Ooh thank you so much for continuing to help me with your suggestions!! I had no idea whether anyone would even see my post never mind helping so much - absolutely delighted with everyone's comments as I really am clueless and even after everyone's suggestions I'm still umming and arring about colours and patterns now. GuigsART - really fab work and I've added you to my wish list :) Lynne Harper - thank you for your great suggestions :) I agree re full length curtains as they would have been my first choice but unfortunately as the windowsill is quite with a radiator underneath aswell the curtains would be at an angle so not sure it would look ok. I love the idea of a beam style mantel but was worried it would look mismatched and that the windows being so 1950's would highlight this? I'm a novice though so would appreciate any further advice about what styles not to mix and whether this would be the case. The cabinet behind the door doesn't look great at all I agree. Sarah McNally - aw thank you for wishing my luck...wishing I'd been blessed with a natural flair for this...hadn't realised how hard it is! :) Those colours do sound really nice to me actually and thank you so much for the images you attached - I appreciate it and helps me a lot. I've been finding it hard to apply the visual I look at to my actual room. Don't suppose you've come across any good apps or free software that helps you to do that if you upload your own photos? I love Starburst mirrors! Been thinking about one of those for ages to keep with window style. Sara Smith - thank you and I agree completely that the fire looks cold - I think the whole room does as does the rest of my house as this is only just the first room I'm beginning to tackle! I was worried that unless I went the whole hog and kept the same theme as the windows (which I'm not changing) that any other style of fire surround would look mismatched hence we left it bare. Thinking a large painting or wondering if a really dark colour on that wall with maybe the sunburst mirror or something else would soften this?? no idea. Mushti2112 - thank you too and it's hard to tell from the photo actually but inbetween where the existing sofas meet is a stepped wall where we had to build in a waste pipe to enable us to move the toilet upstairs from back of the house to the front. So unfortunately a corner sofa wouldn't work - would love one otherwise. soozmacrae - really good point re mirror...just my novice attempt to put something there when we moved in :) Katy N - thank you and what do you think about the below? Saw this and as I'm too scared to go for a dark colour in case I don't pull off getting all the other colours etc right in the rest of the room...was wondering about a light grey for the alcove unit and shelves??

Hello all, thanks for all the comments! I'll reply one by one...: dundrum16 - thank you, yes that is one concern - do you know how much space ideally should be left either side of the toilet (and is access always needed from both sides?)? lkirk44 - great thank you for your view. If we did have a separate toilet and utility we would not use the utility as an office space (which is one of the drawbacks of this option). If we can make it work with a separate office in this location then we will go with that option! Midcenturylass - cheers for your comment although I wonder if you have misunderstood the drawings? The toilet (in either scenario) will be completely separate from the kitchen/living area - there will be a door to get into the toilet room, and another door to get from the hallway into the kitchen. OnePlan - Thanks for your various comments. Yes you are correct we are putting a walkway through the kitchen but unfortunately unless we completely re-jig the ground floor layout, the only way to avoid this would be to massively eat into the kitchen/dining area with an extended hallway. One good thing is that we have side access outside to get into the garden and back into the dining/living area so when we have quite a few guests that will be the entrance and not through the kitchen. Incidentally, we do also have a large front room which will be the formal sitting room. There will be a sink on the island to serve the hob which does contain that element although I accept the oven is still interrupted by the walkway through to the living area. Yongpei You - Thank you. We would be open to you helping us and us helping you but I suspect it may be difficult as we have just started demolitiion and foundations for the extension are about to be dug, so in terms of the layouts in my query, we need to decide those in the next two weeks or so - would that work for you? temple274 - Thanks for both your comments. I was going to ask if I could have some of what you were having but your second comment clarified matters!!! CreatePerfect - thank you, appreciate your comments and that is exactly why we have come on this board, to get others' opinions on our ideas. The space/dimensions available are all on the drawing so any feedback you have on that basis would be appreciated as we need to decide this soon (the office idea only came about a few nights ago - we were set to go with the first option of a separate utility). I do have the plans to scale but for some reason I can't seem to upload a PDF so had to take a picture of my plans and upload that! Do you know how to upload a PDF? Cheers all, any further comments and suggestions very welcome. Pratik

The smart compact kitchen is an ingenious use of limited space! We love the innovative design and the different levels and widths of the shelves make it both interesting to look at and functional. The makeshift breakfast bar is a great addition as it gives the end user flexibility to create more space when necessary. We LOVE it!

Shan M - I never did do the brick slips in the end! I managed to salvage a wall to the side of the kitchen so ended up just painting the back kitchen wall in the same colour as the units (well itt's a different tone due to the paint finish) and it's quite dramatic and I love it. If I had done brick slips, they would have gone on afterwards and been fitted around the units to save money. retrospectively, the brick slips cost the same as a full brick and although the original builder said it would be cheaper to tile with slips rather than to build a brick wall, the actual bricklayer (after he finished the job) disagreed! He said he could have done block work up the units and bricked all the exposed areas. Probably would have cost the same as tilers are not cheap! Doh.