Hi- just an fyi, I'm American and we Americans do NOT use real wood for weatherboarding!!! 20-30 years ago ppl used vinyl but that had issues, now they use a very strong resin board. No rotting or painting.

The copper coloured containers near the stove and the yellow colour in the kitchen gives me the cue as to what to do. This is more a contemporary styled kitchen. I would infuse it with bold and bright coloured equipments, utensils to take advantage of the dark backsplash. Bold and bright colours such as red, yellow chrome or copper/gold will help take the focus away from the cream that is irking you. If your coffee machine is new then replace it with crome and red one. I would have a coloured caddy and for the utensils. Brighten up the area near the microwave and your kitchen will look classy. Do away with black - An obvious contrast to cream and white but with a dark work top and backsplash, not the best choice.

The biggest problem with this question is that it's all so deeply subjective. That said, I used to live in an ex-council maisonette in London, and the way I dealt with it was painting all of the walls in bright colours. I had turquoise in the sitting room, yellow hallway and stairs, a pink bedroom, a lime green loo... but I tied it all together by painting the skirting boards and coving throughout the property in bright matt white. The skirting and coving was very simple and had been put in retrospectively (albeit not by me) - in fact I think the coving was made of some sort of polystyrene, so I imagine it was incredibly cheap, although it didn't look it - and I think it made a huge difference. So I'd certainly consider adding that, as it makes the room look more "finished" instead of the cheap standard that council flats usually aim for. For me, this was transformative. As I say - it's so subjective. But although it's undeniably a faff to paint a room, remember that it's also cheaper than buying new furniture, and easier to replace and start again! For what it's worth, I now rent out that flat and recently had it painted in a neutral off-white colour, with new grey carpets. It looks smart, but not nearly so characterful as it previously did. Like I say: subjective. But the important thing, to me, is walking into a place and it immediately feeling like home. Be brave and paint those walls ;)

I'll second what others said before me- concrete doesn't NEED to be industrial at all. It is used often to achieve this effect, but it's really a pretty natural material, like stone! So if you think of your concrete as you would think of stone, a whole new realm of possibilities opens up -- and adding wood and other natural materials and plants will work very well to get you to the effect you want.