Our kitchens are not just a place we find comfort in cooking to unwind, and of course where a lot of us eat, it is a place we often choose to entertain and socialise. Our kitchens can be our public display of our style tastes, and one of the pleasures we get from this is that 'WOW!' we get from visitors. You have painted a clear image of your kitchen, and I can imagine it looks amazing. Modern, Chic, and stylishly put together, to get a clean, strong statement about your positive, and strong personality. Dramatic shades of Grey and Charcoal are important role players in a monochromatic scheme, with a bold accent feature (Red). Similar to other neutrals they can be really varied, for instance some greys can add a real sense of depth to a small area of a space, allowing the other elements around it to 'pop'. Greys and charcoals also work extremely well in areas that are uses a lot during evenings, with the correct lighting they can help set a mood to create a foundation for your theme, to give you a real stand out wow! Using a paint that is matt will compliment the light properties of the glitzy worktops by contrast, creating a lux-contemporary feel to the space. I have given a couple of examples for an idea book below. I hope this was helpful, please contact me if you would like to chat about your design dilemma some more, and please give us a review. Comment, Like, Follow us on INSTAGRAM @michaeljhaladesigns

Ohhh boy! It looks for me as hallway. I would put sectional in the corner and rug. Rug is all the way ,long enough to cover eyesore tile work. Will continue later with ideas.

yes I like the jungle idea possibly, though not sure if should keep with ivy as it matches whats currently there.. , not sure about the shelves or seating by the TV though. In the room next door there is an an 8 seater table, and a kitchen island, so its not as though this is the only place to have seating I guess. I like the ideas of natural look, almost Japanese, bamboo, bringing the garden in, just having difficulty with which wall colours, what to do with the post? keep white or make a colourful feature of it, and also what colour sofa bed, rug, paint on the walls to make everything blend in. It's so difficult, can't go for a lightish sofa, as it would just get too dirty, but I'm open to all ideas and very very much appreciate both yours and Rukmini's I have no idea how to put a room pic together like that so it helps massively. They have a lot of friends round, so a comfy rug /beanbags are also great, as long as we can also put them somewhere away too, so they're not in the way

Do not despair, there is a lot you can do to make your garden more secluded with new fencing and clever planting. Is this your only garden? Can I ask whether there is any covenant preventing you from having a taller fence? If not, then can I suggest a 5’ solid fence all round, with a gate. Most dogs will easily jump over your current fence and I’m sure you want to keep your dog safe. If a solid fence is not allowed, then a tall picket fence will do the job, or add taller panels to your current fence as in the second pic. I think a pergola in one corner will give you some more privacy, and you can plant climbers on it for even more privacy (first pic). You can buy them as a flat pack or get a carpenter to make and build one for you. You can add comfy seating, and a doggy bed, under it so you can enjoy your garden on warm days. Now for the planting. I think tall shrubs will create a secret garden effect which will drown out traffic noise and visitor noise! Things like evergreens Viburnum tinus, Ceanothus, Photinia and Choisya ternata Sundance. They can be the bones of your garden. Then add shrubs that are deciduous but add colour in the spring and summer, things like Shrub Roses, Hibiscus, dwarf Lilac, Cotinus and Climbers like Clematis, Star Jasmine, Honeysuckle and climbing roses. These need a wall or trellis or an obelisk to climb up. I can see you have some planting already which is great. The final addition to the planting is perennial flowers and bulbs, but the planting above will create a cosy garden, if you don’t want more planting. Here’s a few pics to inspire you and hopefully reduce your despair! 😊