Does this village have any colonial features? The house has too much concrete and nothing to warm it up. Use natural wood hand-made railings...not painted. Balance the railings. Upper railings and lower railings are completely different. They should be taller...a meter high upstairs. Do you have to leave the upper columns by the bedrooms exposed? Bring the brick wall between them forward so the columns are inside the house. Divide the casement windows with 4 panes.

I agree that there is too much going on, however some of the suggestions are costly and in my opinion don't completely take care of the problems. I like the design approach it is fresh and updated. I agree that the chimney cap is out of proportion and just needs a simple band at the top. In order to make the exterior remain timeless over the years, Now Sit Down for a minute, I would make all of the exterior the white color. I know you love red however this will tie the different components of the architecture together more than any thing else. You can still have high gloss red doors and red tile pavers on the ground. It would also be very classy the use white tile in place of the brick look. You could even mix gloss white tiles with matt finish tiles to give an interesting sparkle when you ride by. I like the wrought iron upper railing, but the vertical blocking on the right side looks too heavy. So I would continue the same railing around the corner and back toward the house until it connects to the other balcony railing. This also ties the house together. It would look much more classic to not have a grid in the tall window and instead have a solid piece of glass down to the transom and then from there down be solid glass as well. Glass block in the courtyard column sections with back lights would look unbelievable. I would arch the closed in section on the second level as it would show up more there than the window being arched does, so save the money and don't arch that window. I would either hang a long contemporary light on the right elevation to dress it up or insert a long strip of glass block lighted from the interior to achieve the same effect. I charge for renderings, because I list the materials as well. Best, Leo Dowell Interiors.com

HI RinaI do agree I love jewelbox rooms, but I consider them more cosy ... and with a grey marble floor it goes all Versace Italianate! I am trying to balance the colours by bringing in a pattern on the covers rather than plain. I feel this will bring colour without overpowering the room. In the pictures I showed above, the rooms are basically neutral but the colour is brought in via pattern - I think this might be the way to go...Ideally a green or blue on a subdued grey would be the best, but I dont know what the market is like for Sumit...Cushions can do a lot to tie in the other white/grey elements.Shelley - navy is a good suggestion, but as Sumits area is quite tall and thin, trying to keep the general area light Any more suggestions most welcome. These are just ideas after all and Sumit will choose what works for the room in the end ;-)

I'd do option 2 myself. Technically I see an option 3- putting the couch out in the open, diving the two spaces. Couches don't need to be on a wall- you'd just need a smaller couch to do that and still have space to pass through to the other room.