We took up the carpet in our hall and living areas and polished the cypress boards for the same reason in a one storey house. Our neighbour said she could hear the kids running around the house in the quiet ofthe early morning, glad we weren't trying to live under that!

I raised 3 joeys and 2 cats on a Cavalier Bremworth pure wool carpet and never regretted it for one minute except for one colour choice. The living areas were in a deep brown which I would never recommend - as portpiro said, dark colours show every speck of fluff, dust, pet hair and anything else that comes into the house. The bedroom areas were an Arctic White and were so easy to keep clean - regular vacuuming and a deep clean annually or occasionally spot cleaning of any accidents. I had 40 years of wear from these carpets - probably won't get anything like that these days though. http://www.cavbrem.com.au/tools/products.aspx I think if you choose mid brown/grey colours in a tweed or a self pattern, you will find this does hide any stubborn marks, but with wool, I just didn't have any. I note now this firm has brought out a range of very nice looking carpet tiles. If these are easy to interchange, they could be very useful in bedrooms especially where only a small area of flooring gets wear while under beds and furniture stays pristine. I also found when replacing my carpet recently that nylons and synthetics were not necessarily that much cheaper than wool but although they are more stain proof, they do build up static electricity that will attract dirt and make the carpet much harder to clean. This is one carpet from their Turkestan range that I really liked for durability

We have a new house, one level, and the tile, carpet and timber work well together. The tile is pretty seamless with the wood, and there's only a small bit of transition strip or whatever it's called between carpet and wood or tile. Nothing that would stop a wheelchair. I think the issue is to make sure that the base is level: good tradies should do the rest.

Hi Kelly, I think you're definitely on the right track. I have used Royal Oak engineered hardwood and it's great. Durable, easy to keep clean etc. Are you planning to run it through the whole house? (Main living areas that connect, and the room with the fireplace?) This will keep the flow through the house, making space appear bigger. Because you are changing out the kitchen to white, there is no need to worry about clashing of timbers which is great, and to keep consistency with your new pallet of the more grey tones, opt for a bench top that has a grey vein through it. This will help produce the pallet for your fireplace too.... keep the consistency through the house, so it's cohesive and intensional. Change the fireplace tiles to compliment the new vibe too. I don't think there will be too much of a clash to the outdoors and if there is, down the track you can always paint the outdoor tiles. But don't let the terra-cotta dictate your internal pallet. Goodluck! p.s If you're Melb based, Fowels Auctions in Clayton, supply the Royal Oak at really good prices and have an extensive range of other floors to look at and compare.