Thank you so much for your comment after all this time. The colour you have suggested brightens the front door area beautifully and if the two red pots were painted in a tone to match, we think it would look great. Not sure if you can get Crestview doors in New Zealand but there must be something similar. We like the idea of going away from another cedar door - mainly because it would stand out too much while it was weathering. I don't know whether we would have been that brave but the tangerine works so well with the jade green of the joinery. I have re-laid all the stones and put a new wider front step in. The timber colour will soften down in time. I put a big pot in the garden to draw visitors to the front door and have added some colourful bromeliads to the garden alongside the house to make the area a bit more cheerful. We can't make a decision about what to do with a larger 'overhang' to protect the front porch yet - it is a project in progress. Thanks again for your post.

Mona you have seen exactly the dilemmas I'm facing with this room so I really appreciate your comments. I was focusing on no1, but really 2 and 3 are on my mind too. In terms of getting some continuity between the rooms I was planning on recovering the dining chairs in a fabric to tone with cushions/throws on the white couch, ottomans in a matching tone, and pulling this colour scheme through into cushions in the formal lounge. I love the spring colours at the moment (greens, blues etc) which you can see i'm playing with at the moment but you might be able to see the painting in the formal room which is orange, red and yellow with a blue/purple base. So I'm very keen on colour and so tired of the brown carpet and neutral walls. I was also going to restain the dining table and chairs to a dark mahogany colour, and change the bar stools to something more modern. re: rug closer to sofa, I've done this and it looks off-balance with nothing else in the space. It seems to work better in the middle of the carpet area at the moment. Perhaps thats because I haven't ordered the ottomans yet. I don't want to add a coffee table to this room as prefer Ottoman to put feet up on. I've attached a pic of a rug, do you think something like this would work better? re the wall: yes this is the major for me at the moment. It is a TV room so tv and speakers stay and I wont be adding any custom cabinetry. The idea was to increase the space in this room by removing all of the cabinets and they are now in the adjoining room. The speaker covers have not been painted as I needed to work out what wall covering to apply, and colour etc. so once they are painted the wall colour they will blend in better. The idea of shelving has merit, I'll have to have a think more about that... Any other thoughts you have are appreciated.

I would look at this room from 2 angles, in this order: convenience (as you have young kids and need everyone to be able to fully use it) and aesthetics. Equipment and accessories: #1 - first look at what is necessary to have in this bathroom: a place where to keep soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste -- all within easy reach for all users (including not-tall-enough kids) #2 - a cosmetic mirror ? #3 - a towel rail #4 - a small cabinet for storage Ideally, #1 should be stored directly on the sink, as it's lower, within easy reach for the kids (see below photo from one of our baths): You can do this also witha smaller sink, like the one we use in the half-bath: If you'd like to keep the one you have (which is really nice), you'll have then to use a shelf (as also suggested by someone else above), and I'd propose one of white porcelain and not one of glass, as it's a lot less reliable with children around. Below, an example of what I mean. The shelf should be installed as low as possible to be reachable by the kids, but also the mirror should be much lower, so that they can use it (much more interesting for them) without having it too low so the adults can't see themselves anymore. For #2 look on the left of the mirror in this photo (if you need it): A towel rail (#3) is absolutely necessary and make sure it's one where you can stretch the towel for faster drying (like the one in the 2nd photo). The cabinet storage (#4) could be placed on the wall from the right of the mirror, as you can see we have in our half-bath (also 2nd photo): Aesthetics: I agree that blinds on the window make no sense, light should be let to flow in as it's much needed in a bathroom. If you don't have time or disposition to paint the walls (and maybe they should remain white anyway, or a light color, because this is a small space), you might use decorations from your DYI center and stick them on the walls (see an example below from my daughter's bedroom, but there are other smaller ones for any kind of space): This way, the room becomes more attractive, more welcoming and more colorful (with very low cost). I hope this helps :-)

Can you use a piece of metal angle? I did that once for using mini-orb as a splashback and it has a rippled edge.