Spotted Gum is a great hard wearing timber with a Janka rating of 11. This means it is high density timber and won't dent as easily as softer timbers like American Oak. A polyurethane finish is the hardest and most durable timber floor coating and it comes in gloss satin and mat. The lower sheen's are more forgiving if you you have pets and young children. Bamboo is another hard product but only comes in short lengths so you would need to take that look into consideration when selecting. Some clients don't like the look of the short boards and consider it a cheap look. Others prefer the longer floor boards of timber. If you do choose bamboo make sure that you find out the coating used and whether it can be sanded and re coated down the track, as all timber and bamboo floors will need a touch up especially if you have pets. Some bamboo floors can not be sanded due the coating used. Hope this helps. Our website may offer some inspiration. Good Luck http://budgetfloorsanding.com.au/

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).

The builder can only work the concrete with what is provided. Most concrete is poured with the expectation that it will be covered by tiles, floor boards or carpet. For the result that you are after, this would firstly depend on the type of concrete that is poured. this website is very informative. http://www.specfloors.com.au/home/polished-concrete-options

My thoughts are basically a summary of everyone elses . Step 1 -- sort the seepage . If you lay a concrete slab , any seepage will run around the concrete , potentially coming up at the 'join' between concrete and timber ( it will be difficult or impossible to completely seal that ) ; or it will flow somewhere else , maybe damageing other areas , or undermining foundations . Concrete to me is industrial ( cold ) ; timber is natural ( warm ) , and your timber looks to have some age and even yellowing ( which I like ) , so you are mixing the styles . Basically , it works in a shop ( down the concrete to the counter , or meander around the timber areas to see what you want ) , but not so much in a house IMO . Tiles ( personally , I'd like a gloss off-white with lots of grey and charcoal veins , but then that would be expensive and potentially slippery ) would be preferable imo . A terracota would look good and suit the period , just not as classy as an off-white . Charcoal or even black won't work quite the same , and to go anything else risks making it a 'novelty' -- blue or green or butter or purple may 'age' quickly , in fact I think probably 40 years out of date already haha ) .