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 :-)

Hi All, We are updating our bathrooms and I need to choose the color of the tiles around the vanity, shower and bath (including wall and bath boxing). One of the bathrooms has dark brown ceramic tiles, timber ceiling and brown timber wainscoting. The other two bathrooms have brown timber floors and neutral colored walls/ceiling. The light in all bathrooms is low to medium. I have chosen white vanity tops, with white basins and chrome taps. Do you think it would be too much white if all the tiles were white? Is there such a thing as too much white? Also what type of tiles are the easiest to install? Thanks

You would need to talk to them . I 'almost' can't see why not , but here's a couple of problems -- -- a toilet obviously needs water and connecting to sewerage . So that means both need connecting to the services in or near your house , almost certainly underground . Is the concrete floor in the line between where you want the toilet , and where it will connect ? -- the toilet probably needs to go through the floor -- I doubt they would let you go out through an external wall then down . So how thick is the floor , is there reinforcing ( you'd hope there is if you are parking vehicles there ) ? That will need 'breaking' and cutting , and may weaken the floot . ASnd it will cost $$$ . -- you probably want a basin and tap too . Do you want hot water too ? That may be hard to get from the house , so you may need another water cylinder , presumably small . I doubt if they'd let you have a gas califont and bottle , even if you tell them it won't be used much . -- Now , lets talk about things like a shower too -- not much harder , especially if you are having hot water . And maybe taps for a washing machine -- gives some versatlity . BUT heres what I think the biggest problem might be -- some slum-lords will rent out a garage to a desperate family of 4 or even 14 people . Almost all these slum-lords don't seem to have been born in NZ . Your name implies a similar background . Unfortunately they may think it is easier to decline now , rather than have to act later , so may use the bad few against the better thousands . I have heard they will decline everyone if they think this is a possibilioty , so it does make it difficult -- they aren't prepared to take a risk . Talk to them and see though .

My current redesign favourite. in case anyone has any comments or suggestions