I like the light opportunity of the shop window but prefer a residential window for my home. The residential photo you have supplied wouldn't pique my interest because the window is too small for natural light. To my mind you have a wonderful opportunity to flood the front of your house with daylight BUT move the aesthetic away from the shop aesthetic. Definitely take it either industrial or to it's original appearance. If you choose to keep what you have there is a window glass available which is completely opaque externally but internally you would be able to see out. It let's in 90% of light. I saw it many years ago on a tv property show and thought it v. clever. I think this sort of glass would work well for you, if you want to keep the shop boarding. Sage green or dove grey are good colour choices for the wood. I personally would remove one door and take the window right across - that way you will not look like two shops knocked into one. This is an exciting project and the opportunity is vast. It could be worth your while talking to a company which specialises in redesigning property exteriors...

The shortest time we lived in a house was 18 months - the neighbour turned out to have serious psychological problems, he took against me within weeks, pushing notes through letterbox saying I was a female she devil and deserved to burn in hell etc, etc. and quoting bible stuff. I had not even seen or spoken to him at that point, just held perfectly normal conversations with his partner. Then it was pounding on our adjoining walls at night, digging up the plumbing pipes behind our houses (he didn't want polluted excrement through the pipes?!) going out to his work leaving the Magic flute playing at full blast (echoes an episode of Morse?) until we had to call the police. The culmination was a throwing bricks at our french windows standing in our garden, apparently attempting to stone me (something biblical again?). We couldn't sell the house to anyone but a landlord who "took it off our hands" at a price below what we paid for it. I felt guilty as he continued to harass various renters afterwards, but eventually they moved out, not before breaking the legs of the last occupant next door. The police were very politically correct throughout and of course I felt immensely sorry for his condition, but have to wonder about care in the community as opposed to the days when people with serious psychiatric problems were locked up for their own good and the good of others. What do people think on that score??

My kitchen refit starts 3 weeks today but won't be finished until next year when I have decided on the splash backs. This has been a project 2 years in the making due to several builders agreeing to do the work only to never hear from them again & also some very poor service from kitchen shops. Finally I have a builder on board who will move a doorway to accommodate the new position for my fridge freezer and fit a Second Nature kitchen in elm that is to replace an old cream shaker one. Most of the appliances are staying as they are newish but for the first time I will have a dishwasher, a wall mounted oven so I can see what is cooking & a Franke under mounted corner sink which was a brand new ebay bargain. I am switching from gas to a white induction hob that will hopefully fit seamlessly into white quartz countertops. I am so excited, all this in a 2.6m x 2.8m kitchen. I have also asked the countertop peeps to smooth off an additional piece of quartz to fit the sink aperture so I can use that as additional work space. I am boring my boyfriend with endlessly searching for the best deals on things and trying my luck haggling which is not usually like me but lots of fun! Good luck everyone with your projects; I look forward to seeing the 'after' pictures. alant1000 - I love your new kitchen, it looks fab!

@ Jonathan: The stencil idea is brilliant, do you think using black colour on whites and white colour on black tiles can work as well? Also I like the flour plans , the room layout is a bit different in real life but I'm not sure what's the best way to explain the layout as I don't have more pics before next week now. What software are you using for the floor plans? looks neat. I tried a few now but they all need payment to export and then I'd rather know which is the best to use first. The garden screen looks good too even tho I'm still leaning more towards your original idea of bamboo screens. After reading all the suggestions here I'm definitely reconsidering the flooring and focusing more on the furniture and decor. And since we're likely stuck with black and white I'll start experimenting with the grays and other soft dark colours to see which combintion works out the best, and will try maybe get a few reds in there tactfully as J suggested @J: I love the diy idea for the banquette and most probably will try to do that myself, paired with a few A quality cushions to hide the imperfections hah. I don't have much experience with building stuff but after a few mistakes I'll get there. And thanks for sharing the pics , although I'm more of a minimalistic guy but I can see how adding a few extra bits and bobs can help take away the focus from where we don't want people to focus. I'll have a look at some decent size plants as well.