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'm personally not a fan of tile - very hard on the feet, I find - so I'd probably restrict tile to the wet areas and go for hardwood everywhere else. Our last home had wood in every room except the bathroom, and after 10 years it still looked fine. Even the kitchen looked good. That said, we didn't have kids running around in the house. Did (and still do) have a dog, though. Our current house has carpeting in the bedrooms, engineered wood in the living areas, and tile in the bathrooms and laundry. All three floor coverings have a similar greigish tone, so to my mind they look fine together, and meet the practicality and comfort criteria as well.

Eric, is it the red colour you don't particularly like? Which timbers do you like most? Have you seen spotted gum? I mention it because the colour tones in spotted gum vary and it might possibly be worth consideration. I realise many consider having the same timber flooring throughout the house as ideal; however, as your bedrooms have doors, I believe it would be perfectly acceptable to have a different timber flooring in them (be consistent here though). If this were my Dilemna, I would match the timber width to the width of your red gum flooring, and use a top-notch installer, someone with whom you can discuss the best way to lay the planks given your other flooring.

I’d go with timber or cork. Cork is great in a kitchen. Easy on your feet and joints and things are much less likely to break if you drop them. Especially as you age, tiles cause fatigue if you are standing in the kitchen for too long. Cork is now available in lots of different colours and styles including charcoals and greys that might compliment your slate. It’s not all 80s orange. Of course timber can look great too. Just make sure it’s ok for kitchen use.