Our last house and our current house both had wood floors and lots of wood furniture. Using area rugs (I've got a weakness for oriental rugs) provides separation between the floors and the furniture. And if the walls are light, as in LesleyH's photo above, you will certainly not feel overwhelmed with wood. The only time there's an issue in my mind is when the walls are also wood clad - that can be a bit confronting and needs management.

Haha Siriuskey! Twins are just fascinating :) Yes you are right about the smoky sapelle, but its quite dark (for me anyway!) Here is a link to the light colour that is very similar to Blackbutt https://www.quick-step.com.au/en-au/laminate/impressive-ultra/imu1847_classic-oak-beige?uf_FloorType=flooring_floortype/005_qs_laminate&uf_Thickness=120 Dark colour https://www.quick-step.co.uk/en-gb/laminate/majestic/mj3548_woodland-oak-brown Or really dark! https://www.quick-step.com.au/en-au/laminate/impressive-ultra/imu1849_classic-oak-brown?uf_FloorType=flooring_floortype/005_qs_laminate&uf_Thickness=120 PS This will open on to a Blackbutt deck at rear (which I will probably stain to match if I use a darker colour inside)

Hi Mon, have you seen the Dulux Paint App? You can download it to your phone for free. The idea is that you can take a photo of of the space you want to paint and the App allows you to change the wall colour by selecting from their colour range; Dulux says this enables you to actually see what the new colour looks like next to your floor and other furnishings without the need of trying out several paint pot samples. I have not personally used it but the concept is pretty cool. Hope this is of help. Malcolm

Hi, Just want to share some advice I wish I had before I had all of my floors recovered . The carpet for the bedrooms stairs and hall was straightforward so was as quoted which also included the installation. I was also quoted for Hydrocork which was recommended to me as a floating flooring by a large well known flooring company here in New Zealand - disaster - it is now 7 months on and I still have the faulty floor down and It looks like I am going to be $10,000.00 while retailers, installers and suppliers duck and dive. Just make sure you get a Scope for the installation and find out what happens when either the product or installation is faulty - remembering that not all faults with flooring show up immediately. I just don’t want anyone else to go through this.