I have miles of decking at two houses. All timber when put in the Australian sun will suffer. When building our beach house we decided to go for Spotted Gum and let it grey. Why fight it? We applied Cutek, and will on a regular basis. At our main house we have lots of Merabu or Quilla. Will not grey the same, and leaches lots of red stain. Cheap, but would not use again. What ever you use, use a good quality oil that seeps deep into the wood not a traditional stain/or top finishing product.

yep, stunning. I been drawing something similar for a while and it's awesome to see your ab fab results after your OP. I got interested in some ikea solid timber benchtops, not nearly as nice as yours, and thought I'd combo them with black cabinets, white stone and white walls (just a "what if" design). so I totally love your kitchen. it's great how well the tiles look now compared to when you first posted, they really excite me! and the lightshades against the black wall. and what's that dining area I see? that smoked glass table top with timber trestles and black chairs and that black and white rug? where you get those?! I want to see more! congratulations, it's hard not to gush! big ups to Mldesign too.

Hi, I had a Spotted Gum Timber Floor ( 10mm Real Solid Timber Single Planks ) in a penthouse apartment for 8 years . It was pre-coated in high gloss clear from the factory . When it was laid it was necessary to have a noise reduction 3mm foam under layer ( apartments underneath building noise requirement) . This method of installation actually made the floor very quiet and it also made it a little softer to walk over . When it got any scuff marks, they just easily wiped off with a damp cloth. When I sold the penthouse, the floor was in exactly the same condition as the day it was first laid - first class. It was only ever cleaned with a steam cleaner , no chemicals whatsoever . I would certainly recommend the pre-coated polyurethane gloss finish on the real timber planks to anyone, it was great ! You can just see a glimpse of the kitchen floor in the attached two images. Good luck with your specifying . High quality surface finishes normally stand the test of time . I have added a couple of extra images of the penthouse for interest. We did the interior design fit out after buying the shell from the developer. It was a stunning sky home . Cheers LAADP

Cloudyhaze....I think all of the options look good, but it just depends on the look you personally wish to have for your house, because painting the ceiling white will COMPLETELY change the look. My sister has just bought a place that had brick walls and exposed ceilings that had the beams painted mission brown and the ceiling was in some form of raw chipboard type material. She wanted to brighten the place up before she moved in and got it all painted white. It looks beautiful, but I personally would have thought of other options before painting the brick etc. She got a quote for plastering (sheeting) the sections in between the exposed ceiling beams and it was a lot more expensive than painting. If you are keen to paint just the panelling in the ceiling, then I would get additional quotes. I am no painter but I would suspect if it has shellac on it, it will just need an initial sealer on it, before putting on the 2 coats of flat ceiling paint. I think all of the options will look beautiful, because the high ceilings are the feature.........it just depends on whether you are going for a more rustic look, mid-century look , more modern look...I am not sure of what all the designs are called. Good Luck. Your house is gorgeous. My sister lives on Gold Coast BTW.