Any rod will work that does not have decorative finials. A U shaped rod. I would prefer sheers and drapery that go to the floor. But you can use what you have also. A roman shade can take the place of the sheers and mounted inside the frame. You can use ring clips for the drapes for easy opening and closing. Thank you for the new photos.

Thanks Mel. We'll see what we can do to make the rumpus enclosed - it's probably more of a "man cave" at the moment :) Grandad had a dining table in his current place (which is bigger) and got rid of it because he never used it. He also wants more bench space than he currently has. So, this was a deliberate choice rather than a compromise due to lack of space. You've reminded me now that someone did warn us earlier in the design process about the back and forth between wardrobe and bathroom becoming annoying over time. We don't currently have an en suite so it feels wonderfully convenient for us by comparison. However, that feeling will change if we realise it could have been even better. We did have the en suite off the wardrobe in some designs but have been warned this can lead to dampness in your clothes no matter how well ventilated the bathroom is (especially in Auckland's humidity). Would love to hear people's experiences of this configuration - good and bad. On top of that, there are lovely private bush views to the south so we've tried to make the most of those.

Hi IdaC, I had the pleasure of living in a California Bungalow many years ago now that had almost exactly the same plan as yours apart from a few modifications that your house has had. The living and master bedroom were switched and the ensuite was just a bathroom from the hallway. The problem with the house plan is the blocking of the rear of the house by the kitchen wall to the hallway and so the circulation goes around through the dining. If you want to alter the layout for a more modern lifestyle with good access to the back yard, I would make the living room another bedroom and put in a new long but narrow bathroom occupying some of the current dining room or possibly part of the existing living if you don't mind a smaller bedroom. The new bathroom can be just 1200mm wide having a 1200 long shower against the outside wall with a high window in it and then the toilet and the vanity near the door. Put the plumbing on the new living wall unless you install full length wardrobes on the wall between it and the new front bedroom. Then I'd delete the back bathroom and make that and the laundry into a walkthrough scullery and laundry and keep the outside door. Put a galley kitchen along the central back wall of the house with an island facing a new dining area where your current kitchen is with double glazed doors to the front hallway. Then make the back bedroom and 3/4 dining room, the living room and open that up to the rear yard. Ideally you'd want the living space on the North side of the house and the plumbing areas on the South, but that might be an expense too far. You could build a really great outdoor entertaining space outside the living room that links with the backyard bungalow if that became an overflow living area/man-woman cave!!!! or just a granny flat or office. If you want to do it in two stages, start by builing the new bathroom and opening up the back bedroom and 3/4 dining into the living room. That way you can start with the three bedrooms where they intend to be. Then you can look at doing the kitchen, scullery, laundry and dining when you are ready and either set up a temporary kitchen in the living space or eat out for a few weeks between when the old kitchen is removed and the new one becomes usable. Good luck, Christine.

What are the other colours in the room ( curtains , bed spread , rug , any art , etc ? ) , and are you happy with them ? Are you quieter people , or more outgoing ? Theres so many different things you could do , but you'd want to get the overall room looking consistent . The floors , as they are , look nice ; the handles are 1990's generic , and like you , I'd change , but even things like the other wall look a bit plain from the bit I can see . You may have art on that wall , but just what I can see i'd add a small picture there , and go to a hardware shop and look at handles and buy what YOU want , not what someone here says , or what a salesperson says is hot right now . If you are thinking similar to me , as far as gold half circle handles , if you mean those ones maybe 200 x 100 and 30mm 'wide' curves -- they need to make a circle IMO , so they'd only work properly where there are 2 close to each other , up the 'middle' . Also , they feel more like what you'd have in a bank , or maybe a 3 1/2 star hotel . Just my thoughts . Oh , and they also feel a similar age / era as the ones there ! As far as colours , you could do a feature colour , or bold wallpaper , or leave it as it is ( if it's in okay condition ) . But just what I can see , I'd do the skirting and frames in a sharper white -- it looks like one bit has been done like that , but its not consistent . So a bit of a non-answer , but on the info and photo , I wouldn't even want to guess what you should do .