We lived in a 3 bed semi until I was 11. Half of it faced due north, so there was a room we never ever used. Then we moved to a 4 bed, which we needed, as there were 6 kids. I absolutely loved the second house. It didn't face any direction fully, so it got sun in most rooms at some stage. It was on a turning circle in a cul de sac, so it looked really small from the front, but had an irregularly shaped extension at the side that was completely soundproof.( My brothers could play their music really loudly and noone ever complained). This opened out into a huge garden, which my mother made absolutely beautiful. My parents built two patios in it together and my mother built her own flower bed, using dry stone walling techniques. My parents had lots of midcentury furniture, some of which was made by my father from a book on Swedish design. You could buy the orange sofa he made now! There was a little gazebo in the garden which turned out to be a monk's cell, the last part of the abbey that had been there. A tree in our garden was pruned by a man who happened to have come there as an apprentice tree surgeon, and he was able to tell us that it had had a bench all the way around the inside. It fell down during Hurricane Charlie, as the front wall was leaning, but my father rebuilt it over the course of 9 years. My mother's style is way ahead of her time; their bedroom has been duckegg blue and brown for about 20 years!

Hello, think I would go with the plain neutral colour curtains or a blind. Has the same problem with colour of sofa, it looked mid brown in shop, but when it turned up looked really dark. Also have a beige carpet. At first had beige walls but now are painted white, looks better, with one wall brown and beige patterned wallpaper from Osbourne and little (its beautiful but too grand for our semi). Have got one old red leather Ikea chair, which I quite like with the brownsofa so have 2 faded red cushions on sofa to tie in scheme. Medium grey rug suprisingly goes with everything! The wooden bookcases make it more homely and warm. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea but to me its cosy and comfortable!!

Hi Rachel and thank you! I did draw it all out to scale and it seems to work on paper; my problem is I want everything! I want the big lawn, I want the swinging chair, I want the canopy of forest plants, I want the romantic arbour with climbing roses filling it, I want the grand waterfall and I want the huge BBQ and 8 seater table which (in my fantasy) we'd use every weekend when hosting friends and family :) My, that's a lot of I wants!!! :D (I sound like my 5 year old) I will say I do believe a lot of the above is achievable if you get things to the correct scale of your space.. So I'll have to settle for a bistro table with 4 seats around it instead of my 8 seater magnificent dining table :)

Thank you all for some great suggestions! I absolutely love the light with the black shades. I have only seen lights like this in gold & haven’t been able to find a chrome one. Also like the idea of large wicker lights..... hmmmm 🤔 Will put some colour in (love the mustard suggestion & also love the artwork with the pink in it). Like the idea of the console table under the artwork. It is a mirror hanging above the sideboard - how low should it go?!