Thank you all for taking the time to reply to me. I've decided to get a runner, feel that's going to be best with the 3 kids running about. I'm eyes are sore looking at all the different kinds of runners so I ended up phoning the carpet man and getting him to make me a runner from same carpet that Im getting everywhere else so it's all matching. When he sends it away to get it binded, it will be done with orange thread, think this will give me a pop of colour against the grey carpet and be a little different. Takes a few weeks for it to come back but as soon as it's done and in, I will post a picture for you'd. Thanks again for your input and helping me make my mind up.

Definitely hard surfaces all the way - you can refinish them when they get tired and are really practical for children/pets/outdoors lifestyle. We used a mixture of new polished concrete, exposed flagstones and original elm boards at our miner's cottages and don't find it cold or austere.

I would 100% recommend Brintons Bell Twist if you want something long lasting. We had it down for 15 years, including on the stairs until we refurbished the whole house. The builders had kept all the large room size pieces thinking we were going to re-lay them as they were in such good condition!

Hi there. We followed the polyvine approach as per people’s instructions above. 2 coats then 1 with Matt finish. We have done it in our new kitchen/living/dining extension. Has been up a year and we love it. It’s hard wearing and polyvine confirmed with me that you can paint over it in the future if you wish. We don’t regret it at all. The colour has lasted. The most challenging thing for us was making sure the plaster dried before sealing it which took a long time so you must factor that in. I’m not sure how well it would fare in a bathroom with the damp and humidity. You could look into microcement for that as they can match any colour and that is specifically for bathrooms.