Hi Cathy, yes floors look just as good.... we did them in December 2013. When floors were brown.. wood coloured they showed a bit of wear (dog scratches), on the white you don't see the scratches... the white floors still look fresh... the beauty of the painted floors is that if you get heavy wear in certain areas, you can just repaint the floor!!! (ie no sanding... this is a big deal). If you decide to go ahead, I would love to see your before and after photos. Thanks. Following is how my husband did the floors: We are in Sydney, Australia... unsure if the following are international brands? My husband used Feast & Watson Floor Paint in White Satin (water based) and then 2 coats of Intergrain clear finish (also water based... so with sunlight the floors won't yellow if you use water based)

What you are referring to is proper "parquetry" and the labour is generally costly as it requires more attention to detail and is more time consuming... you may be able to manage cost depending on your choice of timber (note parquetry now also comes in engineered timber which can be a bit less) but the labour will be costly regardless... my google search of "parquetry flooring Sydney" came up with a few results so hopefully you can find someone there after a few enquiries... good luck! :)

As you know I love your kitchen, so I would use the kitchen cabinet colour in all the back wall of the shelves. Change the granite tops to also match the kitchen. On one of my previous houses I found that the bar wall was too high tho paint a solid colour so I got a curved laser cut art work to make it more of a feature. Took a photo from the internet to show you because I think if you fid something similar it would work. In your case I would get the 4 panels done and paint the little one against the wall. This way you will introduce the kitchen colours but also keep your timber. You would need to have the bar top overhanging slightly because the front would now be slightly wider. Also I think you could get away with leaving the black granite at the back.

If you were selling , are you sure you will recoup the extra $$$$ ? Get it wrong , and a potential buyer will walk and/or offer $50k less , whereas if you leave it as it is , they will know it needs replacing , offer $10k less , but you have gotten an offer ! Just me , but what I would do is rip up the fake tile lino in the foyer ( I assume it is lino -- it doesn't look to be 'proper' tiled ? ) , and do that in a darkish timber laminate -- slightly lighter than the front door , slightly darker than the stairs . Or go really dark -- almost a dark weathered grey or a similar dark brown to the drawer unit in the lounge -- the rest of the colourings will lighten it a bit , but it will all tie in . OR actually tile it , maybe a black or charcoal gloss marble or marble effect with lighter streaks through it ? The house and colourings look an older style , this continues that theme , but I feel white or beige tiles would look too bland . $2k max instead of $10k -- marble tiles may be more than $2k , but up to you .