I think in this situation it's more the view than the color. The view from the dark house is spectacular..

I like the bleached teak too but not with the paint colour particularly the one for the skirting as it has quite a green undertone to it, does that mean all the internal doors and trims are that colour too?... the wall colour isn't that bad and the bleached teak would work well with it, but I would seriously reconsider painting all skirting, trims and doors white... don't worry, I know all about variations as we're building too this year, and I think this one could well be worth it... not sure how far ahead you are with your build, but if the builder hasn't already ordered the paint then you should be able to change the colour as there is no cost differential in the product itself (same prime cost item), there may be a small admin fee which should be minimal given that they are already raising a variation for the floors

Thanks for the feedback all... Here are some samples and it just shows how important to see them in the actual environment. Looks a little too dark even with a lot of light the longer plank is embelton brand and the other two are colonial quickstep. The two darker boards are already showing the hand prints. The embelton board (Belmont dark) was slightly cheaper albeit they had a special on that coloured board, so it should come in around $32 Sqm for the different colours. I'm almost sold on embelton as the look and feel is more advanced to the colonial. I'd love to go with real timber but this isn't my dream house, plus I have concerns that it would be truly appreciated based on the area I live. I'm aiming for a hybrid coastal look and just finished the walls in antique hamptons, so re painting in the short term isn't desired. In the pics the Belfort dark looks fantastic c but maybe I aim for La Mancha or maple in the embelton range

Hi Fivedock If you're using a tile that looks like timber I think you would be best using the same tile from the front entry throughout. However if you used a tile that looked like stone or concrete in the kitchen/ back area for example, you could possibly use another that looked like timber in the front entry/ living room with fireplace. Or vice versa. This only works because you have a contrast between stone and timber and there's a reasonable demarcation between the living room with the fireplace and the back area. It looks terrible if you have two different timber tiles or two different stone tiles.