I'm trying to modernise my home. Getting contemporary fittings and furniture. I have a black leather couch, some pine timber furniture, a white kitchen... So I'm really stuck of a good colour wooden flooring. I'm not a huge fan of my terracotta look tiles but it's simply to expensive to replace them all.

The photo below is my suggestion for colour of floor. Furniture should be darker - similar to below. For the rug - choose one colour from the artwork and find a similar coloured rug. Don't put a mantle over the fireplace - it could be a health hazard - bumps and bruises. Blinds - unless you want them to make a statement I think white - to match window frames would be fine.

I think Riven refers to the texture of the surface. Ours looks and feels like real timber, and is not a flat shiney surface like most Laminex. Still very durable and water proof. I believe that it should only be used on vertical surfaces, which was not problem for us. Floors are a real personal taste thing. We got samples of the flooring and samples of the Sublime Teak, and then procrastinated for weeks. Our flooring has texture to it as well. We also had help form a great designer who worked in the tile store we used.

Assuming that pic is your house , and without knowing anything about the rest of the house , or you , I'd go old-school , and do that wall in a rich red / almost maroon wallpaper with a 5mm wide gold stripe say every 100mm . But then I don't like grey .