Carpet in bedrooms is a must for me, in fact I have as much carpet as possible for warmth, homeliness and most important to absorb and reduce noise. I also prefer carpet for health reasons as hard flooring is not good for the body. At the moment I have a very bad case of plantar fasciitis, something I've never experienced before in my life, and it is painful to walk on anything but the carpet. If the carpet is in good condition, I would leave it there and live with it - when it wears you can remove it, live with the existing flooring and really compare the two. When the carpet is cream, it won't affect your decorating at all.

Hi Chris The cheapest option is Grind & Seal, but we usually recommend Mechanically Polished Concrete for inside of a home. This is by far a better option, if you were to go for a Matte or Satin finish it is less expensive than a higher gloss finish. Mechanically Polished Concrete does not have a top coat sealer requiring drying and curing time and does not need re-applying in the future which will save time and money in the long run. Because Polished Concrete does not require drying or curing time it can be used as soon as the process is completed unlike the Grind & Seal option. All floors are slippery when wet, a non slip agent can be added to a top coat sealer which would be the Grind & Seal method which we do apply in a shower area if there is not a shower base. Polished Concrete in Matte and Satin finish does have a very good slip rating, has no grout lines as with tiled floors where dust can get trapped therefore it is a wonderful easy to clean flooring solution. Hope this helps, I have provided some details regarding the 2 main processes below There are 2 different finishing processes / methods that are commonly called Polished Concrete, they are very different so it is important that you know the difference & which process/method you want and which is being used on your concrete Polished Concrete - 12 to 17+ step process During this process the concrete is ground to the desired level of stone exposure. After grinding the concrete surface, the Polished Concrete process begins. This process has a densifier applied in multiple stages that is absorbed into the concrete which hardens and strengthens the concrete. A Polished Concrete Floor is Polished in Multiple stages in a Refining Process using diamond tooling & resin pads. A penetrating sealer is applied in the final buffing stage to complete the process The "Polished Concrete" process has "NO TOP COAT SEALER" applied therefore there is no drying or curing time required so your space can be used as soon as the process is completed Grind & Seal (a 3 to 4 step process) This is NOT Polished Concrete. Grind & Seal is often referred to as Polished Concrete, this is the cheaper substitute that gives a "Polished Concrete Look" With the Grind & Seal method the concrete is ground to the desired level of stone exposure and a TOP Coat Sealer is applied such as water based, solvent based, urethane, acrylic or epoxy requiring 5-7 days to dry & cure

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 :)

At first I thought OMG what are you thinking with putting a grey kitchen in with all that beautiful wood. But I did a google search, and found the colours look good together. I would keep the floor a neutral colour and pattern. Not concrete look, not wood look, definitely not slate look. Refer to the photo below, a neutral floor with the grey kitchen, let the wood be the feature.