Hi elinitha, this will be the laminex impression decor 'weathered oak' which has both visual (white ingrained) and tactile texture. It will be used horizontally in a beach house. This colour I would recommend your timber feature also, as it looks natural, as in no staining or lacquered aesthetic, and as a finished product, no maintenance, fading and is more durable than a genuine timber product.

I have only seen one wooden bench top that has managed, over time, to keep the wet out and avoid that black mouldy creepage where the water splashes behind the taps and around tap inserts. It was built by a carpenter and then the owner applied oil to gain the colour desired before applying several coats of marine epoxy (several = at least 5), sanded back before every new layer. It was burn proof and the colour locked in by epoxy coat with no maintenance required (until a visitor put a burning pot on it and left it there while attending to fire on stove, still... only left a black ring. That said, the owner promptly got out the sander and ground back until black ring was no longer charcoal texture, then reapplied oil and layered epoxy until black ring looked like it belonged (can't do that with any other surface I can think of?). After 15 years there is no sight of the insidious black mould from water penetration so I suppose it is the same recipe as with most thing successful projects in life, research, research, preparation, preparation, preparation and don't falter at the finish line.

There is a company in Sydney called Sydney timber supplies who are screening specialists, check their website or their phone number 1300 779 559. Hope this helps.

No, no and no. Once timber is painted it is really hard to get back to the original. Give it a thorough clean, live with it for a year, and then decide if it still needs to be vandalised to fit your contemporary aspirations. It seems so strange that you have purchased a house that is almost 100 years old, with lots of light and period charachter, and which has had lots of people live in it before you bought it, and they never needed to paint the timber panelling. If you paint your timber panelling then the people who live in your home after you have sold it will curse our current contemporary trend of whiting out all our timber. While you are the new owner, you are also the custodian of this piece of history, and sometime in the future you will be selling your period home to new custodians. Once this current contemporary trend fades then do you plan on repainting it to fit the next current contemporary trend? Love your period home for what it is, and please don't vandalise it to match contemporary trends. Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls.