@ sally wastie....Would have loved those pine kitchen cupboards....before they were painted. Had I a strong yen for :a bit of colour"...(and I do love colour), I would have had a new glossy multi coloured counter top, probably something very striking and then oiled the pine cupboard doors There were no work benches in the kitchen of my 1920s all pine cottage ( always say that the kitchen was an afterthought since it is positioned just of a hallway and consisted only of a sink and a wood burning stove.) I built a small bench/table using VJ pine slats I'd removed from elsewhere and then put a thick pine top that curved out from the small straight bench to form a little round kitchen table..Then came the fun, I painted the benchtop and table a datk teale colour, gave it a flecked faux marble finish and a couple of coats of high gloss waterproof varnish. Nothing terribly amazing but it did give the old...'kitchen space' a bit of a lift. Had a larger round kitchen table with a formica top and timber legs...so gave the table-top the same teale treatment as the bench and it now lives on the veranda that came a few years later. Yes! Teale of any shade always looks good with timber. The only pity was that the kitchen walls and ceiling here were terribly smoke stained and had been painted a really horrible pre WWII green. Begrudgingly, I repainted the walls but used a bright orange/yellow to complement the dark teale colour ( this particular yellow is a good colour to keep the flies out) and, in keeping with the era of the house, I installed a built in dark timber kitchen hutch found at the dump shop. The kitchen is the only room to have been painted and repainted....but still have the dark timber parquetry floors. If you get tired of all timber a few splashes of bright colour in well-thought-out places do not go astray. If you have vertical timber panelled walls and you are feeling hemmed in... a good trick is to stain a small section of panels a darker wood colour or with a coloured stain to shift the focus from all the timber. or you can bleach the timber panels lighter. This idea can create interest extending ceilngward from behind a furniture piece...say low display cabinet...or just in a section of wall. You enhance the all timber 'look' with an eye -catching timber panel of another timber hue...like having a mahogany panel set in a light timber wall... Just a few ideas for those feeling a bit claustrphobic in an all timber house....understandable, not all of us aspire to live in a log cabin...but if carefully accented, an all timber interior can be extremely impressive and will not date. This is a pre-digital shot of the glass panels I had installed in the wall around my bed head...its really faded PIC but you can get the idea. Looks better today since the glass has been decoratively frosted with patterns. The sunroom behind the bedroomThis is also a pre-digital PIC showing the little timber kitchen bench with the teale table top. The end and other side of the bench is stained timber. This little table seats 3 or 4. Pity you can't see the old parquetry floor here. Old formica table given a lift with a Teale coloured painted top...there's no room for it in the ' kitchen space'. Amazing what a little lick of the right colour can do in an all timber house.

In regards to caring for your wood flooring depends on what coating finish you have, is it an oiled, polyurethane etc? Generally the best way to care for a wood floor is to vacuum following with a microfiber mop, however never 'wet mop' (splash water over the floor) just make sure the cloth is damp. Warm soapy water is generally fine to use.

Tell me about it, the ones across the road were going all day and night in the front yard, including revving up a motor bike they're not allowed to ride! my hubby wears flannie shirts when he's not in work gear. He likes ripping them, that's a trend that should end. of course, all Australian flag thongs (flip flops) are made in China!

Dr Retro, you are a designer after my own heart! My triple fronted brick veneer house was built in 1965, extended in 1970 and I try and stick to furnishings and influences from the 1950s to the end of the 1970s! I am its third owner, but have discovered its history via my elderly neighbours. I also have lots of antique vases, crystal and fine bone china, as was popular in the 1960s and 70s in my lounge room. Cannisters in the kitchen are all straight from the 1960s purchased by my mother, then handed on to me. Meanwhile my sun room is an explosion of plants , cane, colour and knotted pine feature wall. Whilst I have double glazed and slightly tinted the lounge room windows for privacy, I try and maintain the period integrity and hope to heritage list my property. So many glorious homes of this era are being knocked down for building town houses and macmansions, especially those on huge blocks, like mine. It is an easy house to live in and I am grateful for my separate kitchen, with easy access to the open plan dining room and lounge, as it keeps my dog out of food preparation areas. I love the cosiness of my kitchen in a home of otherwise vast spaces too! The separate living areas and kitchen have at times, made it easy for 3 generations of the family to happily coexist here, which in a totally open plan home would have been difficult!