I think it is awesome to give a piece of furniture a new life. It is sometimes a bit daunting to take a paint brush to a piece made from genuine old timber but if you are going to get many more years of life and enjoyment out of it I think it is better than dumping it. I believe it shows your love. jbof4 I started with a heat gun to remove most of the many layers of paint, (some are easier than others to strip this way). Then I used an orbital sander and sanded and sanded and sanded. You might also try liquid paint stripper although I find this very messy. I believe you can also get them professionally stripped. Good luck with the resurrection, go for it what have you got to lose.

Hi eclipse 66 I'm sorry to hear about your break in. This is quite tricky to picture as I wasn't certain which walls related to which, but I will give this a go. I wonder if your ceilings are around the 2.4mtr mark, as your doors suggest. Although you have many windows that are probably floor to ceiling, each room is sectioned off by this central corridor, so no real natural light gets down there, is that right? The little natural light that might filter through would be absorbed by the walls, and the colour you have on these walls would not be easily seen. Without. Sounding too mainstream here, I would absolutely paint an offwhite wall the entire corridor and each adjoining living area off that, with exception to your kitchen. All ceilings purest ceiling white along with the window frames and all internal doors. The walls in a satin finish to help the light reflect a little, and move around the wall without being too shiny. You haven't mentioned your floor? Try to keep it consistent in all the living areas including your hallway, and only carpet the bedrooms as these doors would be closed often. With the door filled hallway being a white gloss finish, and a white ceiling in a flat white, the walls will feel a little warmer in comparison, although still a white, perhaps something like a hog bristle 1/4 strength by dulux. In your main living room, and kitchen, paint the hog bristle in full strength, so it feels warmer, as these spaces flow onto each other, feeling larger as a whole. With your doors being so tall, (or the ceiling being comparably low), hang your window rods if any right at ceiling level, use a sheer curtain that even when partly closed let's light filter through, they dress the window but won't block light, for that install roller blinds that will roll right up exposing as much daylight as possible, and if privacy is a factor, the sheer will provide a buffer and still seem light filled. Even if these are never used, framing the window will place an emphasis on the window frame, and more importantly the light they provide, swell as an illusion of vertical space even without it. Aother suggestion for that hall is to use this principle to heighten the ceiling, visually, is to use lining boards vertically, or a wallpaper with a strip or vertical print. Drawing you eye upward toward the end, with a wallpaper, I'm thinking of one I've seen many times over, it's a white or cream background, with an image of birch trunks, the base or top of the trees arent revealed in the picture so it doesn't make the space feel from a low or high perspective. This would provide a creative distraction to the corridor, evoke a feeling as you have walking through a beautiful place, and is graphic but still very neutral. You can even paper you doors so when they're closed, the hallway won't feel so busy. I would remove carpet in the hall if you have any, because a warm closed in space without proper airflow, or light feels stuffy, and carpet absorbs sound and lint, where floorboards or hard surface atleasts has a sound walking down it, which amplifies noise and feels bigger again by comparison. Against this neutral, cohesive space, your furniture andpersonality pieces can really stand out, particularly the red. I would also use this in the kitchen somewhere, maybe a gingham check fabric on the kitchen window or just your accessories. The less is more theory also extends to colour, particularly in smaller busy spaces, minimize these elements, like the repeat of doors and architraves on your walls, by tying them in with single colour, and keep your decorations either in a theme or single colour hue. Scatter your colour around so visually you have somewhere your eye is drawn to around the space. If you get pictures I will know if I'm way off track, but if any of them resonate with you, then great. Good luck. Ml design

Just wanted to post the most recent plan that incorporates all of the suggestions that I have received from the very helpful people on the Internet! Changes made: - added an extra bathroom on far left of the house near kids bedrooms - changed the toilet/main bathroom to move the shower over to the toilet room so that we could have 2 separate kids showering at a time (without coming into our room - although that remains and option) - moved the door to the library so that it doesn't look into the toilets/bathroom - optimised the space in our bedroom by moving walk in closet and bathroom around. This modification even allowed us room for a tub in the bathroom a so thankful for that suggestion! Now we just have to find room in the budget lol Questions: - when you walk into a bathroom, do you prefer to walk into a shower (from the door) or into a toilet? What would you prefer visible from the door itself? Logically you are going to use a toilet 9 times out of 10 so you would think that should be there first, but there is something odd about walking past a door and just seeing a toilet there... Thoughts? - is there enough room in the 2 bathrooms we created by joining the toilet and main bathroom? Dimensions are 3m by 2m (roughly) and with a shower coming out about 1m and the vanity about 550mm, that leaves more or less 1.45m to walk around, surely sufficient? If there are any other suggestions or thoughts on what you would do if this was your home we would greatly appreciate the feedback. Thanks you all so much in advance!

Without looking it up , the new Credit Regulations came in on 1 Dec , and there is a fine of up to $200,000 for every instance of 'irresponsible lending' . The problem seems to be that it isn't defined . So a couple who have been together for 5 years , saved $100k , both on $100k plus , have $50k of cars that they are prepared to sell and drive $5k ones , plus 1 lot of parents has $50k to lend them . A house that is $1million they can afford . But what if the female gets pregnant ? What if he loses his job and takes 2 months to get a $50k job ? What if the parent dies and the lawyer wants the $50k back ( or $37.5k of it to distribute to other siblings ) ? Those clothes trucks that go around the lower income suburbs sell a pair of 'knock-off' designer jeans to a solo mum for her 14 year old daughter . They charge $5 a week for 20 weeks , mum and daughter are happy because it fits their budget . You and I can probably find them on-line for $40 , they might be able to too , but to get $40 might mean missing a couple of meals or not prepaying the power , so they don't . I am a director of more than 40 companies . Probably half of them I own 99% of shares , others I own 33% or 40% or 50% . Pre-Covid , combined turnover was well over $250k a day , my property holdings are well into 8 figures . In June/July when I bought the Lincoln Street property , the mortgage was almost a formality -- I've dealt with the same bank for 35 or more years , have good cashflow and own a reasonable whack of my properties . Almost all have mortgages , and the more valuable ones also have floating charges , but I doubt I am classed as a risky borrower . Tenders close on this place in just under a month , but as it is technically not livable ( a couple of walls have been taken out and additions started -- they have closed it in with building paper and ply and wrap ) , I cannot get a mortgage , even though my intention is make it better , spend up to $1.5mil , and live there for at least 15 years ( I will have turned 70 by then haha ) . So if I do get it , rather than a approx 3.5% mortgage , I will have to get it via Bridging Finance ( at 11% ) , then after a year or 18 months , when everything is complete and Lake Crescent ( my current place ) is hopefully sold , and hopefully the rules have been clarified , I then go the through process of getting registered valuations and applying for a mortgage etc . Assuming Lake Cres sells for around what everything thinks , even after spending $1.5M on alterations , the mortgage should be under $2M and valuation likely to be around $7.5M ( land and stables etc will make up about half that ) , but right now its harder to get that than it was to get funding for Lincoln Street , which depending on exactly how it all pans out , will be $15M plus when complete . Interesting couple of months . This is a picture taken from a spot towards the rear of the property -- a bit clearer than the other ones .