Hi ritevibe, It seems that many of your worries are to do with the ongoing maintenance and wear that will inevitably come from renting your property out. Timber would quite obviously look amazing in your space, though the damage and maintenance could be restrictive. Have you investigated timber look 'parquet' tiles? Being porcelain, you are not going to find anything more durable and long lasting. It is definitely worth a look at what's available in this material, I will attach some images for your reference and a link to give you a starting point. (http://www.houzz.com.au/projects/683682/par-ker-timber-parquet-porcelain-tiles) In such an environment, I think cost effectiveness would probably be better understood over the life of the floor, as vinyls and floorboards are going to require significant amounts of maintenance, are going to cop a bit of a beating and are not going to last as long as tile. If you want more info I am happy to help out, Best of luck!

@juliede, I recently commented on another forum about timber versus tiles saying that hubby and I originally agreed on timber floors, as we both love real wood, and we have a local mill and the tongue and groove floor boards were, a few years ago about $36sqmtr and tiles were about the same again a few years ago. Recently I started thinking that tiles would be easier to lay than traditional floor boards given we're doing all the work on our build ourselves and we're not young but hubby isn't interested, as he feels the tiled floor would be too cold in winter, which would of course be true but how nice would it be in summer!!! Anyway, just a few weeks ago I looked at bamboo flooring available in a click style, so very easy to lay, whilst being 100% solid bamboo and I'm quite impressed to the point that I could really go for this flooring, problem is, well for me it is, it's over $70+ mtr. At over 100 sq mtrs in the home, that's over $7000 I can see now why allot of people decide to go wtih either tiles or real floorboards as these engineered floors are very expensive. Good luck with your choice. Cheers, Barbara

You just can't beat timber. It's real and isn't trying to be something else. The timber look tiles do look quite ok but they could be unfashionable in 10 years time. Bit like tiles laid in the diamond pattern at the moment, just out of trend.... Tiling isn't cheap, mine charged just under $100 per sqm. It is pretty good though and was sandstone theres a bit work involved when compared to ceramic. Go with the real deal if you can afford it, will look great for decade's.

Ania, can you post photos when it is finished. It will be good to see those colours combined. I also love that inspiration photo and have it saved. I don't know what particular thing makes that bathroom stand out but it is beautiful. I want those exact same colours in my bathroom but a too scared to use timber tiles as I am scared they will date so am bringing in timber via accessories such as picture frames (I think). What is the grey tile in your photo and where is it from...it is very nice.