I live in the Scottish Borders and three years ago there was a government incentive to externally insulate the houses. Due to the construction of the houses (poured concrete they couldn’t have cavity wall insulation ) . The difference to the heating bills is unbelievable but the look of the house is fabulous as there was new render put on new window sills and down pipes .i agree with the comment that just doing one house would stand out like a sore thumb but it just takes one to start the ball rolling . Maybe speak to your neighbours and they may want to do the same . All the houses in my street had the cladding and it has transformed the look of the street . I have since revamped my lounge and kitchen. There was nothing wrong with the kitchen cupboards so they where painted ,new work tops and sink . I did have a breakfast bar that took up a lot of room which I have replaced with a glass table . My next project is my bedroom which is getting refitted with new wardrobes and draws . Ex local authority houses are well built and have big rooms , they are worth buying as you can do so much with them ,I have bigger cupboards than the rooms that are in some new builds . This is my kitchen, it is so much lighter and more space . The back board is the same as the work top , so no tiles to grout .

Tracey, those are encaustics which tend to be 18-20mm in depth, your wood will most likely be engineered ply if you have underfloor heating and depths vary 12mm upward. If one or the other substrate needs to be built up to accommodate the other that is possible. Be aware there will be some movement between the two, more so if you are using long boards, less with parquet, so consider how best to deal with any movement or expansion between the two. There are plenty of products available for this. Make sure your encaustics are sealed correctly. You could also find the cleaning regimen of the two finishes may be very different. Lithoflin for encaustics - and oil/wax for an oiled floor, that's not a great combination, so perhaps an easy maintenance wood might be better in the long run.

Thanks, done it all myself :-) full schluter system, cost a small fortune but worth it, I actually dug my floor out and replaced it adding the needed slope to the drain! My floor tiles are from Brazil, sorry can’t recall the make but that was two years ago and I was in a tile shop choosing patio tiles and couldn’t believe the choice nowadays! They neatly look as if they have been in an old house that has been burnt in a fire! I love them but they are a brave choice tbh. The back lite mirror and led strip which down washes the wall with the shower heads and controls really is needed as the Pom is quite dark! Saying that I love dark walls too so it really does look fantastic with the strip light on at night even just as a feature!

The range of furniture that had peaked my interest was the Bronx range at Next:- https://www.next.co.uk/shop/department-homeware-productaffiliation-furniture-story-bronx I also like the Bromley range from Dunelm:- https://www.dunelm.com/search?q=Bromley And there are a few pieces that I like from Barker and Stonehouse:- https://www.barkerandstonehouse.co.uk/living-room/TV-Stands-&-Cabinets/Treviso-Wall-TV-Unit/2-6659-96369/ Although I’m a little reluctant to modify new pieces it might be the only option (modern controllers use a Bluetooth connection so visibility isn’t an issue anymore), the main issue I’m having is that simply the drawers // cupboards // sections don’t accommodate the consoles enormous size (I have both a PS5 and an XSX, the XSX seems to just fit for the most part but nothing has a compartment large enough for the PS5) and that’s before having to possibly add cabinet extraction to prevent overheating. This isn’t the fault of the furniture designers, just a combo of the new games hardware growing ever bigger (were in small PC tower territory now) and the obscure (horrific IMO) design choice making it look like some type of spaceship that simply won’t work in the majority of homes.