I had a similar situation in a house I moved into years ago. I did a quick fix of painting all of the walls, woodword and the cupboards the same shade of cream. Sounds a bit OTT but it really knocked back the cupboards, which in all honesty are not something you want to make a feature out of, and created a calmness to the whole space. In your case, I would go for an off white so that the gang plug wires, radiator pipes and covers hiding the wires for the extractor fan etc., are disguised as much as possible -- that will tie in with the palest of the tiles in the splash back, and then you will have a pretty basic colour scheme of a very place colour and the dark worktop, fireplace and floor, which will stand out more. I think you need more storage with doors -- that bookshelf isn't doing anything for the kitchen. If you could get something in there that could hide lots of clutter -- even if just something cheap from IKEA, that would help greatly. Or work something around the filing cabinet that you have? A huge cheap mirror over the fireplace would bounce some light around too. If you don't want to go for undercupboard lighting, and if you have enough plug points, how about some lamps on the worktop, especially at the FF end with a floor standing lamp at the end with the chair. For the table, I would go for a table cloth and reupholster the chairs if they are not to your taste. A new blind in a much fresher colour would be great. Depending on the colour of your filing cabinet (if you use it), I think a petrol blue could add a nice vintage vibe to the chimney breast, and make more of a feature of it. I would try and go down a vintage/slightly industrial route rather than country. You may have some stuff lurking around that you could use, once you have got the base colours right -- currently it just feels a little cluttered and a bit of a mish mash. Best of luck. Looking forward to seeing some after shots :)

Hi Johnleh, I've just read through your request and I think I can give you some advice! I like the idea of the purple and the paint you have chosen, but how about trying mushroom coloured curtains? If you got them in a good quality, thick material they would look really smart and also complement the fig paint. If it is an option, wooden flooring could work really well - it's what most trendy flats have and it also has a grown up apartment look. I would also suggest adding a free standing plant in one of the corners - this will brighten the room and introduce another colour. You can get a reasonably priced one of these (plus a simple pot to put it in) from places like homebase: https://goo.gl/NCpNsC.  Oak furniture would also look great - to tie in with the style of the property, you could even get some in a 1950s style (or good quality vintage) - it's right on trend at the moment. I'm thinking a chair/table with spikey legs. Hope this helps! (chairs are both from Swoon Editions: www.swooneditions.com)

Hi Heena, have you considered a real wood floor for the kitchen? There's nothing quite like the natural character of the real thing. Wood flooring also has long-term reliability and can add real value to your home. There's no need to worry about the practicality of wood in a kitchen either. As long as any spills are cleaned up quickly, wood is perfectly suitable for the environment (:

We started repainting a quite old (10yrs+) pergola and attached bits and pieces with this paint/stain a couple of days ago - we used Sargasso Sea, a natural-looking sage-y colour that's a lot lighter than it looks on the chart (but maybe a bit dark for you). Enormously impressed with the finish, which seems really tough, and will hopefully last. We now have to decide on a coordinating colour for the shed and raised beds......