The height of the rail above the window is developing into a bit of a hot topic, so here’s my hat in the ring. For heavy curtains or wide curtains with lots of material, the pole needs the strength of screw fixings provided by screwing into the concrete lintel above the window. If the wall is a stud wall, the pole needs to hit the wooden batons in the wall and this can determine where you can screw the pole to the wall, hence giving you less choice on pole position or you are relying on cavity fixings alone to take the weight of the curtains and pole. Mounting it high above the window may miss the lintel and the pole may only work with lightweight voiles and be far more likely to fall off wall as mountings fail with time ( hence comments by others of damaged plaster). The baton allows you to fix the pole at any point above the window as the baton is screwed into the batons inside the stud wall and the curtain pole fittings can be screwed anywhere along the baton. Your photos show more traditional brick and plaster walls? This gives the option of no baton if your fixings are into the brickwork with raw plugs and not just in crumbling plaster. The height is up to you. BUT have you found your ideal curtains yet? A smart choice of height would be to ensure the standard full length curtain lengths will work with your pole. Otherwise you will have to have more expensive made to measure curtains to ensure the full length curtains you love will skim the floor. We have bought the curtains we love in the past and used them to guide pole height to ensure they looked fantastic. Of course on the design options on full length curtains meeting the floor is another minefield - skimming, touching or pooling ....... good luck!

In my opinion the wide picture window root this house in the 60s. I would make the windows less wide and likely make one deeper too. I would render a crisp white and then add timber cladding to match the garage door- the placement of this cladding is down to personal taste- you could add a window width strip under the far left window which would balance the garage doors. Personally I would like to see a door sized wood cladding section to the left of the front door as I think this would give the door more prominence.

Hi Suzanna, Here are some photos of all three options for your consideration. Pitched roof + brickwork: Pitched roof + render: Pitched roof + cladding: I think render definitely can work but if you're dead set against it you can go for statement-making cladding or try and match the extension brickwork with that of your house. Best of luck!

James, russwood have a technician that will talk you through the whole process, they deal with the stuff every day so will be knowledgeable. Also, it's something you should look into more so that your able to make an informed decision that you won't regret. Where do you live? I said russwood because I knew they have a great webpage. It will depend on the timber you pick as to how it will weather and change colour, you can also get it stained/ dyed. Few things to think of so don't rush it and you will be happy with the finished look.