Thanks very much. The creamy colour is called Milk White (matt) and it's a Crown paint. The brown is called Dark Elegance and its part of the Fashion for Walls range by Crown paint. This is also a matt paint. The brown paint looks great with 3 coats as it has a great texture and the result is a lovely rich, dark brown.

I adore red, it's my favourite colour by far and is all over my wardrobe. I even have red glasses, it's kind of a signature thing of mine. When my partner and I recently bought our first flat we had to redecorate it all very quickly and went with quite neutral shades throughout: oak wood, white, black and grey. We then added touches of red in kitchen accessories, curtains, cushions and finally red carpet in the corridor, staircase and landing to tie it altogether. The only rooms which have no red are our 2 bathrooms as I like them better crisp and neutral.

Hi, I definitely think rooms that get a lot of natural light can take the punchier darker colours. For the feature wall I can suggest rockett st George as a place which has loads of great wallpapers. For getting it to work with the dark walls I think it's key to pick out the dark colour in the wallpaper somewhere. Going completely different is likely to be a little jarring visually.

Bearing in mind that you have young children, the focus of the garden in my opinion should be on them. A small patio/dining/relaxing area for adults near the house, and perhaps also at the end of the garden would be lovely. I would also have most of the garden redone in grass (real grass!) with room to play. And I would keep the fence... its the most practical having children near a river, even if they're not babies anymore. I would probably break up the unusual shape of the garden with a few pots, planters and borders 'sticking' out into the garden so the eye is drawn away from the sharp, narrow end. I agree with what was said above though about just living with the space for a bit and seeing how you use it.