Hi redkez78. If you like the natural silvered grey look it's really worth the wait. See our shed - just built in first photo and 2 years later in the other images (under veranda you can still see the difference as it's sheltered so will take longer). Friends speeded this up on their house by washing wood down with a large broom and a weak solution of water and bleach which worked well (see Art House B&B, Isle of Skye www.arthouse-skye.co.uk). Maybe good to test on a spare piece of wood first. Advantages - no maintenance at all and it looks beautiful! Alternatively you could use a water based pale grey exterior wood paint well watered down to create a 'wash' effect so you can still see the wood grain and you don't need to paint so neatly. Paint with a large brush then wipe excess off. Again, test on spare pieces of wood to get the effect you like, experimenting with percentage of water to paint. Personally, I'd go for the natural silvered look but that's just my taste! Good luck! Tricia from www.CoastWoodCotton.etsy.com

The wood ceilings are unusual and give your house character. I’d want to be very sure before removing them. Looking at the photos (which may be deceptive, you’re the best judge of that) it looks like the wood has a sheen/varnish. Personally I’m not a fan of this - I think they would look much better with a matte finish. I would also consider staining them to mitigate the yellow tint. Or, if you have the height and budget, you could break the continuity by introducing black beams to add more interest up there. There’s an example of black beams on this page https://www.digsdigs.com/wooden-ceiling-ideas/ Having said that, I would start by reducing the size of the fireplace, which looks overwhelming and dated. Whether you want to keep it in red brick, or give it a more modern look by painting the brick in white or black, is up to you. Personally I’d go black, but it’s a matter of personal taste. It would make the ceilings even more impactful and would be a good background to your furniture and art. I would also definitely change the curtains to some that touch the floor - the current ones are too short and that’s immediately what the eye is drawn to. They need to gently kiss the floor.

Hi there, You have a nice space but it could be made só much better with planting! At the moment there are too many "walls" on show in your garden (the retaining walls) and they dominate your garden. I would make them disappear with well chosen planting that matches the specific conditions of each spot (and paint the green wooden stakes that form some of these walls charcoal só that they really disappear behing the planting that I would do. I would also add nice specimen shrubs in the middle section as focal points. Also, I agree with you that the middle section should be levelled. You already have too many level divisions in your garden, this just breaks it up even more. I am a garden designer and do a range of online services including planting plans. I would be very happy to help you. Please have a look at my website for more details and get in touch if at all interested. www.therootedconceptgardendesign.co.uk  All the best, Deborah deborahbiasoli@gmail.com  07548105456

When embarking on a renovation, ( I too just finished one recently ) it's probably best to accept that some decisions about materials chosen turn out to be a mistake. I'm afraid this is the case with the choice of terracotta tiles in your new kitchen. Try to be sanguine about it and move on because it's quite impossible to fix your problem. Why ? Terracotta is one of the most highly porous materials and it has only a very thin (itself porous) brittle surface layer; it will absorb into its structure almost any water or oil-based liquid leaving the patchy, stained effect shown in your photos; you will never be able to remove these stains and shouldn't waste more time and energy trying. In your case you've chosen tiles of a completely uniform shade (rather than a speckled, textured look) and this further accentuates even the smallest mark on the floor so that things can only get worse. There are only two materials for floor or wall tiles that are completely impervious to discolouration in this way : ceramic or porcelain - porcelain being the toughest. There's a substantial difference in cost between terracotta and ceramic or porcelain but I can see no other solution to your problem and if it were me, I'd bite the bullet and replace them. If the kitchen furniture has now been installed on top of the floor, replacing them will be a substantial job but, if you just can't live with what you currently have, there's no alternative. Any replacement tiles would cost less to fix if you choose a bigger size, e.g. 600 mm x 600 mm since less work is required to fit larger tiles. Maybe go for a more forgiving, textured look so that small spots and patches just go unnoticed.