Oh I am completely green with envy! To buy a beautiful house and score all that gorgeous furniture - how fabulous! I haven't read all the posts but agree that to paint most of these pieces would be a crying shame. I also agree with having a few antique dealers look at your furniture and assess it's value; then sell the pieces you're not so fond of & enjoy those pieces you love.. At the risk of causing upset to anyone, the only pieces I'd consider painting would be those that are damaged beyond restoration but could still be usable &/or functional.... My head is still spinning at all that fab furniture - IF you could find it in Australia you'd be paying $$$$$$!

Georgina, you are most welcome. Yes, I saw that you said in your initial query that you had lacquered them and did not want to sand it all back, hence my suggestion for the least messy option (otherwise yes would be better to sand it all back etc etc like others have said but let's be practical not perfectionists). Yes a tinted lacquer, yes I'm sure you can buy it, I've mixed it myself but best to just buy one but beware not to go too far the other way and take tiny steps. Paint a bit that's going to be under a desk etc and leave it for days to dry and look at it in different light etc. It's not ideal, but I suggest you use the same clear lacqer and add a tiny bit of tinted one because you are painting on a darker colour already so experiment with small amounts of each, keeping track of how much you have put in. (I mix my own wall colours so have just learnt to give it a go in small portions). You also mention wanting a black and white rug, these colours will clash with the wood (colour theory) and make it look even more orange so best to use a colour that tones more. It's hard to tell the exact colour from the photos but go with warmer deeper colours which will then tone down the orange rather than clash with it and make it look cheap and more orange. So if you want to go dark then a rich chocolate brown with some creams, khaki and even a bit of burnt orange for example will make the orange in the floorboards recede.

Hi Liz I had a look at the images you posted, and I think a lovely green would be great on your kitchen walls! There is a great one, called Persian Green from Colourtrend, i think it has been discontinued on their current colour charts, but is still available to buy, its a lovely warm natural green and would be fab, looking out onto your garden from inside. The blue appears to make the room look slightly cool...so maybe stay away from blues and greys! Defo change the handles, and just plain white roller blinds, with a side winder, no frills, let the light in, clean and fresh too! Hope this helps ;)

Houzz competition I know the deadline has passed but I would like for you to see this. (The photos are not uploading properly) As embarrassing as it has been for myself and my mum; over the course of my life, I have lived in such a beautiful neighbourhood in the Blackfriars area for over 22 years and the only renovation or decoration that was done was in our kitchen by the council which was lovely. We also got a really nice gentleman to fix our blinds in the kitchen for us however only one side was done because he mentioned that the measurement was not accurate for the other window area so for months one side has been an open view which at times I don't mind, but everyone loves privacy from time to time. When it comes to the rest of the house - 1. The corridor - the walls are damaged by paint and mould so the walls feel quite rough with cracks which at times Ive hurt myself with small scratches... the corridor is sky blue but I also imagined my corridor in a yellow/magnolia colour with white borders and my mum even bought the paint but till now it was not done. 2. The doors in the corridor that lead to each room are off white and the doors don't shut properly anymore. 3. The toilet is separate to the bathroom it's really old and green colour is very boring, the toilet itself is faulty, the wall between the toilet and bathroom by the window is quite thin so it has ripped a little bit. The pipes are cracked and the mould is showing and I was thinking to get the council to wrap it up in some kind of polystyrene wrap. 4. The bathroom has ABESTOS around the window area as the ventilation is so bad and because the window is high up it is quite hard to reach to always open and close it. The bathroom was repainted white at one point but the colour didn't stay for long. Now it's mouldy and black. The pipes are bad and mouldy and the sink area is cracked around. I had an idea of painting it with the theme white and gold accessories or blue white and gold (which my mum purchased blue paint) but we never got around to doing anything. The bath itself sounds like it's about to fall through and many times there have been leaks downstairs into my neighbours flat. The council just used a cardboard/wooden barriers to cover the bath. 5. The front room had wallpaper before and was painted over. Now, on one side of the room a little bit of the wall paper is coming off very randomly as if it's shrinking (I don't remember taking off anything). The carpet was taken off completely but nothing was done to it. This area has become store space too (due to clutter and books). We have some nice brown/gold curtains which I visualised my living room to have a boutique type elegant brown/gold/cream theme. 6. Bedroom no. 1 has not been dealt with for years and so it has become a clutter room for clothes as well as the corridor. The room colour is sky blue but would love for this room to be an elegant green theme something classy for a mother. 7. Bedroom no. 2 is a baby pink room with the intention of painting the room white with splashes of colour. I started taking some things out and taking out my bed area but it's not complete as you can see by the photos. Overall this interior design is definitely needed because of how long it has taken for the decor process to be done. This is the conundrum that is needed to be solved.