I love clean lines, and I'm having terrible trouble finding a kitchen that will sit well with our layout. We live in an 1850 cottage, the back of the house is open plan, the snug has antique sofas, an old dresser, an old sideboard and a victorian windout table. What do you put with that?? It needs to have a touch of 'old traditional' with the flare of new and clean. Torn between two worlds! Sorry about the mess, wasn't expecting visitors !

I think you're right jessa61, about waiting. The thing is, as you said, you're not in the house yet. When you get in and the floors, walls are ready and the main sofa is in, then add to it. You may dislike what you have in your head as soon as you see it all in situ, you may not. I really like the last table you posted, it's great with the sofa, and, in truth, i actually really dislike all the thin framed marble top tables around at the moment. It's not a trend i'm on board with. I would definitely wait for the accent chairs. Chesterfields are beautiful and statement pieces, however, they can be uncomfortable to sit on for long, there's no upper body / neck support and you can't lounge on them. So, this is why i personally think they go very well with high backed armchairs. You lounge on the armchairs with your feet up on the footstools. Also, you say you want two footstools, which is great to go with the armchairs, but you sound like you want to sit on the sofa and have them in front of you, which will be difficult with a coffee table in the way. The footstools can stay with the armchairs and be occasional seating, yes, the chesterfield needs to sit with the coffee table in front of it, not footstools. I think the side tables are a good idea, i'm not sure about the height you need, i'd wait to see how you use the seating before deciding. The height may be irrelevant and you may not want lamps on them at all.

Best way to do it (only know because I made a couple myself) is to sit at the table and measure distance from top of table to your legs but don’t forget to add an inch or so for the hem. Double this then then add it to the width & length of the table top. Easy! :-) Plastic curtain eyelet or parasol ring if you have a parasol.

Hi. Our radiators (and pipework) need replacing and while researching different models of radiators I have come across the ThermaSkirt system by DiscreteHeat. From having a quick look around online it seems to good to be true, with the only potential downfall seeming to be a potential loss of heat near drafty doorways etc. Does anyone here have any experience with this system and is it something you would recommend? Also...we have a damp issue on our first floor which a damp expert has said is due to a combination of poor ventilation and the outer walls of the house having no insulation. He suggested that, alongside addressing the ventilation issues, we should install thermal boarding to all external walls...at a cost of £800 per wall, not including labour. This may be a dumb question; but if we decided to go for the ThermaSkirt system (which would run alongside all of our internal walls) - does anyone know if the heat generated by them (plus our correcting of the ventilation issues) would negate the need for thermal boarding? As the damp we have is due to the condensation of warm air when it hits our cold external walls. Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you 😺