Does the step have a nosing edge? You could run the carpet over the lip of the nosing and provide a carpet edge along the width of the step. Keeps the appearance cleaner overall.

Oh! Fun! Squeaky floorboards have a few easy fixes. Well, 'easy' is a bit subjective. You have to get under the floorboards, in most cases, which is not always simple. Then, try using wooden wedges and hammering them into gaps. Nail a piece of 2x4 along a joist to help with spongy boards that have too much movement. You might even add a nail from the top into the joist to fix the worst ones that are not fixed by the first two methods. This video might also help...

Another option is to paint the floor boards, Feast Watson has a floor paint and there are many Dulux colours to choose from. I would think, depending what is on the floorboards, that hopefully a light sand and three coats of paint. 7 days curing time.

We're renovating our kitchen and are at decision time to decide on benchtops etc. I'd love any opinions or advice on the colour scheme we're considering as we're not sure if it will all go together and it's a big chunk of money, so we want to get it right! :-/ The kitchen is a smallish U shape with a breakfast bar which opens to the lounge room. There's limited natural light so we want it to be as light as poss. The cupboards will be all white poly, floorboards are white sand engineered bamboo, walls are quarter strength tranquil retreat. For the splashback we're looking at carrara marble hexagonal tiles, benchtop - caserstone intense white and cupboard colour lexicon half or quarter or possibly vivid white (satin finish). We like the pure white of the intense white benchtops but not sure if it will compete with the splashback tiles (although the texture is very fine). Any opinions/other ideas?? Also not sure on which white to go with for the cupboard doors - leaning towards Lexicon half. Photos below of the floorboards, carrara splashback tiles, caesarstone intense white benchtop and paint samples. If anyone can offer any opinion or advise on this selection or other alternatives we could consider it would be really appreciated!