Hi new house It looks like you are doing a really nice project and definitely as OnePlan has suggested you really need to see a professional kitchen designer. To be honest it looks like you have left it rather late! As a professional kitchen designer I suggest you go and visit 2 or 3 independent kitchen specialists, have a chat with them, see if this is the sort of project they often do. Now this is the important bit - be honest with them, tell them you want the space designed properly then get the design costed by 2 or 3 other suppliers. If they are sensible then they will suggest you pay a reasonable fee to cover their time and advice, and you get a design that's right for you and can get like for like costings - well as much as you can. You will also save a lot of time and repeating processes. In fact I had a customer in last week, they are building a beautiful German timber frame home, very modern, and they said money is tight for the internals so want to get several costings for the kitchen and other rooms. I suggested we design the space for them for a reasonable fee, they get all the alternative costs they want and then hopefully they will come back to us in the end so they will get their design fee back on the order. They emailed me yesterday and are coming in this afternoon with their house plans to discuss their requirements! New house where abouts are you in the UK? I might be able to suggest / recommend someone or company. CK

Whilst I recognise there's a few tradespeople on here bemoaning fussy clients I have to say my biggest regrets when renovating my house was not being specific enough with trades! We had an electrician put in an extra light switch in the hall to control both the downstairs and upstairs lighting. He put it in a good 10-15cm lower than the other switch further along the same wall which looked completely ridiculous. Made him move it in line with the other one much to his annoyance. Another similar incident was with a vertical column rad for the kitchen - whilst I was specific enough this time to ask it be centered to the wall it was on, he installed it much higher than needed with about 30cm of pipe sticking out the bottom! It would have looked much better in line with the doorframe adjacent. Had to learn to live with that one. We had engineered wood floors put in upstairs - the fitter used the shortest wall in the smallest room to take a plumbline from. When it came into the hall it was obviously on a complete wonk. By this point I'd gotten a bit better at speaking up and ensuring we actually got what was needed (and paid for!). He had to take it up and re-lay using the hall as the plumbline. Looked so much better but he was extremely annoyed! After all this I learned to use masking tape to direct exactly where pipes/light switches/trim should be fitted so there was no room for 'interpretation'. I also forced myself to speak up more and advocate for what I really wanted. That said I'm a designer by trade so I generally know what I want and how to make it look good but was definitely a bit too shy to contradict trades in the beginning!

Hi Maggie, love the blinds – what a stunning statement feature! For the carpet, we’d recommend you opt for something a neutral to create an ideal base and help create an open, airy feel. Dulux Spice Honey is the colour of the year and is a far cry from the abundance of greys that have dominated interior design over the past few years. It’s the perfect shade for creating a warm and cosy room and complements richly pigmented shades such as terracotta’s and reds (two themes coming out of the Pantone Colour Trend report) but works well with neutrals too. It can easily be incorporated into flooring as well with shades such as Dunmore Creek from our Sensation Heathers range and Amaretto from Soft Focus. Also sampling is the perfect way to see if a particular colour matches your décor. You can see and feel how the colour and texture work in the room and, more importantly, in the lighting. See our website www.cormarcarpets.co.uk

I think because the room is so big it can make the rug look smaller than it actually is. The rug is absolutely beautiful but I’m not sure the colour is right with the sofa? I would choose a cream or grey or even a blue based rug with the yellow sofas. The genuine Moroccan or Persian rugs would be perfect although a good proportion of them are predominantly red or pink. They are almost investment pieces as they can keep their value. I have a red Persian rug which creates such cosiness. Here’s a few ideas of different rugs whose colouring may be a better option. I think go for the biggest you can afford as the room is so big. You can see from the first picture how fabulous a big rug can be, even it’s pink!