These are all great buildings, but with the exception of the Shard, are all very traditional. Personally, I would like to see more contemporary examples: the Lloyds Building; Sainsburys in Camden, or my personal favourite, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the UEA outside Norwich. A very peaceful, calm and relaxing space.

Hi original poster! I know it’s 7 years since you asked this but would love to know what you did. We are not in a similar position with a similar looking house at the back but even steeper. I know that a full extension and lowering the internal floors would be ideal but we can’t afford that and need a 5-7 year fix. Please let us know what you decided and why ☺️

Dear @judibutler I assume you are referring to a wall which is wholly above ground and that you have completely ruled out damp tracking into the wall from above. A lot depends on the size and thickness of the wall and other factors, such as if the building is listed. Damp penetration (driving rain) through granite walls has been an ongoing problem in church towers in the southwest of England for some time. Ironically the problem often seems to get worse after re-pointing in lime. Granite is fairly impervious and was often in laid in large blocks meaning trapped water has little chance of getting out through thin mortar joints. Historic England held an excellent conference on the subject in 2013; the transcript of proceedings can be found at: http://content.historicengland.org.uk/content/docs/research/damp-towers-conf2013-programme-transcripts.pdf A roughcast lime render coat may help, but there could equally be voids in the wall which are holding damp and may need grouting. However, grouting is a very tricky and expensive technique which should not be undertaken lightly, and only works if one knows exactly where the voids are. Over-cladding the whole wall with semi-sacrificial weather boarding may be a last resort. This and rendering are likely to require planning consent. Depending on where you are located, a company like ArchiMetric (www.archimetrics.co.uk) could insert some interstitial moisture monitors into the wall to try and find out exactly where and when the damp is getting in and how it is moving through the wall, but this may be expensive. Some localised investigation by dismantling pockets of stone may be useful. The Society of Ancient Buildings helpline (mornings only on 020 7456 0916) may be able to help with specialists in your area. Most importantly try to get an understanding of how water is getting into and moving through your wall before you embark on anything. If your problems relate to below-ground damp then a different response will be needed.

Hi @lexoo2020 Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to you, we are just getting to grips with Houzz so it has taken us a little longer that we would have liked to get back to everyone. Have you thought about using paint to create some feature elements on your wall? This way you can introduce your favourite colours in the room while creating some beautiful décor. You can paint a hexagon pattern on one of your walls as shown in the video below; just replace the colours with the ones you like and that will complement your room’s colour scheme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSLT9XYkdO4 Alternatively, how about making a collage of your favourite pictures in frames of various sizes and colours? This way you can include all your favourite moments and people in your room while still styling your space. The image below can give you an idea of how to mix and match to create the perfect look! If you would like some extra storage, why don’t you try some floating shelves? You can decorate them with your favourite accessories, and by adding a pop of colour on the edge, as the picture shows below, you create interest in your room in a subtle way.