sit with the wall for a while, when does it look less bad? u could go for a corbusier one colour wall, ie only primary colour; u could paint the wall a natural earthen colour, like not yet dried plain plaster/terracotta etc., u could do a mirror on it to maximise the light from the window, though i hate windows, u could go cosy with dado rail and colour on one half or picture rail higher up obviously. check out acton town house it has a nice apricot white (it's a similar shaped and sized room); u could check out Tokyo A certain style (it's a book) and go all storage-mad but in a nice Japanese way, not too ikea; also see Muji - this room could be Japanised very nicely; best advice though going back to my first point, is to ignore teh furniture mentallly as u sit in different parts of teh room at different times of teh day, see the book Wabi Sabi for how to do this and the genuine organic results that can arise; where does the sun hit which wall etc. also, just scroll through picture after picture on this sort of website, it educates your eye somehow and you'll see new possibilites. u like scandinavia so check out ikeas different treatments of same room a few brochures back. u could plaster it with black shelving if the wall is a cold north facing wall, wtih colourful books and storage items, being bossy i would say, go for golden sand, one low shelf with dark artifacts archeological style and uplighter (cf other persons idea 'cool floor lamp/lighting' - on this low shelf could be also recharging phone, cool shallow dish, and a changing display of natural items. the wall could equally well be an aqua blue, quite pale, but not arctic, in order to look scandi; theh shelf should be stone or slate or white, not black, or bamboo of course; now once you've done this u can enjoy the wall with changinglight effects from teh window, which would need to be bare but for a black roller blind. the rest of the walls could have warmer treatments to make up for your low level statement wall. have a look at Freud's house in hampstead, it's not scandi, but it is similar type building and also, it has been modernised in some rooms. please show rest of room, state rooms' purpose and let us know how u do it eventually. thanks¬

So funny! I'm planning to paint the bannister at the new house (TNH) black and am veering towards painting the treads and risers black too... I've been searching for images of black staircases on Houzz and putting them in my entrance hall ideabook. They are few and far between. In your case, I think, with your white walls, maybe the stairs white and the bannister black? (Assuming the white walls continue up the stair walls enabling the b/w contrast.) You've already put black firmly into the equation, adding some more may give more reason for the black rad cab. In my case, there is a very off-centre radiator that could so very easily have been directly opposite the front door in TNH which is rather annoying as it stuffs up the focal point. We are leaving here with every radiator covered with a cabinet - and going to TNH that has loads of radiators ...but no cabinets! Yes, the work ahead is daunting - especially since the area of Ireland we're going to is very basic and not full of DIY resources, etc. I keep thinking I'll paint TNH white - to make things simpler(!) But try as I may colour keeps wandering through my mind! Lovely to be in touch again!

Mylands. You always regret your economies. I've repainted this kitchen 4X over the years, and last time was in Dulux which wore so poorly. Just custom mixed a new vibrant duck egg to paint my kitchen in marble matt walls, eggshell woodwork, and floor paint. Mylands matched impeccably. It was a dream of coverage, and looks spectacular. The quality of the pigment shows, looks the money, nothing like synthetic mediocre pigments in cheaper paint. It's a big improvement.

I'd say we all want to live in that lovely house we passed whilst on the way to go brambling with a jam jar in our hand and high hopes of a good day. Maybe it was the gates, or the gravel driveway that appealed, and it even had stone pillers and Georgian windows . And I'd wait and stare, and wait and stare curious about who lived there and hoping they'd drive out allowing me a quick glimpse of another world. Them. Then I'd feel ashamed stood there in my jumble-sale-new clothes, bothered that perhaps someone might come out and ask me what was I doing. I learnt it was a very rich person home, a shipbuilder who owned a shipping fleet and I wanted to copy him, if he could do it- then so could I. So that man and that lovely house blighted my life for the best, and it still does. I love this house and stop outside it whenever I pass by. I'm heart broken, and I'm a big strong man and big strong men are not allowed to cry. That adopted house is my comfort blanket, my home, and I go to sleep and it becomes mine.This is my lounge, this my garden, this gate is mine, and please come in when you go brambling. Don't walk on by, share it with me, you can adopt upstairs or the fireplaces, or ceiling coving and florals, I won't mind.