Hello all, I would love to update my lounge (at relatively low cost), with paint, maybe a new rug, and accessories to make it look more fresh and up to date. I need to keep the furniture and sofas. I do love a cosy feel and want to keep it looking quite warm. I have included pictures of my stair walls which I recently painted in a colour by Colour Courage in 'Cozy Atmosphere' (CA) which I love and thought about bringing this colour into my lounge. I like the idea of different coloured walls and as the 'CA' colour is darker than my current colour (Dutch gold), I wondered which walls to paint in this and then I thought maybe a diluted CA colour for the other walls? Any comments welcome. many thanks in advance! :)

Hi Nessieh, I'm adding it again - without the marketing note at the bottom - which, as far as I've been aware since helping on here back in 2013, is allowed, as it shows the value of the advice offered if you were to be paying for it. So given there are only a few measurements on here - this is a quick sketch of how I might suggest the space be used - obviously I know nothing about you / your family etc - but I'm guessing by your name you are perhaps in Scotland ? Double ( glass if allowed- I don't know how many floors your home has ) doors into kitchen - with small desk and lamp to the side - or additional coat storage if under stairs isn't sufficient. Bank of pantry storage drawers at rear of peninsula - cooking and prep space other side of peninsula - suitable walk/work gap between worktops - then tall units either side of slightly smaller window - that's lined up with new entrance doors - sink under window ... the tall units could either be integrated Fridge and separate freezer at each end - or FF and oven housing - depends on your needs etc. (This is just a rough draft ) The utility I've opening into the boot room to give better crouch space in front of appliances - and I've enlarged the loo to give it its own sink for hygiene ! If fireplace won't be used then a chair could accompany a large sofa and pair of lamp tables. A dining table could be placed near the glazed doors looking out to garden when in use - or pushed to the wall for a better view from sofa when not in use ... Hope this helps !

My friend has the large white porcelain tiles throughout ground floor of her open plan home with underfloor heating. They look great in a contemporary home - cleaning is not a problem - white/light coloured tiles are easy to keep clean unlike black tiles, which are a nightmare (if they’re polished porcelain). She has 2 kids and 2 dogs and the floor never looks grubby so I would say go for it if you love them. As above posts, the starkness can be broken up with rugs, plants etc.

We're currently having an extension built, builders on site preparing the footing and brickwork starting in a week or so, but I've hit a problem with our cavity walls specs. On the architect drawings (top down plans and structure cross-section) it shows 100mm facing brick, 100mm cavity, 100m blockwork (then normal plasterboard). All of the floorplan measurements are based on this size of cavity wall for the whole build. Our builder (who I have complete faith in) however says that the plans are wrong, it shuold have an additional 90mm of insulation board on all internal facing walls.... this has come as a shock as of course we agreed to the plans and had planning permission approved for what's on the plans. The new kitchen we've had planned and ordered will need to be redone, and the rooms are now 180mm (90mm each side) smaller floorspace than we were expecting. All this has only come to light right when the work is fully underway. With the plans, our architect included a "General Notes" page which includes this regarding the cavity walls: "6.0 EXTERNAL WALLS: (max 0.18W/m2k U-value) 315mm nominal cavity work, finished in facing brickwork. 100mm facing brickwork, 100mm full fill cavity insulation cavity with 90mm 'Kingspan Kooltherm K106' (0.021 W/mk) foil-backed extruded insulation to internal face (continued min 150mm below ground floor insulation level) and maintain 50mm clear cavity, 100mm Celcon Standard (0.15 Wmk) blockwork 3.5N/mm2 finished internally with 2 coat 13mm plaster." Before I contact our architect and try and find out what went wrong here, can anyone confirm whether the above tallies with what our builder is saying? I also feel as though surely the local Planning department should have picked up on this conflict. Can anyone offer advice on what options there might be to try and reduce the size of these walls? Are there thinner options available for example with the same thermal properties? This is a very standard south-facing kitchen / diner extension, really nothing fancy at all.