Well, I did a trial with a few tiles and then covered them with polyurethane. The trial didn't necessarily go entirely to plan but I was able to establish that PU will be too soft. Epoxy is likely to yellow even indoors, so that leaves me with the following solution: 1. make the tiles thicker (not a big deal) use tile selection and a thicker tile bed to enable a relatively flat surface to be made 3. seal it with a thin polyurethane to protect from mess Thanks for the contributions.

It's a neat concept, but highly impractical for a wet, coastal climate of BC where I live. We could only have the wall open for roughly 4 months out of the year. And those open months would need a screen, big time. I'd forever be the one to be walking into the screen, which would bug the heck out of me (pun, lol), so I'll just pass on the whole idea. It's like the convertible car owners up here. We'll get a nice, sunny day in winter and you will see these people with their tops down, but wearing toques, lol. Or they will take the top down on the first sunny morning in spring and by afternoon it's pouring rain, again. Convertible in BC? Extremely seasonal. Convertible wall in BC? Ditto.

Sue, congratulations. You've not only identified a colour you feel happier about, you've actually created it. I suspect you'll now be able to create a pleasing mix of warm greys, plywood browns, stone tones, coppers or bronzes, warm whites, etc; maybe with a bit of yellow added come spring; and you'll be able to live with the brownish sofa until you're ready to update or reupholster. I have some KAS cushion covers from a couple of years ago which show how this kind of colour mix can be done. One has stylised flowers (a la Mexican) in grey, brown and caramel with a touch of burnt orange. (You mention liking ochre.). Another is lighter grey, brown, taupe and bone-white on a natural linen. A third (less subtle) is warm greens with brown, taupe, yellow, white and a little aqua. I'm not saying go for styles that are a few years out of fashion. But do be confident enough to resist a harsh, hard-edged option if a gentler one is right for your temperament and household and the room's aspect. Robyn

Hi Fivedock If you're using a tile that looks like timber I think you would be best using the same tile from the front entry throughout. However if you used a tile that looked like stone or concrete in the kitchen/ back area for example, you could possibly use another that looked like timber in the front entry/ living room with fireplace. Or vice versa. This only works because you have a contrast between stone and timber and there's a reasonable demarcation between the living room with the fireplace and the back area. It looks terrible if you have two different timber tiles or two different stone tiles.