Personally I think the grass, yellow bricks and the fence are a bit too uninspiring. How about trying to break it up a bit - thin beds with climbers against fence and extra beds / pots / paths to add different levels. Think of cakes on a cake stand, the more levels, the better it looks. Red cedar slatted fence to replace the existing, trailing plants over the walls. Talk to a good gardener to talk about the right plants for their position and also consider doing a watering system to make it super low maintenance (they don't cost the earth). Good luck with it - post some photos of the project!

i think the most important thing is to work out first of all how you would like to use the garden space, whether its to relax in, socialize in, kids/grandkids to play in, to enjoy from the house and or different focal points within the garden, is there an area that gets say evening sun and that's the time you both get home and want to enjoy a meal/drink in the evening sun? do you need storage areas? outside cooking area? how much time do you have to spend upkeeping it? (and be honest! too many people aren't believe me lol), how much money you have to spend, both on landscaping and maintenance, once you really know what you want from it, have a search though houzz at the different styles of gardens and start getting an idea of what you like and come up with a board with clippets of different styles, doesn't matter if it takes time, best to get the basic's right before spending any money before planting, its worth getting the soil tested for its type, ph and nutrient level, this will also help work out what plants you will be able to grow sorry I haven't helped with styles or direct ideas, I feel its your own space and to get the best from it you need to understand more what you require from it and what you can give to get out of it most of all good luck and enjoy turning the lovely space into a garden that you can enjoy

Let there be light. It does depend on the look you want. But artex eeck! If you have high ceilings you can put in a false ceiling and put in downlights. LED strips are amazing and you can highlight the smallest area. Go for daylight bulbs too. Mirrors also reflect the light back into the room. As for deco, If you want to get at least 8 people in. Something modular and that clears the floor. Think Japanese, to zone off areas when there are a group of people use screens, free standing or drop from the ceiling, from the void where you have the downlights. Where there are stud walls you can create storage in the stud voids. Choose bright and white colours. If still not sure support up and coming young designers by giving the brief to the amazing, St Martins, London Guildhall, or London College of Printing, Westminster .... Have fun !

Hi lolllie, although some of these images are not specifically of a living room or dining room, they are of a or in a country cottage situ and style. Most of the images are illustrating our range of Little Greene paints or wallpapers (which are fantastic for period property homes) or images that are illustrating our industrial lighting range which work well with a variety of styles. See more photos for inspiration on our Houzz page or feel free to browse our website. We have lots of products that would be perfect for when you redecorate your cottage. Hope they give you some good ideas!