after watching my daughter and her husband agonize over the way their expensive timber floor has not held up well after 3 years, I would recommend tiles/wood look tiles with under heating. Their beautiful warm expensive floor looks like it always needs a clean and polish, not from neglect, they have cared for it well. One of the boards now has a slight and painful moan when it's stepped on :-( I grew up in a completely wood floor home and although it looked wonderful, my Mother hated it. ....and the mats ! Wood is a lot harder to maintain than tiles ,(no matter what the die hards say) the modern wood finishes are much better than they used to be.... But a piece of wood is rather arty no matter what it's used for and it does demand to be loved and cared for.....and if something goes wrong it's a lot more expensive to fix than sand and cement. Ultimately you have to be happy. BTW underheating tiles is warmer than timber :-)

I have just been reading everyones comments about kitchens , butlers kitchens , laundries , bedrooms , bedroom floors , Walk In Robes and the like . I have been thinking , and I think we need to look forward , and really think about how we design our houses and our lives . This is my solution -- -- Bedrooms and dining rooms should have 'pits' built into the floor -- a bedroom 'pit' will be the size of a bed , the dining room will have one the size of your dining table , and either benches or individual stool sizings . Laundries will be sunk around 1 metre into the floor . -- Somewhere in your house will be a switch , or maybe it will be controlled by an app . You hit 'cleanup' mode , a hyraulic pump whirs , and your bed and table ( lounge suite and coffee table will be extra-price options ) drop to floor level . -- You get your broom , and sweep everything on the floor to your laundry . Clothes on the floor -- yes . Rugs -- tick . Sheets and duvets -- yeah . Table cloth -- yep . Last nights dishes -- certainly . Seep them all into the laundry , where there may be a small shute -- into the washer . Another app will turn it on . -- Fire up the app again , and the beds and tables ( swept clean , no lint , no crumbs ) all rise to the correct height . With a bit of practice , 10 minutes every couple of days should be all you need for a super clean house , including clothes and ( plastic ) dishes . Now , any ideas for self-washing pots and roasting dishes , or should we just stick to the microwave ?

I have been going round in circles trying to plan a renovation so would greatly appreciate some advice... Current floor plan: Current layout (contents are sketched and not to scale sorry) Desired outcomes: A more defined 'entrance' area (some people have commented they like it as it is, with the front door opening right into the house, but I would prefer a specific entrance space - be interested in peoples opinions on this) A more spacious main bathroom, with separate shower and bath A space for a home office (ideally with room for two, but that's not essential) An en-suite for third bedroom (ideally toilet, basin and shower; but might not be able to fit shower) EDIT: we really want a nice master bedroom and a nice guest room, hence the desire to add an en-suite to bedroom 3. Even though it is smaller, we have toyed with making Bedroom 3 the master as it's away from the street so is quieter and more private, plus it's not an ideal location for guests being near the laundry and kitchen. And then bedroom 1 would be the guest room. This is where I got to before I decided I needed advice! EDIT: I have updated this floor plan and included some annotations Few other notes: What are the thoughts on Bedroom 1's en-suite being off the wardrobe? Personally, I'm not a fan of it so originally planned to move the en-suite door to be off the bedroom. But this does mean there's three doors on the one wall (middle one into WIR wouldn't need a door - could just leave as an opening like it is now) The door into bedroom 1 used to open into the little passage way, but we have moved this to open into the room - see images below of bedroom 1: Bedroom 1s original layout New door into bedroom 1 (original door used to open in the passage which reduced access width by about 100mm) Potential en-suite door location Front of bedroom, for context (excuse the sander - was the only picture I could find!)

I'm guessing it is on piles / stumps ( I'm in NZ and we call them piles here ) , which makes it a bit easier . IF it had been on a concrete floor , moving the water and waste and toilet is that much harder . But I think @Allan Hendry is on the logical thought-train -- I'd probably squeeze the existing bathroom down to an ensuite , have the Bed 1 where the kitchen was , then try and squeeze another bathroom between Bed 1 and Bed 2 . In fact , for a 2 bed place , I'd probably just stick with 1 bathroom and 1 powder room ( seperate toilet ) and have them between the 2 bedrooms , and a little hall/foyer in the middle , by that doorway that is obviouly staying as is . Then the whole front area could be open plan -- logic would say have the kitchen in that front right corner ( so plumbing etc runs back to the existing plumbing ) , dining ( or even an island and breakfast bar , and maybe eat dinner on the couch or a small cafe table and chairs ( I'm guessing 3 , maybe 4 people ? ) . It won't be cheap , but depending on your area and resale , possibly change the potential 'next buyer' profile and get your $$$$ back