Hey Jodes, I'm sure some other Houzzers and pros on here will have great insight but in the meantime, have a read through the flooring section in Stories on Houzz: http://www.houzz.com.au/ideabooks/flooring

A lighter colour shows fewer scratches. Burnished oil may be more practical. Also consider natural bamboo. We had spotted gum in our last house. Spectacular floor but showed up the dust and scratches.

In my experience real timber floors are the warmest and kindest underfoot.

Ours have coped with kids, pets and indifferent house keeping. But I don't mind a bit of character and they weren't high gloss.

Get sustainable timber, linoleum, or cork.

Having always had both cork n floorboards cork is definitely warmest and better for foot health n comfort

Just put in spotted gum....stunning. Easy to care for as well

Have you considered bamboo flooring at all? A natural, eco-friendly timber alternative, that looks stunning and is very durable - and great value for money too!

I don't mind the look of that but the feel underfoot is really important.

We don't like the feel of a floating floor. What is the bamboo? Planks, etc?

You can have either floating or glue-down bamboo flooring. Floating is most popular (quicker/easier = cheaper). With 14mm solid bamboo you hardly notice any flex like you can from thinner laminates etc. Lots more info here: www.plantationbamboo.co.nz

I recall bamboo is not suited to dry environments

Bamboo flooring has improved in quality significantly over recent years - but like most products can vary in quality, depending on how it is manufactured. We have customers all over NZ and the moisture content of the product is suited to NZ conditions. It's suitable for all rooms really, apart from bathrooms (where moisture can be hard for people to control).

Plus one for bamboo. I have strandwoven bamboo throughout the entire house (excluding the bathroom) and in its ninth year it still looks great. There are a few scratch marks (tradesman with a steel footed ladder... and a sofa foot scrape) but nothing that's too obvious or annoying. We glued directly to the concrete slab and it feels great underfoot. It's quiet and 'soft'. Get good quality bamboo from a reputable source and you can't go wrong. Oh, and I have a dog and a bloke, which is probably on par with having three young children.

I do have one patch that is damaged in the kitchen, but it's not an issue and I'm adding it as a late edit. A friend had a major sink overflow and forgot to mention it to me until much much later. The surface is now slighltly "lifted", but not cracked. I'm sure had I known when it happened I could have worked at drying it more thoroughly and it wouldn't have been an issue. It's not an obvious spot, so I'm not fussed about it.

Spotted gum with livos oil. Best for kids and pets. Never have to sand your floor again and non toxic.

I love cork! Warm, quiet and soft underfoot, great 'bounce back' for furniture 'indents'. Hardwearing, quite classical and a nice backdrop for everything else. Timber can be very noisy and echoey, especially with lots of little feet about :)

The feel of solid timber is much nicer than laminated floor. An important feature of wood floor is that it can be sanded again and again. Checking the "Janka harshness test" of spotted gum for harshness and scratch will help.

Timber or hardwood floors age beautifully over time when maintained. Our recent styling projects demonstrate how popular they are for living rooms, hallways, kitchens and open plan living spaces.

We'd love to see pictures of your forever home when the project is complete! Keep us posted.

Agree with Tribbletrouble 4512k7 trek CORK if you intend using the same flooring throughout. Its easy, comfy and silent to walk on, easy to keep clean and even good with underfloor hydrolic heating...and it is lovely to look at.

Spotted Gum is a great option. Bamboo is great too but is typically more expensive and it is also imported.

Many people advocate spotted gum...I've never seen a floor done in it. Would anyone have a PIC please? @ PC architecture I assume that bamboo...the latest trendy thing for anything from floors to bed sheets, would be more expensive because imported. Am curious to know what are its attributes as flooring...as superior to some of the Australian timbers? My 1924 Queenslander has Hoop Pine floors throughout all milled locally and seasoned for 30 years before use.....not a single floorboard has a join midway across the expanse...its such a pleasure to care for. On the other hand, what a pity to have lost those magnificent ancient trees, makes me appreciate the floors even more. They were all covered in newspapers for underlay beneath the lino made in England backed with a tar-like layer. Each board was all beautiful and light, straight and well preserved. Had not the heart to put polyurethane over them...so they get a good oiling with quality wood preserver oil when needed.

I just wish I could recommend this timber to everyone building their forever homes..sadly...its all gone. But good hunting to all Houzzers starting from the floor up!

My Dad was a strong advocate for CORK and it was he who told me to use it if ever I got to building my home....his floors in Melbourne were absolutely impeccable.

Bamboo is slightly more expensive both fiscally and environmentally. Cork is great on your legs/spine too. Look at http://www.livos.com.au/ for floor coatings.

We have had cork and it was great for all the reasons mentioned especially for your back. It is by far the best energy transfer. I still prefer the look of spotted gum though.
The idea that you can keep sanding a solid wood floor is an illusion. Not only would you not want to if you didn't have to but even on 19mm solid, you only have about 5mm of sandable wood. I've have seen bad tradesmen hit the tongue with the drum sander.

Thanks everyone for all your comments!

We went to a flooring place today, there was nothing labelled cork. Is it know. By another name?

CORK google cork e g premium cork or others

Cork.... The material they used to seal wine bottles with..... ;)

Where do you live?

try this: https://www.comcork.com.au/

I've specified them before in a café: great product. Has also been installed in some areas at the Dockland Stadium in Melbourne.

Sorry about the suggestion of CORK for your floors....I should have specified..Cork TILES. If the younger salesmen do no know about it approach an older person...cork has been used for flooring since the 50s and 60s. I am about to go to the link above kindly provided by PC Architcture...they seem to be "with it".

Today's product might be much more improved though my Dad's floors still look like new. Its good that cork seems to be having a revival.

WOW! I did not expect that cork would have such a revival...well worth consideration. Thanks PC Architecture!

As an afterthought...I Googled "Natural Cork Flooring" since what I had in mind was a product that actually looked like cork. There are many companies that still offer this product. Sorry I do not know how to put up a link but just Google Cork Flooring and you'll find heaps of lovely surfaces in natural-looking cork.

We have spotted gum and absolutely love it. Nice to walk bare footed on and has an overall calming effect to look at. It requires very little maintenance. With two small kids, it is spotted gum is very forgiving in that it is hard to dent or scratch from toys dropping on the floor.

Spotted Gum is a great hard wearing timber with a Janka rating of 11. This means it is high density timber and won't dent as easily as softer timbers like American Oak. A polyurethane finish is the hardest and most durable timber floor coating and it comes in gloss satin and mat. The lower sheen's are more forgiving if you you have pets and young children. Bamboo is another hard product but only comes in short lengths so you would need to take that look into consideration when selecting. Some clients don't like the look of the short boards and consider it a cheap look. Others prefer the longer floor boards of timber. If you do choose bamboo make sure that you find out the coating used and whether it can be sanded and re coated down the track, as all timber and bamboo floors will need a touch up especially if you have pets. Some bamboo floors can not be sanded due the coating used. Hope this helps. Our website may offer some inspiration. Good Luck

http://budgetfloorsanding.com.au/

European engineered oak floorboards are favourite with architects as they can be made much wider than solid floorboards (due to their engineered base). They are also pre-finished so can lay in a day and ready to walk on with no sanding

In our main home we love our timber floors. In saying that, the newer bamboo floors are amazing quality, durability and are highly cost effective to lay and purchase.

If you want something that is going to past we would suggest you avoid laminate, they have come a long way way but still, a small tear and you are stuck replacing a large section or suffering an odd patch.