We got the IKEA shelves that are pictured in the butlers pantry photo I posted when we were on holiday in Melbourne, Australia. We don't have IKEA here in New Zealand! Hubby is going back over in May/June so will get him to get more of that sort of thing when there. We would pay about 4x the price for that sort of thing here in NZ. I need to work out what I will do now where the fridge was and there is the angle change (does that make sense?).

Personally I think the curtain colour is fine, but your header tape needs attention and for me I'd have them taken up so they hang to the floor rather than on the floor. If your hubby is handy maybe get him to make u a box over the curtain header & stain/paint it to match your furniture. Or put up a pole in matching wood.

Hi Jess, Unfortunately it probably wont stop doing this, as the timber join is butted together that join will always move given the nature of timber. A solution but might not be a cost effective solution would be to router the underneath of the join out with timber and glue in some more timber to help hold the join (a patch kinda thing) this will make the join stronger (assuming this hasn't already been done) Then we only recommend either a oil or wax finish if you want it to be left with a natural look or we apply a clear epoxy resin finish, this is a very good product (about 2-3 mm thick) and it lets the timber move a little and the product moves with the timber rather than crack like the lacquer seems to do. We pretty much always have the same result with kitchen benches when it comes to the sink area and joins. The main cause I see happening is that the timber moves (and it will never stop moving) and then if the lacquer is not flexible it will split open causing a spot for moisture to get in and under the lacquer making it go all funky like that A easier option would be to sand the tops and apply a oil and keep maintaining it, then you will never get the funky cloudy stuff happening, but you will need to do some research on what product are best and available where you are Good luck :-)

I quite like the colour scheme, it's looking good!