When my own home was rebuilt in Christchurch I used wood vinyl flooring in Rimu colour. It works fantastically in any wet areas like bathrooms and kitchen and laundry (washing machine overflows! No problem). It looks so real and wears extremely well. The colours you can get are amazing and it clicks together. I currently also work in the flooring section of a home improvement store and having looked at how the different engineered floors are made and wood laminates and bamboos, I would say that if you dont have the money to spend at the highest level of engineered timber dont go for the cheapest. The wood grain is printed on and any moisture will kill that floor. Bamboo is a great option as it solid banboo. The engineered has a 3mm or so layer of the actual timber. It can be re-sanded lightly if it scratches. Personally I would go with the wood vinyl planking again. Looks fantastic.

I made another comment at 12.32am, re rugs. I also chose my table this weekend. It's a lighter colour, as you'll see in my attachments. Not what I initially intended on going for. Originally I had my heart set on something a little darker than my floorboards, however I went for something lighter. Check out my latest query at 12.32am.

It certainly could be real wood battens bigreader, as it looks like a true timber product - I'm just hoping that it's not and that it's a product/panel that can be easily purchased and used to achieve the look.

The sample in the pics does look a bit yellow. I’d stay well away from anything with a red or yellow tone. I love your ceiling and it’s a feature to try and keep but as it is domineering you need to be careful of your other choices. Is the sample board a pre-finished board? On one hand that’s good because you can see the final colour but on the other hand it’s bad because the final colour is lot quite right.