HI MARINA, I love your bedroom- great high ceilings. Your furniture is also nice. I would follow the lead from the furniture keeping all furniture white. I love tropical coastal style. I would put up a white ceiling fan and ikea sell some white nets that let in loads of light and give privacy. I would decorate the walls in an off white with a hint of pink in it for warmth and to bring out the tones in your beautiful floor. I would collect local art for the walls. I would go to town on the bedding and cushions for the bed. I would mix your favourite colours- turquoise, teal, with green and coral. Making the room have a tropical coastal beach hotel vibe. I would feel like I was on holiday every day and never want to leave. Once you've surrounded yourself with personal things like photo frames of loved ones, plants/ flowers etc, you will feel right at home and settled. I've loved decorating for years, and tried lots of colours on walls but recently I've returned to off whites as they are so flexible and you can change the look with coloured accessories regular. "2 good books to read are Greg Natale - 'A tailored interior'- He's great, and tells you trade secrets to give your home the wow factor an be your own interior designer. Also anything by Barclay Butera - he's the best for coastal/beach styles. Wishing you lots of fun.

Nice to hear Monica. I love the house when the decs are up (cover a multitude of sins!). I put them up pretty late compared to most these days but hate them coming down to reveal unfinished jobs and less than perfect paintwork!!

I bought a dwarf Apple tree from www.blackmoor.co.uk this year and it was an excellent quality tree. Only a baby tree but we got 3 absolutely delicious apples from it! It is called Spartan and the apples are such a lovely red colour. And Apple trees are not poisonous to dogs if they accidentally chew some of it. Shrubs could also be an option as many grow to 10ft or more. Things like Viburnum Tinus - evergreen with pinky white flowers in winter Ceanothus - evergreen with lovely blue flowers in May Photinia - evergreen with red tipped leaves in spring Fatsia japonica - evergreen and tough despite its exotic looks There are lots of shrubs that will do the job but I’ve grown the ones above and they are easy. Not sure how safe with dogs though. Here’s some pics VIBURNUM TINUS CEANOTHUS PHOTINIA FATSIA JAPONICA

Hi Gabby, I've chosen trees that will be low maintenance. The Acer silhouette is a narrow tree and grows to about 4 metres which is enough to provide screening without spreading or being too over-powering. I'm not sure about the Arbutus, I think it is going to be a few years before I have to think about pruning but I'm hoping it will grow upwards rather than outwards. If it does need pruning I'll speak to my neighbours and offer to cut their side of it. The other thing I considered was the benefits of evergreen trees, not only do they provide privacy all year round but they also won't cause alot of additional trips to the recycling centre in autumn to dispose of the leaves.