An idea is for fake grass which my parents suggested and I don't mind - but my husband hates. Would you use this on the whole area or leave a border of stones around it instead? Was going to get some purple slate perhaps or white stones to cover the ugly ones and give it some lift.

Not going to start another thread - just to ask another question (still in relation to the kitchen). Say we decide on some sort of wood flooring - laminate, karndean, engineered etc (that's not specifically important for this question) what are peoples opinion of not having the boards running paralell to the longest wall (ie the 'standard' way). I'm thinking of 45 degrees - there's not all that many pictures/examples of this (obviosuly if you look hard enough you can of course find them) - so is this considered to be a no-go? Starting at the front door, going down the hallway and into the kitchen/diner all at 45 degrees to the front of the house. * Sitting room carpeted * Study - that's my music room/man cave - that's remaining carpet as it's not worth changing. * Utility room and WC is currently tiled - will prob (no, definately) keep as it doesn't bother me. * Conservatory / playroom - carpeted. Will stay as is so the kids can happily make a decent mess. Also, if anyone would like me to do some artist impressions/sketches of their property and how things would like, let me know, you can see the quality of my work in the MS Paint edited picture above. I'm relatively cheap :)

@embzop that’s really interesting- I didn’t know that! Although it does make sense.. nice to know it doesn’t include bamboo tho! Makes me think that we really do need to trim our conifers (it’s been on the list to do for a while - they’re definitely way over 2m! Although our neighbours have never mentioned it!) @catrine - sorry for the misinformation.. you do still have the right to plant what you like! But if they’re awkward they may get fussy about the height!

Hi Keswing. Looks good. Ok, so did a very rough plan with your image but obviously better if you can lay things out with the pots before planting to see if you think they look right. Do check on the label or online for its eventual height and spread. Managed to fit most things in but with the cannas I thought you could leave in pots and just place the pot in the border. They can quite be tender to frost so keeping them in pots will enable you to move and tend to them more easily. Most Mahonias are called Oregon grape, it’s just the common name and like I said they can be big or small, more info here : https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/mahonia  If you wanted something tall for privacy have look at one of the x-media varieties, ‘X- media, Winter sun’ would be my choice. I inherited one in my own garden and it‘s adored by the birds although a little prickly (see pic.) I‘ve never bought plants online as I just tend to look at plants in the garden centre then wonder where I can put them 😂. I’m sure most reputable growers will ensure their plants are transported well tho. Anyway here’s the rough plan (hope it makes sense) and my mahonia.