Since this thread started I've moved house and renovated two more bathrooms and this "step" issue is definitely becoming a headache. You know, we are such slavish followers of trends, I just have to wonder at times how much we are becoming victims of them too. When I built my first house over 50 years ago, most homes were built on piers with timber flooring and concrete was only used in bathrooms and laundries, but the levels were adjusted so when tiles were laid in wet areas the transition was minimal. Floor tiles were also thinner than today's tiles, in most cases they were smaller tiles too and not these great slabs we use today that obviously need to be thicker for strength. Now we are building more slab on ground homes, no provision is being made for the thickness of floor tiles to ensure a more seamless transition between areas. My front entrance is tiled and has a 2cm "step" down to the lounge and family room areas and even that 2cm I find people constantly tripping over. I plan on removing these tiles and replacing the whole entry/kitchen/family area with vinyl planking. Carpet in the lounge room helps offset that step a little but I was told recently by people who have addressed this issue this way that putting an extra layer of underfelt within the doorway area works very well to help offset this problem. When I renovated the ensuite I now have this step issue but the tiles had been glued down with an unknown product of super strength that gave my bathroom guy a lot of grief trying to jackhammer up - took him 2 days to remove them and screed the floor to his standard - and he decided he could not do the main bathroom in a realistic time frame to meet the price he quoted me, he felt he could not even guarantee the standard of work he wanted to achieve so his suggestion was to tile over the existing tiles and when he got to the doorway he would add an extra part tile sloping to down to the floor level similar to what pucciplan described with his timber. He assured me he had done it with many other renovations, it was barely noticeable and would solve the issue much easier and cheaper for me and far less time consuming. In the meantime as I have carpet in the hallway we heard of the idea of using an extra layer of underlay and I've chosen this option. My laundry is right opposite the bathroom and those tiles will be replaced too. On close inspection of the original construction, we discovered no waste drain was put into the laundry, the tiles were drained towards the external door, which is apparantly acceptable .............EXCEPT, they then put a dam across the floor inside the doorway to stop rainwater coming in under the external door!!!! Now the laundry tiles will be laid over the top of the existing ones as well to allow for any possible accident needing drainage. Fortunately I've had no weather issues but we will put a rubber flap at the base of the door, just in case, and I will again do the extra layer of underlay under the carpet and hopefully will achieve a satisfactory result. At least the two doorways will match. Quite frankly though, I'm finding so many design issues these days, I really think the whole home building industry needs a thorough overhaul. I think as I age too, so many more issues are coming to light BUT they are obviously issues that could affect anyone of any age. I think we need to forget "trends" that don't consider the big picture of things and come back down to basic commonsense. HU - I'm really at a loss as to how your builder managed to get a 6.5cm step to the bathroom, that is absolutely ridiculous. The only thing I can think of is there may have been a slope issue for drainage, but surely it could still not have been that much, anything that much out should have been picked up when the building was inspected during construction. "Normal" is a good excuse for laziness or shoddy workmanship. I think from reading your posts, you are in an apartment?? You would then have slab floors?? Therefore I can't see the need for the step to be above 2cm. Definitely take this further - Fair Trading should be able to help you, the standard heights for steps varies according to location and use - it is a bit of a minefield to work out. Good luck. Amanda - how did all your renos go in the end? Sounds like you are still sane. :)

I will be the loan naysayer and go: Vinyl Plank timber pattern tiles. I did these in my kitchen and they helped make the room. Used Karndean, but any European brand should be fine (avoid American and assume they are using American or worse if they don't say the country of origin). http://www.karndean.com/en-au/floors/landing-pages/new-looselay-longboard?gclid=CjwKCAjwspHaBRBFEiwA0eM3kQ7eEFPH5FlK2IwV3o7ZsbbmJ19srG0OM_tWK5dhPMNyDdwxGPUr4BoCoYcQAvD_BwE Caveats: Ground must be FLAT. 100% flat, ruler FLAT. If not you will have to level. If flat, you can lay them yourself. Our floor had to be levelled and it was tough. still got a few high patches and gaps because of that. However I have done it on a concrete surface myself since and it's beautiful. Benefits: Nice and soft on the foot. (less ankle pain) single tile replacement. Looks fantastic. No PVC glue fume issues and fairly resilient. Do be wary though of metal chair legs scraping the floor. Waterproof! when installed right with no gaps! (why I would choose them in a kitchen over timber or Eeek carpet!.... Yes previous owner installed shagpile carpet in the kitchen).

Gorgeous brick pavers, I love that look for the floor! It has a rustic appearance yet you're right- sophisticated, even an elegance. I think this would suit the feeling I'm wanting for the room, the pine boards have a rustic appearance, this would go well with them. We have a 1m square oak table with cross back chairs for the dining section and a La Spezia 3 light pendant (Beacon), farmhouse sink, timber hood cover to give you an idea of the look we're going for. Thanks very much for your thoughts on this. I like the idea you're going with, but yes, we have the window and door in already. Door could be trimmed if necessary. It wasn't until the window was already made and the wall sheets and cladding was removed that we realised the original kitchen layout had the back door next to the window, and the door into the laundry section was a modification. I most likely would have put it back where it was originally or had double doors. It made no logical sense for the back door to be a thoroughfare through the laundry, eliminating valuable storage space. I may have just left the kitchen in the original layout and made an entry into the laundry from the kitchen side for a laundry/butler's pantry with fridge in there. Removed the side window for more wall space for storage and changed the existing door to a window. But it's too late now, the outside of the house has all been newly clad so doors and windows are as is. There's no other possible place in the house for a laundry. It is a very tight space. Plan to build an external laundry studio in the future. The one in the house would be temporary, yet need it to accommodate a washer dryer combo for now, and be suitable for prospective buyers/renters in future if the external laundry doesn't eventuate. This is the original 1960's floor plan. A previous owner made internal access into the laundry and made bench space where the original back door was, the next owners opened up the living to dining room and blocked up the hallway doorway which became the fridge space. The cornice didn't match up in the hallway though where the old doorway was. They had made a shelf from the cut out on the hallway side, and the protruding section in the kitchen side became a kind of bulkhead for the fridge. Old hallway We've rebuilt this so that it could have an upper cabinet on the kitchen side/ hallway later if needed. But the lack of space in the hallway didn't allow us to build a linen cupboard, so that will also be needed to be included somewhere in the house. At this stage, thinking we will have to configure the laundry space to have a linen cupboard/ broom cupboard between the dining room and laundry section. Open to ideas too for storage in that limited laundry area space. I'll add more measurements to the floor plan for reference.

Is the sitting room at the top of the stairs? If so you could carpet the top riser. See attached photo.