We currently have a deck on the first floor over the garage. It construction is wood with a water proof membrane over, that is now leaking, with carpet that is used on boats over the top. What would be the lightest and best floor covering to use when we re do the deck?

HI Madison There are pros and cons for every situation, but you need to work out what is best for your lifestyle. Personally, I agree with the carpet in the living room, and hard flooring in the kitchen/dining areas. All you need to do is work out your demarcation points (where carpet will meet hard flooring). A great retailer should be able to visit you at home, discuss options, give you pricing and away you go! (Us if you are in Auckland :) ) With littlies, I'd suggest a vinyl plank.....other posts will tell you I'm a big fan of it, but with kids, toys, mess, liquids etc, vinyl planks will give you the best wear over time. They are very hard wearing (Karndean have lifetime residential warranty), easy to keep clean, and waterproof - can be installed in all wet areas. Timber flooring, depending on which you choose (real wood, engineered wood, laminate), may not be the best "fit for purpose" products in your situation. Whilst I'm not trying to champion one product over the other, having had carpet with little kids, and putting drop sheets over carpet, under highchairs, why wouldn't someone not put in vinyl planks?

Hi Chrissie, Not sure if you are still interested in some feedback for your kitchen/laundry/toilet redesign after 2 months but as you seem to have no comments, I thought I'd offer some for your consideration. Before looking at an actual solution, I'd avoid having the toilet accessed through the kitchen and try not to combine the laundry and pantry. The moisture in the laundry is not helpful in the pantry if you have a dryer. It appears that you are happy to close off the back door so I will assume that is ok. Below is a plan that might work well for you. All the external windows are kept in the same place to save some money, if the fridge can fit where I have placed it. It's good to have access to the fridge without interferring with what's going on in the kitchen, but you could put it somewhere else if you prefer. I've put the door into the bathroom as you had adjusted it but put the toilet behind that door ensuring enough leg room. This can be as little as 1m or 1100mm given the space actually goes to the shower when the door is closed. The existing walls could work for this but might need adjusting a bit. The linen cupbd can stay where it is but move the HW cylinder back and make the cupbd deeper. Then the powder room next to this pushing into the space currently occupied by your pantry. The deeper from the door wall you make the powder room, the shorter the space can be but pace it out to get it working well. Tight powder rooms are unpleasant. 1100 x 1400 should work but it depends on how big the door, toilet and basin are. Put the toilet to one side centred no more than 400mm off the wall making more space on the door side. The laundry occupies the space where your toilet is currently but widen it right out to the window so it is at least 1200mm deep if you can. If you need more space than the window allows, you can make the window smaller. Having double cavity sliders will make the space more usable. The kitchen becomes a galley arrangement with the butlers pantry just being a section of the space that is screened off from the dining and living rooms. This whole space will be really efficient. There are no corners for the kitchen in this arrangement, which I love as there are no complicated storage issues. You can move around the sinks and cooker if you like and make the peninsular an island if you don't mind losing 1000mm of it and the storage below. Also if you are a follower of Fung Shui, having fire and water (cooker and sink) on the same bench is not ideal. You could locate one of these on the peninsular and if you have young children, probably keep the cooker on the outside wall. The peninsular bench/pantry wall can be adjusted either way to suit joinery modules for better pricing. I.e, use 450 & 600mm modules or wider for big drawers. You can have an additional sink in the pantry if you want it but to save money, instead, move the sinks down in front of the other window and shunt the cooker to the left a bit. That way, all the mess is screened from the dining space. If you need some structural support on the living room end, you can have a post or short wall on the end of the peninsular. If you want the kitchen accessed from the dining room side rather than the living room, just shorten the peninsular bench so the fridge is still easily accessed. Good luck with the renovations. Christine.

Hi, what is the best direction for laminate flooring? Is it ok to have different directions? currently it is all in same direction, but was thinking in Rm 2 where there is only a small section it would better if it is perpendicular to hallway direction? Also, maybe having the open plan kitchen, living, dining flooring perpendicular to hallway from doorway.