They are lovely handles Patrina. I'm having a bit of a handle issue since the holes in the pull handles on the four drawers are 83mm centre to centre and there are not many options with that sizing in brushed brass. I've found a couple of possibilities from china but with the problems there I'm not sure how long they will take to arrive.

Hi Carolins, as requested I took a couple of pictures of the garden last night. Its one hell of a mess, I'm very very much looking forward to getting it looking nice. Would be so lovely to sit out in the sun with a glass of wine (presuming we get any more sun lol). There's 2 pictures with 2 images I've combined, one which shows the view up the garden (towards the garage) and one which shows the patio and scruffy shed. The other two images show the view from by the car (the garage is on the left) and the other shows the view from what will be the patio by the garage (there's a red Poppy in the image). Might be ok on the path through the lawn to the raised beds then. I suppose I can always add something later if need be. Wouldn't have thought I'd go over more than once or twice a day to be honest (bit difficult seeing as I'm out 12 hours most days). Still playing around with the pergola idea you suggested. Quite like the look of it, just a tad concerned it may block some of the light into the dining room (which is already quite dark). The other thing I'm not sure of yet is having the pergola there if we fence the patio off as a dog run. I'd previously though of basically fencing across the entire patio. May not though, I quite liked your initial idea for the dog run. I think that other than a few tweeks to the design (mostly to add things like compost heaps lol) I'm quite happy with what I've got. So thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it. It really helps to talk ideas through with someone.

Hello Sanaa, The dining table looks nice at the window.. I like the two chairs at the side too but equally you could place one either side of the window... Maybe a small picture just above the sockets.. This then frames the window with the table in the middle.. You could then illuminate the right hand corner with a floor lamp.. Not too far in the corner though.. The little table and lamp can then move a bit further along to join the sofa.. Can you move the sofa a bit further away from the dining area, so there is a bigger divide.... With the two sofas.. what about giving them a gap, so the rear sofa moves along to the right a bit more.. Possibly open them up as 2 chairs rather than try to make a sofa out of them.. See how that looks or what you prefer.. Add a few cushions to compliment the colours and an accent colour or two.. Grey like you have with silvers, creams, stone.. With the pouffes don't be afraid to partially place them on top of each other rather than set their place so they can be seen as occasional seating.. or relaxed on the floor watching tv kind of seat.. I see though you are trying to see how an armchair would look.. I think you could go for 1, but absolutely what you have works, so you don't need to rush to replace anything.. See how you feel with it.. There is room for coffee table too if you want it.. The console is nice where you have put it.. It works well with the picture.... It is a perfect entrance.. I would say the picture could go up a little bit.. 10 cm and see how that looks... You want to give it and your family pictures each their space.. Do you see how versatile your furnishings are and if you were to get different sofas you can then see how they can move around.. The chandelier lighting.. you may want to see if you can lower these slightly but if not, just an idea.. You could try the round mirror with the leather strap closer to the dining table.. Then the 3 pictures could then move along a bit and with a small gap between so they sit roughly behind the rear sofa.. Or are they all 1 piece.. A thought if you want to see how that works.. I think the mirror would really look good with the dining table.. Splendid, looking though Sanaa it's taken shape..... ; ))

Well, the chippies van was up the drive when I got home from work - a little unexpected. At first I thought that he was sleeping with the Mrs, but then I remembered that he needed to finish the skirting boards. He's done a cracking job - quite a few tricky internal/external corners, plus the corners not being exactly 90 degrees he was back and forth to his saw all the time. He really did a stirling job. It was 13 meters of skirting in total - which took him 4.5 hours in total (over 2 evenings) and it cost me £90. Considering I was origionally going to do it, it could well be the best £90 I've spent on this whole kitchen. I need to get a lick of paint inside the alcove that's pictured. Our little fishtank will be returning in there, but as it's out I may as well do it. When we get the bar stools, and dining room table & chairs I will update again. So: What would I change/add/remove ADD - Somewhere to hang the tea-towels. We have some on the inside of a cuboard, but they keep falling off. Maybe I need some slightly more expensive 'hangers'. The space where they could have gone we put a spice rack/draw thingie - that's probably better though. ADD - We forgot about the bin! Now we have our pedal-bin basically kicking around the kitchen. The Mrs has already filled the cupboards to maximum capacity so I'm having trouble getting an internal cupboard one past her. I think I may just fit one then deal with her later. The bin has gravitated to a semi-perminant place, but with the kids trying to be *cough* helpfull the wall is already beginning to get the odd splatter of 'stuff' where they just throw their food in the general direction of it. Last night I said 'Well, why don't we just put it in the utility room' - She shot that idea down instantly as she obviously isn't happy about the extra 4 steps that it would take to walk all-that-way into another room. Poor thing! Typical woman lol. ADD - At the start of the project I would have got the electricians to chase in another mains wire from the fusebox so that it comes out of the kitchen wall centrally to the back garden, then I would put a PIR Security Light in. I know that it's not a big job by any means, and I could, and probably will, do it myself over the coming weeks but if I could have had it without a wire on the outside of the house then that'd would have been perfect. Also, thinking about it, I would have actually got him to do it at the front of the house as well as he re-wired the whole downstairs with new fusebox etc.