Hi guys, Leelee we are definitely doing the vintage bits on the wall. We actually have some vintage cereal boxes that we are planning on displaying on the shelves (filled with cereal of course)!. Sarainitaly - I'm investigating thenIkea planner but it's painful to work (or maybe it's just me!). Here's a pic of the walls totally painted green now. Think the shelves will look great along with some pictures dotted around. It's the cabinets now that will b a pain! BTW it was pure enthusiasm that stopped me waiting until the water heater came off the wall to paint - lol. I will have to paint the patch when it's off.

For the time being (and this IS only a temporary fix) try using a water based penetrating sealer on the grout. I stress water based, because solvent based sealers today are made to be "breatheable", meaning they allow moisture to transmit back and forth, while the water based sealers will repel water. You still need to address this in a more permanent manner (the glass door is a good idea, but it wouldn't hurt to remove the bathroom floor tile, waterproof the floor, and install a new tile floor), but this will help until you can afford to do what you need to do.

Hello there... I hope I can be of some help as I have almost an identical sitting room - I will just share with you my sitting room this year!! All the walls started out in Dulux Timeless colour so I wanted to add an accent colour- like you, I have one end of the room that is patio doors. So the opposite wall to those, I chose as an accent wall - I know a lot of people suggest not having an accent wall but perhaps having horizontal painted stripes of colour etc... But as I was doing the painting, I knew I would have made a real hash of that!! So the third pic is my first attempt at an accent wall - The Greene Paint company - colour Bassalt. This was nice but I just got bored of it - it worked well against the richness of the wood floor etc and was very much a statement but in a few months I just couldn't settle with it. After several coats of white I have now settled on Farrow & Balls colour Lamp Room Grey. I know this seems all very neutral, but from the second photo you will see I have gone for cream curtains with neutral vertical pom-poms - but, by doing all this, I can now change the accent colour in this room at the drop of a hat and quite importantly - INEXPENSIVELY! For instance, if I wanted to, for Xmas, if I was going to spend a lot of time in that room, I could a. Go for red and cream cushions and create a Scandinavian look! Or b. Go for silver beaded cushions and silver candle jars and have a winter wonderland look! And equally in the summer, I could go for pastel pink floral cushions and a vase of delicate roses to bring the garden into the sitting room or just keep it neutral with ivory roses and a hint of lime green. So my advice would be to keep the expensive things neutral and then you can alter the in expensive things as you go along. I also think one expensive piece in any room is a good investment - be it a huge oversized pewter bowl or a something similar - that again is neutral in colour but is a statement piece. Hope this helps!

I am back again. I decided against the tile originally proposed as the advice here was totally right, the tile had a strong pink/salmon tone. Thanks so much to everyone. I have been searching again and attached is what I am now thinking of going for. I think this tile is very neutral, should match a lot of colours, is warm and easy to keep. It should also match a modern kitchen. Opinions please!!!