How funny. I just renovated (on a budget) my small kitchen and added exactly the slate look in tiles you have, though they are in fact porcelain. And I placed them throughout the house for continuity. The tiler asked if I was after a retro hippy look but it doesn't look like that at all. My cupboards were the same colour as yours and I utilised the bones of the kitchen and had the doors and Benchtops changed only. I also have plenty of light in the kitchen but chose white doors and as I was on a budget I chose granite look Benchtops, they are very serviceable and it looks great. The blue backsplash was the colour lift and here you could choose any colour to your liking. Basically the kitchen ended up with white cupboards and appliances other than cooktop, with the stainless cooktop and coloured splash back being the focal point. The paint colour are: whisper white walls, integra splashback, white ceiling and for increased contrast I used the same white above the splashback on the rear wall. I would consider painting out the brick but leaving the texture.

with floating floors you need to level the floors first ..have you try self levelling concrete? a bit expensive but it works a charm we did it when we renovated and found a dip in our floors ? easy to use hubby did it himself.

Your house won't fit on your section! Your front rooms plus garage add up to 23m wide, and that's not allowing for the thicknesses of the walls and cladding, plus any eaves. Before you start designing, you will need to find out about setbacks and recession planes so you know how much of your section you can actually build on. You also need to consider things like the path of the sun, prevailing winds, climate, views, proximity to neighbours, privacy, flow (both through the house and outside), placement of utility areas etc. You also need a clear idea of the style of house you would like and you need to design to suit the way you live now, plus think really hard about how you are likely to live in the future (to give just one example, I can almost guarantee that kids won't use that toy room, as they like being close to Mum and Dad when they are little). Beyond that, you need to give thought to sustainable building, and how far down that path you will choose to go. There are many things such as passive solar design that are effectively free to do at the design stage, which will make your house cheaper to run and more comfortable to live in, and these should absolutely be part of your brief. There may be minor extra costs for things like better insulation, low- or no-VOC products and finishes, energy efficient appliances and fittings etc, which could pay for themselves in a short space of time and/or make your home more pleasant to inhabit. Other features such as solar power and grey water recycling may fall outside your budget now, but it may be wise to allow for these to be easily retrofitted in the future. This is a HUGE house - why do you want it to be so big? I'm not sure what average building costs are where you live but that would be a million dollar house in NZ, with only average features and finishings (e.g. acrylic, rather than tiled showers, laminate kitchen etc). As the global trend seems to be moving towards smaller but better quality houses, it might be worth considering resale potential in the future. It is not easy to design a home, and it is such a massive investment that you want to be really sure you've got it just right. You'd probably be better to employ an architect if you want a unique home, unless you are prepared to spend months or even years educating yourself to a point that you can confidently design a house that takes into consideration all the issues I've raised above (and that's only just scratching the surface of the many decisions you will need to make). Good luck!

Hi Lorraine, sorry I missed your question. I only bought this house a few months back and the glue has deteriorated anyway so I used the steam mop to test it out before I get new flooring. Because many animals lived in this house I was hoping the steam would help kill germs. I've read so many opinions on the use of steam on both vinyl and laminate so I'm at a bit of a loss now. One of my joeys has laminate and has been using a steam mop on it for 12 years now with no ill effects at all, despite that supposedly being a big no-no, but she found it so quick and efficient when the kids were toddlers particularly and the floor needed doing almost daily. I just have to wonder these days how much manufacturers are protecting themselves and not giving consumers honest information. How often do you buy an item of cotton clothing and then find the label says "dry clean only". This does not mean the item can't be washed, it is to protect the manufacturer from someone doing something like washing in boiling water. We need more transparency in care instructions, only then can consumers make informed decisions on the right product for them. If steam is going to affect the glue, then it follows water will too so then it comes down to just how do you clean your floors. Manufacturers' special products that are always ridiculously expensive are not the answer and having access to these products is not always possible for country people either. I believe there are two types of vinyl planks too - one type are glued down, the others are a floating floor which would not require glue, but I was told in the event of damage, a glued plank is much easier to replace than one in a floating floor. There are so many glues on the market now too, there must be one that could be used to reglue a plank that has come adrift.