Houzz puts similar past dilemmas on the same screen to a current dilemma as a 'this is how we solved this one similar ' idea I guess ! If you add comment on it, it puts that old dilemma back in the current list ! It doesn't really matter - but that's why you sometimes see posts that are dated 2013 !! (Zombie threads !)

A great balance between old and new - looks like you met the brief and more! I love the pastels and white chesterfield.

I agree with Hugh re supervision plus by the time the extension is built your son will be nearing an age where he understands a little more. You may also want him in there to cook with you soon. I'm sure the kitchen can be designed from a safety aspect too if that's the only thing holding you back. I think the advantage of using OnePlan is that Karen can look at the whole house spatially etc and you're not tied to a particular kitchen company (I'm not on commission!). Click on her profile for reviews etc. I second Hugh's comments re karndean too! I like the heringbone parquet! If you did want to hire an interior designer (designers tend to be qualified in planning too I think as opposed to an interior decorator although many of those could be qualified by experience) then you could find you save as much as you spend. Some of them will offer you their trade discount which if doing the whole house could add up to an awful lot. They may also make you save from any mistakes and I've made a few of those! I'd go on houzz and search for pros and look at their reviews and previous work. I think you need to meet people yourself though as it's important to have a good working relationship and make sure they understand you

Wow that looks beautiful, I am jealous of the brick. We wanted a very similar colour brick but the council wouldn’t allow and I didn’t want the red brick so we went with blocks and hopefully crisp render. We started our build towards end of Jan. Double extension, the foundations laid and then had the structural engineer out and final final details drawn up. The ground floor blocks have been laid and the scaffold has gone up so don’t know how long that will take. Our builders seem on track and have said August finish but I think it will be September/October Tani how many bedrooms did you have built and how many rooms downstairs? Also from start date to now what has the time scale been? Xx