Anyone who has the luxury of an old 1900s timber floorboards is, in my view a very fortunate Houzzer and would have a very difficult time trying to get anything today that remotely resembled those boards. I have a Queenslander from that era. All Queenslanders has tongue and groove Hoop PIne floors and they were nearly always covered in newspapers with "lino" ( made in England) over the top...so were well preserved. The advice I received about these untouched floorboards that had been seasoned naturally for many years prior to use was to initially "feed them" with a mix of kerosene and pale boiled linseed oil and then stain them if I wanted then give them a couple of sealant coats that would still allow them to breathe. I opted for just a kero and pale boiled linseed oil sprayover whenever they looked "thirsty" and I've used thick rugs to protect them from wear and tear. I've had them like this for 30 yrs or so and am very, very happy with my floors...and they are soft wood. Every couple of years I douse the floors with turpentine as this penetrates the timber and prevents termites, then continue on with the stain, kero and linseed oil mix...then get them buffed. That's just my story that may be or not a little helpful, I was born in Victoria so am familiar with the balck Japan satin that was used down the boards exposed each side of the hall runners....and the boards were the wider ones. Its a pity that multiple sandings compromise the tongue and groove..sometimes such floors need reinforcing from underneath. After acertaining that, maybe a light.soft timber "overfloor"rather than a hardwood would be the go although quite a bit of maintrnance for the first few years. You could stain it any colour you wanted. by getting a light to mid brown or teak stain and give it several coats allowing drying in between until you were satisfied with the colour. Its a good thing to keep in mind that timber flooring from that era was very well and naturally seasoned for years prior to being sold for use...the idea was to seel people timber that would last. I have put on a couple of decks here and am rather disappointed to see that the newer timbers are showing signs of wear and deterioration whilst the original timbers are still as unblemished and solid as the day they were used to build my old home. I think that was a very good lesson for me. All timbers today are kiln dried for expediency so, since they were not permitted to "age gracefully": and gently they are not naturally strong. If ever I do any more timber renos to this place I will be sourcing old timbers form places being demolished. These often cost more...but there's method in that madness! I'd say to anyone wanting their floors to stand the test of time...Buy old timber and treat it as it would have been treated of old. Should have some photos of these floors somewhere. I'll post them if I can

Unless you live like animals, carpet does not 'harbour' a single living organism. It's a scientific fact. It's your bed that harbours organisms. Carpet acts like an air filter for dust, waiting for you to vacuum it out. Timber flooring allows dust to be constantly stirred up into the air in the home unless you vacuum and mop daily. At the end of the day, go with what you like- carpet in bedrooms and not in high traffic areas is logical. I've manufactured carpet for years and wholesale carpet and hard flooring. There is a lot of misinformation out there about all flooring types. Happy to answer any queries.

If you are after a durable and stable timber floor then Spotted Gum is superior to an engineered floor. But there are many others like Turpentine, Blackbutt, Brush Box, Mahogany to name a few. Having said that the installation process for both are completely different. The longest lasting timber flooring system is Australian Hardwoods installed over Hardwood Battens. Having been in timber flooring in Sydney for over 57 years our experience with trying different products always brings us back to Australian Hardwoods. Selecting a grade of timber does not translate into colours it is merely the quality of the timber board ie in the imperfections of nature - Select Grade has less gum vein and grub marks than say Standard Grade - however if you choose a commercial named grade then you get whatever the suppliers offers in their own grading. Oh and by the way be aware that many imported products are products with Formaldehyde which is toxic. But I agree with Paul if you are after uniformity then you need to go with an engineered product, the beauty of hardwoods lies in the variation so that no two timber floors will be exactly the same. Hope this helps a little more - being a tradesman we do not necessarily base our choices on colours but rather performance of the timbers which varies from species to species.

Hi Sars I agree with the Community, you should look at selecting the product with the best performance before moving onto the decisions of both colour and style. Rylock Windows and Doors are custom fabricated locally in Melbourne and our product's aluminium profile has been designed to emulate the look of timber. We offer a thermally broken product range which features a polyamide strips to insulate the inner & outer parts of the frame which significantly minimises heat transfer through the window; and 25 standard hand-coated premium powdercoat colours. You can visit our website at rylock.com.au or one of our showrooms in Dingley and Coburg North. Kind regards Emma