Hi again- I have been looking at Benjamin Moores colors and have chosen a few you might look at. My technique for color choices is to buy several large sheets of MDF from the hardware and several paint samples that I think will work. Grab a plain white sample pot as well and just play with colors; if what you thought looked good in the shop and doesn't look good in reality, just add a bit of the white to lighten it and use the darker tones to deepen. Once you've found the color you like paint it on one of the large MDF sheets and live with it for a day or two and see how it looks morning,night, south side of building,northside of building. If the color that you like is one that you've mixed yourself, just go back to the paintshop as I'm sure B Moore would have the right shade so you can match it. Do you know the color name of the roofing? Is it IRONSTONE or MONUMENT? I'd be tempted to use that same color for the windows. My personal trick for contrast and trims is to take the main color and ask paint shop to make it up in 1/4 strength even lighter if need be. Good luck and post pictures when it's finished.

Thanks Orangecamera. It's still a work in progress and mud everywhere Sorry we did look at having the steps' off set' but it didn't seem to go with only three steps and a small area. And about the zen well the cats are doing that for us much to our disappointment (it's still like a litter box to them). We went to the garden supply place still not knowing what kind of stones we were getting. We stood in front of all the bins (there where many). We even looked at mixing some. The grey stones had a bin more the size we wanted but we ended up getting the golden fleck. It was a little smaller, which was a shame, the bigger ones were so mixed in their grading it looked too messy. So this is what we finished up with. It was seagardens that got me thinking away from grey and nwduck mentioning the drainage. So this has really helped. Also everyone seem to think the wooden steps needed to go a lot lower. Next it's figuring out where the large river stones should go

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?).

The blue is awesome (grey is too trendy)! The reason it stands out to you is perhaps because it's the only real colour there. Bring in the blue in a window treatment, a small appliance that sits on the counter, a pretty tray or area rug. Also, it is more appealing often if there are more than 2 colours - so right now you have a white and blue colour scheme - bring in red or orange or fushia - something from the other side of the spectrum (like you did with the yellow flowers but in a more permanent way)!