Here's an interesting "how to" article on cleaning your marble floor: http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/how-to-clean-marble/ I had the same problem with my slate and oak floor - no matter how well I cleaned it, a wipe with a wet paper towel showed dirty. I finally gave in and purchased a floor cleaning machine that vacuums up the wet, dirty water after it scrubs. Makes my floor cleaning task so much easier!

Hi, I would incline to tiling the whole space in one material. Now, with that you have lots of options in terms of material choices. If you have underfloor heating I would recommend to go for porcelain tiles - they come in wide range of colours, patterns, stone and wood imitations. Marble and wood imitating tiles are very popular and timeless such as calacatta white marble, creme marfil marble, granite, slate. Wood porcelain tiles range from blonde tones, light, dark browns to almost black, zebrano. Porcelain tiles technology has evolved so much over the last decade that an untrained eye can not distinguish the porcelain from the real thing. And if you have children it's so much more practical as well. Easy to clean and maintain. However, if you don't have the option of underfloor heating I would recommend wooden flooring. Again throughout. I wouldn't break the flow with different flooring types. If you have your living room in that open plan as well, I wouldn't worry too much about changing the flooring type just because of it. You can always use large rugs to define the area and function of that space, and make it more cosy. I just completed a project with porcelain tiles throughout. You can have a look at my profile. More images are on my website. I'm happy to help so please get in touch if you need more specific info. I offer lots of free information on my blog and via social media. I'm more than happy to point you in the right direction. Hope this helps. Karolina

I think black, cream and gold is quite a classic combination unless you wanted more colour? Perhaps a side table or low console to the right of the fire but keep the profile lower than the fire. I would change the mirror for a larger one and add something tallish on the LHS, agree re painting skirts, would do these in the ŵall colour though to maximise ŵall height and also paint the door. Perhaps a glass coffee table with a rug under the sofas? I would keep the rug similar in tone to the floor. You could also try arranging cushions either 2/3 on one side with just one on the other to move away from a traditonal look but do bring in the gold and pattern. You could try just a grasscloth on the fire ŵall. I would also add art. If you choose black frames keep the frame fairly thin. Also agree re tv unit.

A15) @Dara Cooke: If you can't afford a quartz or granite worktop from day one then I would recommend using a laminate worktop as a temporary solution. If you don't put tiles up as a backsplash then replacing the worktops can be relatively easy in a couple of years.