To da_jg_king...This thread is about Stephanie's dilemma and all responses are directed to giving her some suggestions....its grown to be a rather long article and it is unlikely that anyone will respond to your dilemma. Why don't you start a post about your house and put up some really good photos to give Houzzers a "look in"? I bet you will get lots of respnse if Stephanie's post is anything to go by. Its hard to imagine your environment and make alternative suggestions without having photos. Cedar or any timber panelling can be deceptive depending on the area of the room and on the lighting that would change during the day..really need photos! I'm sure Houzzers would love to pitch in with suggestions...some of the ideas given to Stephanie might inspire you too! I love the challenge of natural timber. I've come across and advert for a beautiful new paint colour from the RESENE company..They have some amazing stuff that gets me quite excited imagining what I could do with some of it...You ask for suggestions for flooring that would look good against cedar walls....You do not say whether you want colour suggestions or materials suggestions...so...Go to the RESENE paint site and have a look at all their paint products, you might be inspired by the colours and that could lead you to other ideas...like tiles, floor renders..etc. Lately I've had a "thing" for a definite shade of Wedgewood Blue..( and I don't particularly like blue in my environment), but there's something very appealing about a dusty, light, warm-looking exact BLUE...leaning neither towards green nor purple...a perfect blue that I just love next to my timber walls.....That might be a clue for you...though it would depend, as colour always does, on the natural hue of your timber walls...Wood has its natural colour variations according to its type that also change with age....lots to consider. Put up some PICS! Yes?

Nice job. :) It's great the paint on the tile is holding up well. What paint did you use?

Unless you have the money to update everything else to better complement the bricks, painting them will give you a much more updated look. Over the past 18mths I’ve been working on the front and landscape of my current house, including painting the bricks and it has made the world of difference! I’ve attached a before and after photo! Good luck.

Just focussing on the outside , I love what you've done with the front part . Were the dark bricks already there , or were they added ? Here's what I dislike though . Firstly , the tiles all match , except the black caps -- that grates with me . The gable on the original cottage is great , but 2 things irk me . Firstly , why not do a gable on the new addition too , instead of the sloping tiles on the front part of the new addition ? Pretty easy to do , it would reference the 2 parts IMO . And then there is the paint -- an offwhite on the gable , a greyer tone on the upper half of the new build . I realise it is not meant to be a reproduction , but surely you would reference the 2 parts -- I know I would . Which brings me to the lower part of the new build , done in a darker taupe colour -- I would have gone darker still , again to reference the bricks . Maybe just me , but I can't see the point in doing something that sort of refences , but doesn't . And then there are the windows too -- it would be so easy to add a wider frame to reference the existing cottage windows . You and the clients may disagree , but I like details like that to be obviously new , but referencing the old . And 1 final little niggle -- I would have done a crisp white feature rail attached to the wall , between the 2 colours 'upstairs' -- the 2 colours which I would have matched to the existing 'downstairs' .