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?

Second attempt was with Windex and same paper towel, which cleaned the two honed surfaces up pretty well. The lighter Raw Concrete seems to have been easier than the Sleek Concrete. And finally, to get rid of that pot scratch I used a non-scratching Scotch brite pad (what we usually use on dishes) with some diluted Soft Scrub. This one took a little more elbow grease but I'm satisfied with the results. My opinion is that comparing the two surfaces (honed vs. glossy) there is a marked difference. That being said, I currently have tile from 1978 and grout lines that are so deep and narrow I have to scrub them out with a toothbrush. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. We decided to go with the Raw Concrete after all, and like others have said, just expect that it'll take a little more work and show a few more stains. But then again, isn't that the whole point of concrete? That it looks industrial? I hope this has helped someone. If anyone is interested I'll try to post some more photos and real life feedback in a couple of weeks once ours is installed.

Samantha Hammer, very excited for you getting a new kitchen! I waited 14 years to finally get my new kitchen and am in love with it... the kitchen we had before didn’t function at all and was all brown with salmon pink benchtops and very enclosed and depressing! We knocked down a wall and totally redesigned the entire layout. (the first two kitchen places I had out to give me a quote totally mocked my design and told me I had to stick to the layout I had. The third place built the kitchen to exactly the plans and measurement that I drew up myself and I am so glad I stuck to my guns and persisted until I found a kitchen place that listened to me!) Now we have a kitchen that is bright and open and I love! Stick to your guns when it comes to your new kitchen and go with what you want and what you believe works best for you! :)

We recently renovated my son's kitchen/ family room in a weekend. His oven needed replacing so it was a good opportunity to 'fix' it all. We rang around and got quotes on having the cupboard doors professionally painted but it was way too expensive so we took the pine laminate cupboard doors off and painted with a white laminate paint and replaced all the timber handles with chrome ones. We retiled with 600x 300 white marble look tiles (leftovers from our bathroom) (cut the old tiles out and re-sheeted the walls so we had a good surface to tile on) and repainted ceilings and walls. Replaced a dark timber venetian blind with a see through 'sun-out' blind and painted all the architraves white (previously mission brown). A new mixer tap replaced very ancient 'double' taps. We were totally shattered at the end of the weekend, but the kitchen looks a million dollars and the room looks twice the size now the pine and mission brown have gone. We are pretty chuffed with the result achieved by us unprofessionals!