large square table in the middle, painted distressed cream, with high color items setting on it. DIY project or Ikea. Green is the number one calming color, just don't let it put you to sleep. :)

Excuse my duh-ness but i'm having difficulty trying to follow whats going on here. Are these two photos an exact replica of your house and pool ? If not a hasty sketch with dimensions could help a lot. By kitchen wall do you mean the wall behind the bar ? And where is the pool wall ? Are you considering the covered area as being "inside" ? Sorry for all those questions lol Sometimes when you have a design problem you need to turn it inside out or on it's head. If you can't beat it maybe embrace it by making a feature of it : i.e. contrast by having the lightest colored pool surround and a great blue or tile inside and under the overhang, something that will echo the water color ? If you have a great covered area as in photo you'll most likely be spending a lot of time there and it could be soothing to be able to sometimes retire into a darker inside. In my book, 10M isn't small and also contrasting two floor colors doesn't necessarily make a space seem smaller and confined and may in fact even open it up. Could it be that you've thought yourself into a box here ? Sometimes one needs to give it all a good shake up and see how it resettles.