Thanks for posting new views of your room. You are right, nothing can go in front of the paneling, and we won't block the built-in cubby. In that case let's work with the rest of the space. I found a picture on Houzz for your gallery wall. I think this will allow you to bring in color and texture and interest to your wall without taking up space like furniture would. Try to play with portraits and a couple of paintings in there too - mix it up. Otherwise I would not put anything at the top of that landing (I'd remove that console table). That picture wall should be enough visual interest to your space and it'll draw the eye to the furthest wall as you walk in your house. I would try a small piece with closed storage between the bottom steps and that door by the entry. It looks like the space is no wider than 26", so it'll be a challenge to find something that fits and is tall enough. I would not use the wooden piece you showed above because you want wider proportions and fairly narrow depth so you don't bump into it as you walk by. (something like this ) I would hang a mirror on top of primping. By the cubby you could add a single seat stool. I'm not particularly suggesting these colors for the stool and bombe chest but something along these shapes. At this point if you do that big picture wall and add these two pieces of furniture and a mirror, you might not need to hang anything on the wall above the cubby. Also, I noticed your chandelier is quite substantial for the space and hanging pretty low. Would raising it a little or replacing it by something a little smaller be an option?

Thanks :) All very good points. We thought about having the cabinet doors put in for the fridge but we personally haven't found them to be too practical in the past. Ones we've used haven't seemed to seal so well. We are also planning to upgrade the fridge in the next couple if years. Good thinking about placement of the microwave too. We have a power pack range built into the wall cabinets so unfortunately we can't put the microwave above the cooktop. I like the idea of the appliance cupboard being turned into a corner cupboard, although I'm unsure if that would mean that you then couldn't easily access it from the other side of the bench..? I'm hoping our kids will sit at the breakfast bar and make their own toast etc while keeping out of the kitchen itself.... I also wonder if we should have the wall cabinets all in the same line or if we could drop the usable ones, on either side of the power pack, down further to give us more storage....? And (I promise this is my last dilemma!) does anyone have any ideas on whether to place the 1/4 sink to the left or the right of the main sink? Again it's one of those things that I'm going around in circles about....next to the prep area vs next to the dishwasher.....? ...... Ahhhh decisions, decisions ;-) Thanks again

@thinkforothers, Ha-ha that's so funny about your American trip but yes I use the duvet as a top sheet. As for getting the dooda back into the cover, I have a pretty simple method and it doesn't take allot of effort nor does it include being swallowed up by the duvet in the process as you said ha-ha..... but there is a bit of back and forth around the bed. I flick the duvet open onto the bed, I grab the one corner of the doona head up towards the respective corner and pull the duvet back towards my hand a little too and place it down, repeat on the other side, then I grab each top corner seperately holding the doona firmly in the corner and pull it up to the headboard, whilst walking back to the end of the bed I lift the cover slightly, allowing the doona to get further swallowed up by the cover, then I'm left with slipping either corner of the doona into the duvet. I do up the buttons then holding the bottom of the duvet, I flick the cover, towards the headboard, so that the doona edges forward in the cover and even flick the doona on both sides of the bed left to right and vice versa and it's usually perfect. Its very easy doing a single doona by again spreading the duvet over the bed, grab the doona corners, one in each hand, walk them up to the corners, lay it down then pick up the dooda by the top corners and shake a few times just straight down, even stand on a safe stool or on the bed and you will usually find the duvet with eaze it's way down with just the bottom corners to slip in and again voila!!! Unfortunately, when I bought two of my duvet sets from Ezibuy, I bought NZ king which is a bit wider that an Australian king size and I didn't know that at the time and I have a bit of slack on the sides but it doesn't cause any problems and what I mean by this is, that the doona doesn't slip all the way to the left or right, it does stay in place. Hope that explanation was clear, I should do a video ha-ha Cheers, Barbara

Well, for lack of a better idea, since you find it a drafty little space. I'm assuming the draft comes in on the right? Most of the necessities in the area are located of the left side; i.e. vent, thermostat, light switch etc. What I would do I think is caulk up the drafty spots, maybe even add sized poster board wrapped in batting I covered in a gorgeous fuscia with diagonal grosgrain ribbons every which way covered with a heavy velvet to be attached to the area above & below the window. (Of course remove the drapes that are hanging in there). This for the purpose of using it as a pin-it board for notes. Attach a table height board covered in felt to carry across the full width of the little room. Leaving just enough space for a comfortable little antique desk chair. Paint the back wall a bright cobalt blue, paint the ceiling a silvery pearlescent white. Find a way to attach a clip-on task lamp. And stretch a heavy duty enough wire across the top of the opening and complete it with a heavy doubled velvet drape with a drooping valance. Place a swag with fringe & jewels on it to be closed when not in use. Voila intrigue is yours!