Hi Edwina, Im probably a bit anal / perfectionist and yes I can see the scratches and greyer toned board... if this was a brand new hardwood floor I would be deeply unhappy but in your case I would embrace them and agree with JC these 'features' add to the wonderful character of your period property ...there will be many more to come with memories made over the years. Your floor is a beautiful, traditional pine floor - a softwood and therefore will dent / scratch easily. Without being up close it is hard to see whether the scratches are on the surface finish or within the floorboard...my guess is that they are ingrained into the floorboard rather than the surface finish. You will drive yourself mad trying to keep your pine floor completely dent / mark free . We have clients requesting distressed / aged / antiqued / worm-holed surfaces to new timber floors and have to try and recreate them lol .We also have clients specifying a pine engineered floor in office spaces which will be dented within a day due to the softness of the timber. That said to prolong the surface finish...do not wear stilletos on this floor - you will see every heel mark , do put felt pads under your furniture and install a large coir mat (inset if possible) at external entrrances to force feet wiping & trap dirt and grit. Grit acts like a sand-paper to the floor finish and will mark / indent a pine floor. Best Wishes, Charlotte Woodflooring Engineered Ltd

Thank you for your comment. We agree the kitchen is a really stunning space and truly takes the breath away in person. The living room is not fully decorated as of yet but you can still get a real feel for the overall look of the spacious room here: https://www.houzz.co.uk/projects/2949468/renovation-and-ground-floor-extension-of-period-home. You are completely right, charred wood is extremely fashionable and very on trend right now. For this project, however, the customer wanted to use oakwood that would naturally age over time for the window frames - so the bright colour you see now will look completely different in 9 months time!

Thanks everyone for your input. I’ve not been able to figure out if I can respond directly to specific comments. Yes, I agree that the neighbour’s fan is out of proportion (too reduced in size) and so they do look odd next to each other. I highly doubt that the original tiles are anywhere to be found - we would need to reinstate these. Thank you for the kind offer to see what your neighbours have done. At this point I think it’s a case of getting a quote and taking it from there. Depending on the cost it may be hard to justify given it’s purely aesthetical - probably the reason that I can’t find any examples!

as mentioned before, the exposed pine floorboards are the structural element of your floor. They were fitted to support a membrane and carpet on top. Pine floorboards were not designed to be walked on directly. Pine is a type softwood, easy to mark and stain. Planks are not tongue and grooved and therefore there will always be a bit of draft. They do look rustic and "original" but especially on ground floors you may find that have technical limitations. Also they were fitted sideway, whereas longways fitted boards enhance the room length