At our last house, by the beach, we tiled large square near-white tiles with a "lappato" finish. It's a tile with a texture on it, but also has a reflective glossy finish between the texture. It's hard to explain, but easy to see if you see it in person. It's like having the grip advantages for the wet bare feet of a textured tile, with the reflective glam of glossy. They were effective by both measures.

Hi Dana, I have some clients who have just finished their kitchen and family room using a new generation engineered cork floorboard. It looks great, and is soft underfoot. There are more photos of this project on my Houzz profile. Give me a ring if you need more information as I have their sample book and I would be happy to show you next time I am near your place. (Any excuse to see one of my designs coming together!). Alistair http://www.premiumfloors.com.au/cork/readycork-traditional/

Your lounge chairs before were too chunky for the space so the backing and arms on the tan couch were good for your room. Having a corner lounge only gives you the one option of were to place it and depending on the length it might be to big. Take the rug away and move everything out and mark out a floor plan with painters tape. Those two wing arm chairs are lovely and you should try to utilise them in your layout. You need something on the window wall to balance out the room, I'm not saying a couch but maybe the armchairs or an ottoman or a hall table that has thin legs and the light still passes through. Most photos pictured above are of large rooms and trying to replicate it in a smaller area is hard with the limited furniture options we have in Australia within a reasonable budget. But having anything within that area that is too chunky will look cluttered and claustrophobic. Measure your room and buy pieces according to how you live. If its a family only room fill it anyway you want. If you are having guests, personally I hate sitting close to others so a sectional wouldn't be ideal as I know I'm not the only one who doesn't like sitting with others too closely.

Gorgeous brick pavers, I love that look for the floor! It has a rustic appearance yet you're right- sophisticated, even an elegance. I think this would suit the feeling I'm wanting for the room, the pine boards have a rustic appearance, this would go well with them. We have a 1m square oak table with cross back chairs for the dining section and a La Spezia 3 light pendant (Beacon), farmhouse sink, timber hood cover to give you an idea of the look we're going for. Thanks very much for your thoughts on this. I like the idea you're going with, but yes, we have the window and door in already. Door could be trimmed if necessary. It wasn't until the window was already made and the wall sheets and cladding was removed that we realised the original kitchen layout had the back door next to the window, and the door into the laundry section was a modification. I most likely would have put it back where it was originally or had double doors. It made no logical sense for the back door to be a thoroughfare through the laundry, eliminating valuable storage space. I may have just left the kitchen in the original layout and made an entry into the laundry from the kitchen side for a laundry/butler's pantry with fridge in there. Removed the side window for more wall space for storage and changed the existing door to a window. But it's too late now, the outside of the house has all been newly clad so doors and windows are as is. There's no other possible place in the house for a laundry. It is a very tight space. Plan to build an external laundry studio in the future. The one in the house would be temporary, yet need it to accommodate a washer dryer combo for now, and be suitable for prospective buyers/renters in future if the external laundry doesn't eventuate. This is the original 1960's floor plan. A previous owner made internal access into the laundry and made bench space where the original back door was, the next owners opened up the living to dining room and blocked up the hallway doorway which became the fridge space. The cornice didn't match up in the hallway though where the old doorway was. They had made a shelf from the cut out on the hallway side, and the protruding section in the kitchen side became a kind of bulkhead for the fridge. Old hallway We've rebuilt this so that it could have an upper cabinet on the kitchen side/ hallway later if needed. But the lack of space in the hallway didn't allow us to build a linen cupboard, so that will also be needed to be included somewhere in the house. At this stage, thinking we will have to configure the laundry space to have a linen cupboard/ broom cupboard between the dining room and laundry section. Open to ideas too for storage in that limited laundry area space. I'll add more measurements to the floor plan for reference.