Not sure how it works in the UK but in France if you are changing the appearance of your house that is visible from the road, you need prior permission. This is to avoid people doing things that are completely out of keeping with the neighbourhood, whether rendering, paintwork, or windows. Here you would probably have to go with cream rendering and retain the tiling, in which case choose a colour for the front door that picks up or contrasts with the brick/rust colour. My own first priority for the outside would be to deal with the garden, which you are very lucky to have, to get things in before the winter. One idea would be to get rid of the tiny patch of grass and lay thick gravel (not attractive to cats) plus a retaining path, create a simple structure to hide your dustbins (and bikes?), and invest in a couple of huge pots with some permanent planting and spring bulbs.

Ikea Kitchens are excellent, the attention to quality is superb. Lots of suppliers only offer doors in particular sizes, which is why when you go to an appointment at Wickes for example and you then take it to Howdens, they often have to swap the cabinets around as they don't all do all the sizes. Factoring in that you may want to change the doors in a few years at this point is in my opinion daft. You buy a kitchen and it should last 10-15 years. Magnet and Howdens offer great kitchens too. However, I have personal experience of fitting an Ikea Kitchen last year and was very impressed. I've used Howdens several times too. There are many companies however, that offer custom sizes when ordering replacements such as Kitchen door workshop and Kitchen Door Outlet to name but two. Saying that you can't replace the doors, just simply isn't accurate.

Hello Gabby, The Kardean finish you picked looks lovely. I would definitely stick with it. And if you really love the table, there is no reason not to keep it. I sometimes find it's better not to have your wood finishes so match matchy. It's good to see different tones, rather than similar ones that don't match. Having said that, there are stains that will help whiten the wood tone on your table, so it can be slightly paler and less orange. It does mean sanding the table down though. https://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/product/osmo-oil-stain?gclid=CjwKCAjwnf7qBRAtEiwAseBO_GePBLSuDPhBdtDxbuDiEWE56IV4YoyTBg1nzuUPhSM8S5LuMNwzkhoCmM0QAvD_BwE Is your husband handy? If so, this can be an option? Otherwise, you can consider adding a table runner to the table and dress it up with plants. A rug is also a great idea. I wouldn't worry too much about spillages. If you get a flat weave rug that isn't made of 100% wool, they tend to be pretty easy to clean nowadays. Below is a reference image. It's a round table (not a rectangle), but hopefully it is helpful.

Ah thank you. I used dye from Dye Brick - https://www.dyebrick.com/ - for both the bricks and the mortar. They were super quick to deliver. My top tip would to be more patient than I was!! I should have spent more time finding which colour was best... and then sticking to it rather than changing my mind :) After a bit of testing I used a 50:50 mix of two of the colours available. And what I should have done is applied the soot wash mix (a separate product) afterwards... what I did do was mix them all together hence I just got a browner mix rather than the orange I wanted. Sometimes I can be a real idiot!! But I have a little dye left and having looked at bricks around the green door pic that Carolina has attached I may try and do a few more orange and some pure soot ones to get a bit more variety in colour rather than it being so uniform. Porch cost me about £80 to dye. Could possibly be done cheaper if you didnt need so many brick colours (Red, orange and soot) and didnt need to do the mortar too.