I think that ceaserstone or marble would compete too much with your tiles and could look odd because of that. In the examples you provide, the one lot of marble stairs are with a very plain tile and the other looks like it matches the floor exactly. Your tiles have a bit of a swirly pattern so unless you chose a very plain stone/marble it would clash IMO. Also, ceasarstone can chip and I don't think it would be a very practical option for stairs. Timber would add a bit of warmth to your whole sleek look while still looking modern, and be something to tie your front door in with so it isn't the only warm looking thing in your whole light coloured area.

Now that's a cook's kitchen, are you keeping all appliances along with benchtops. You said that you were keeping the same footprint, if the base cabinets are still in good condition would you keep them as is and just replace the wall cabinets with Bunnings paintable shaker style in a soft grey and paint the walls the same colour, still keeping the oven cabinet in Beech. At the moment your kitchen has a lot of great stainless steel and wonder why the bronze cooper splash back, trend?, I can see by the photo that the kitchen is a bit dark, so perhaps a mirrored splash back would reflect more light and would look great with the stainless benchtop and the soft grey. If you are not keen on the mirror for the splash back and breakfast bar the white tiles could be replaced with French Country white and grey tiles Beech wood looks great with greys and black & white. I would look at replacing the Stools, Kmart have $25 dollar stools, different colours Lighting, an easy cheaper lighting is to use track lighting as you only need to have the one connection, tracks can be joined and placed in any shape or position where light is needed, like over the sink. You can use both spotlight and pendant lighting with these. PLEASE replace any open corner shelves with cabinets. This would be very cheap to achieve, good luck

Thank you robandlyn. I am definitely leaning towards the karndean especially for the kids. I might use it for a splashback?? hi the interior therapist. Thank you for your reply. The budget that was put into our build (by the builder) makes hardwood floors an extra $23k. Although the 600 x 600 are expensive to lay it still comes in at less than half the price including bathrooms. We had hardwood in our last house, I liked it but it scratched and dented with chairs and kids dragging their sandy bikes inside. i am worried that I will choose the tile and hate the cleaning and potential slippery accidents in summer but I worry about the look of karndean....... is it very plasticky? I have some samples but it's very hard to tell from such a small piece. Is the tile we have chosen too 'busy' for all areas? Maybe I have really bad taste and it's an ugly tile lol Thanks so much for all your help guys :)

I have a separate guest toilet without windows using a ceiling extractor fan - not a problem. I also have internal cavity sliding doors to bathrooms and toilets and love how they give extra space and options regarding placement of items. Another location alternative for you may be between the cinema room and the kitchen, depending on what you had planned for that extra space in the kitchen. Two metres is a wide hallway, if that is what it is? Ours is 1.3 which is considered wide (as we need to accommodate a wheelchair which has to turn into doorways). An advantage of a very wide hallway is it gives room for extra furniture placement such as bookshelves, linen or other cupboards if needed. I don't see a linen cupboard or pantry cupboard in your plans. Something else to think about is future proofing - try to cover future possibilities with regard to function, as making structural or fittings changes later can be more expensive, and may come at a time when you can least afford it (e.g. injured, disabled, children, aging or other such people visiting your home). Lives change, sometimes over time, sometimes in an instant, and suddenly the doors are not wide enough (especially the toilet door!), or the walls are not strong enough for a weight-bearing rail, and a host of other things. We put 900cm doors as a minimum and it makes life a lot easier, including moving furniture in and out. Universal Design principles are worth a look. Sadly these considerations are currently considered special or optional, although there are moves to change that, so that builders and architects will consider these things as standard.