Now it's beginning to work! Luv the rug! A few more red showstoppers, and I luv the post about matting your family pic, and larger frame for it. Looks like you might be a bit uncomfortable with the great post idea of moving your sofa out into the room away from wall. If so, could you accept putting it diagonally from the entrance doorway, across that corner where it is, stopping at the edge of your window? That's a bit of a move outward, still can see the fp and tv, and show off your new rug, which could go diagonally in front of the sofa. Then, if you like that, after a while you could move it on out as Deb K suggests. Sometimes intermediate steps are more doable for us than those big changes.Same with painting; if you could first paint just the fp wall, then later paint other walls...seems some color would really make it more homey. Would you cosider a quite contemporary fixture for the light in the center ceiling? Maybe a bit of red could go there!

Hi there nicndrew -- wondering if you ever solved your venting issues if you went ahead and put your range into the fireplace. We have a similar issue - 140 year old victorian and the only realistic plan we can come up with for a new kitchen design is to put our range into an existing fireplace. Our floorplan is constrained by a stairwell as well as a couple of weight bearing walls so we need to work with what we have...I am hoping we can vent up and out the side of the house -- four flues in this chimney but the kitchen flue is closest to the exterior wall. The contractor is coming to take a look on Saturday but would love to gather some suggestions before then.

This made me laugh: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/09/seagull-turns-orange-after-falling-into-vat-of-chicken-tikka-masala I couldn't copy the picture, but it's hilarious.

Make sure you save up enough money for your bond and two weeks rent in advance - most agents usually require this and it's a big hole in your pocket to begin with! I slowly started buying things in the lead up that I knew I would need (plates, utensils, linen, appliances on sale, etc). Try to do most of your shopping around sale times. I stocked up at the boxing day sales and got a lot of stuff for really cheap! Other things I'd urge you to consider are: bedroom window light (ours face an internal common area with night time safety lights right next to them and let in a lot of light), number of bathrooms/schedules of house members, sufficient storage space and (assuming you'll be sharing with others) a clear idea of household duties/who will do what. Remember: it's your first time out of home, it's probably not going to be a dream-come-true kind of house but it's a great experience, so try not to stress too much!