The problem nobody talks about – buying your dream home and not being able to afford the furniture

Country kitchen with wooden beams, range oven, wooden countertops and tiled splashback.

Home decorator Lara Winter is one of Ideal Home's Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on revamping a 200 year old cottage to make it right for modern family life. See the rest of her articles here.

When we moved into our cottage ten years ago, we had exactly the kind of problem we'd spent years hoping for.