Hello, Staining timber floors after floor sanding can be a tricky job. As someone has suggested, it is best to do some tests on the boards that you have. The floor sanding company that you choose should be able to do some stain samples for you if you give them the boards to experiment on. Feast Watson is a good product, but you will probably find that best stain colour for your timber floor is a blend of a couple of colours. Perhaps a blend of walnut and another colour . It really comes down to personal taste. Some contrast to other timber furniture is a good idea. Take a look at our Budget Floor Sanding Brisbane blog page for some more floor sanding information. Type "staining"into the search box, the second floor sanding blog has a couple of photos of a new timber pine floor( light colored similar to Baltic pine ) that we stained with Feast Watson prooftint, to blend in with a older floor. Hope this helps. All the best with your timber floor restoration. http://budgetfloorsanding.com.au/

Tania, you initially asked about whether to use carpet or vinyl in your entryway. That's a good question. It probably isnt practical to extend carpet to entry. It does seem to be more practical (as far as wet, dirty or muddy shoes/feet) to have an easy-to-clean and damage resistant floor there, such as vinyl. If I was in your shoes, I would use the same flooring as kitchen (in this case vinyl) and extend it out along the line with where old wall was and finishing at the corner where the opposite walls meet (see your 2nd photo where there's a picture or something leaning up against the wall). I can't tell what is beyond that wall; is there another hallway? By extending the kitchen flooring out to include your entry, it seems more practical to me. It also creates an invisible boundary between the entryway and the living room. I hope this makes sense. Please keep us updated of your plans. Best wishes!

Go with option 1. Use standard construction processes - skillion metal sheet roof over foil backed blanket. LVL rafters and timber frame walls which the carpenter will make on site. Probably go with a slab on ground and be aware of termite controls between new and existing. Excavate rear yard and build retaining walls with drainage behind them, probably also need a couple pits for surface water. Retaining walls constructed and engineered properly are expensive so be prepared. Treated pine sleepers are nowhere near a suitable solution once you're above 600mm. A builder or a carpenter would go through $20k in materials and some labour for plumbers, excavations, electrical, etc. Plans, documentation and council approvals will soak up $10k or thereabouts. Yes its a simple little job but it comes to economy of scale and some areas will cost the same or take the same amount of time as a larger project.

I think Japan black would be too dark. We actually had some boards stained Japan black under our carpet that we had to sand back. From memory there was a chocolate colour that I think would look good (dark brown instead of red)