Hi Jen and everyone else who has made a comment. You always need to consider your personal use in a space, if there is a lot of water involved tiles a definitely the best choice. Timber look alike tiles just like the Hampton style is a bit fashionable at present like many things were before. What is really important is to really love what you select or what someone may select for you. If you love the selections then they will work for you for many years to come and if they are proportionately correct and balanced and not clashing with other choices; suiting your climatic and general environment and effectively in harmony with there surrounds then these choices will work for others too down the track. Poor choices and poor design which is not well thought through is really the true reason for why things seem date or they just do not work. So all in all Jen timber tiles may be the best choice based on what you have told us about your space.

It's a hard decision when you have to balance the cost of a full renovation to the ceiling timbers. If you remove the rails and gyprock the ceiling, maybe you could add a paper frieze or stencil where the rail was. This would break the height a little so the room doesn't feel like an empty elevator shute! I've got 3m high ceilings, masonry walls, but no rails. We are adding picture rails in some areas and doing dado's in others. Good luck, I wish you well....it looks like a lovely home.

I have only seen one wooden bench top that has managed, over time, to keep the wet out and avoid that black mouldy creepage where the water splashes behind the taps and around tap inserts. It was built by a carpenter and then the owner applied oil to gain the colour desired before applying several coats of marine epoxy (several = at least 5), sanded back before every new layer. It was burn proof and the colour locked in by epoxy coat with no maintenance required (until a visitor put a burning pot on it and left it there while attending to fire on stove, still... only left a black ring. That said, the owner promptly got out the sander and ground back until black ring was no longer charcoal texture, then reapplied oil and layered epoxy until black ring looked like it belonged (can't do that with any other surface I can think of?). After 15 years there is no sight of the insidious black mould from water penetration so I suppose it is the same recipe as with most thing successful projects in life, research, research, preparation, preparation, preparation and don't falter at the finish line.

I agree it's a fantastic house I have a similar one with updated kitchen etc, Removing any swags and the painting done this is a more updated look. I'ts a shame that it's empty, how much would it cost to get someone to style a couple of rooms, kitchen dining lounge and take a few great photos for the purpose of selling, you could enlarge and frame some to hang on the wall so that you wouldn't have need to keep hiring furniture. Kitchen table chairs and a large choir rug, lounge with coffee table and a couple of lamps, no clutter would really help. Where do you live we could all come by and help!