Thank you roj leather and Simon for your recommendations. I like the hanging chair and the almanda creeper on the wall. This will certainly liven up the patio.

Hi , I think if ever you want to sell this property in the future - you will need to follow Vastu guidelines in the design at this point - otherwise this may hinder resale. Assuming that the architect has followed this and the plan is set - I would suggest you use colours and artwork to create the look that you are after ... Also consider shelving going across the full window wall - this will give you extra storage and also somewhere to grow herbs etc in front of the window - maybe even have a deeper shelf at worktop height and a stool infront of the window ? If you do a picture search on elements that you would like to add - ie kitchen "turquoise accessories" or kitchen "gold" etc you will get lots of inspirational images to help you get an attractive kitchen ... Best of luck with it all ! :-)

For the living room, the focus should be the balcony area. So flipping the couch to face the wall and not the dining table will help. Kind of like this pic. Even if you already have the sectional that is in the diagram, you should be able to flip it. In fact a sectional would probably work better than the couch in this pic. I also really don't like the style of this pic, but it showed what I meant, For the girls' room: No matter which bedroom you choose, you should maximize floor space so that they have the biggest play space possible in their room (as they get older you can add desks for school work and such). To get this space, I would give them bunk beds. This configuration gives them an open feel and more storage, essential for girls. You posted two different kitchen designs. This makes it hard to give you advice. I agree with other posts that your sink should be away from the wall. This allows you to have stuff to the left of you (drying dishes in my house), while you wash vegetables on the right of the sink. You need the same space on both sides of the stove, also. At least 24 inches on both sides is good. 36 is better, though. The first design has a nice little countertop space that adds a place for your daughters a space to sit a watch/ talk to you while you're in the kitchen. When they added this to the first design, you lost cabinets on the other wall. This is bad, as the space is already storage limited. Try making the rounded countertop bump out into the living space more. If you play with the shape, you could make it work without losing the cabinets on the other side. It doesn't have to be rectangular or a perfect circle. You can see how this one isn't confined to the floor plan of the kitchen. I think this is what you would need to do to make it the most functional.

This reminds me of my kitchen in Hyderbad, India. As others said, go with open shelves. Both wood (contrast) and stainless (brightness) would work well for upper shelves. I would also do shelves in the lower cabinets. If you want to minimize cleaning, add heavy, easily washable curtains to the lower shelves. You can add some battery operated lighting so you can see into those darker spaces. As for the walls, I would use a white subway tile and go as high on the wall as you can afford. The glaze will reflect more light and the surface will be relatively able to keep clean. Paint the other walls in a high-quality white paint (use a ceramic one if you can find it, as they are a lot more durable). Keep the appliances to a minimum. Kitchen gadgets might be handy, but lost of them will make the space seem small. For the ones you do buy, go with white or stainless steel. Finally, hang pots, pans and utensils on the walls to free shelf space and get them off the counter. Make sure what you use frequently is within easy reach, while "occasional" tools can be higher up, where you might need a stool to reach them.