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. :)

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?).

Hello people, Question time again. Im trying to match indoor and outdoor colour to my project around the living and pool area. I have 10 Meters of space to work with which includes 5 meters width of the living area. If i break the colours indoor v's outdoor it will make my area look smaller, more confined ? If i use polished concrete inside and try and match the colour outside, the surface will get hot. Soooooo... I have added some photos here. I went and purchased a box of man made granit tiles 80x 80cm. Keeping the shiny for the inside and tried "honing" the surface of the other tile as a test so i could use it outside and keeping the surface of the 'honed tile" slightly textured to ensure not so slippery and matching the inside colour. After coating this honed tile it has gone slightly darker which is ok. What im wanting to know, is this ok to do ? will there be any down the line effects of the tile if its outside in a wet area ? it maybe only wet for 3 months of the year for a few hours at a time. My challenge here is price V's product / Styling / practacality -Timber is too expensive for outdoor application / requires maintenance -Marble expensive -Natural stone expensive also if anyone has any solutions / kmowledge / advice it its ok to hone an indoor tile and add a protective coating for the outside. this would be much appreciated. Thanks Houzz'ers! Justin :)

There are some great comment here, but my take on this would be if you are going custom to take your time and look around. Many designers offer different takes on each person's preference. The colours you have are good but I'd personally would opt for a more warmer cream, with a self print pattern. I would also suggest pinch pleated curtains and not pencil pleat as you have currently, pinch pleated curtains will give you uniformed pleats from top to bottom. In addition to this I would suggest you use blackout linen to prevent light to enter the room, and possibly interlining so that you retain some thermal properties in your fixtures. Having custom made curtains are a lifetime choice for most customers, take your time and don't settle for the first company you come across. The space above your bed i would possibly add a sheer fabric roman blind which is slightly see through but enough to give you privacy if you bedroom is situated on the ground floor. You can also get the a roman blind to match your new curtains if you'd like a more repetitive theme in your bedroom. I would suggest if you do opt for a roman blind, and you are looking for a good qualities add blackout linen. If you would like a rough estimation on what you would be looking at we can assist you so you are aware of what most reputable curtain making specialist charge in this current market.