Further update - at the last moment we were convinced by the installer to go with midnight blue mirror finish. I will take some photos and post it shortly.

All, thanks for your help.
We looked closely at the mirror finish splash backs. We took a large sample home, cooked with it in the background and it was patently obvious…

Yes its an open plan living area. At the other end of the room there is a charcoal coloured combustion heater with a opal blush brick fireplace. Opal Blush:
Prominent…

We have been warned that the mirrored splash backs look great but show up everything and require constant cleaning. So for this reason we have dropped the idea of the…

Photo taken during the day today.

I have photo-shopped the colours into the kitchen. Excuse my photo-shop skills.
Ferric Sheen:
Java Dusk:
Spectrum Violet:
I will take another photo today during the day.
There is quite a lot of light in…

Hi,
We are in the final throes of completing our home. One of our last hurdles is to finalise the colour of the glass splashback in the kitchen. This has proven…

I really appreciate the advice you have been providing - its been excellent.
I have warned my wife that tile grip is a double edged sword - you get more grip…

One of the other comments that I have come across is the use of shipping wax on tiles and most commonly on those from China. This wax protects the tiles…

Great summary Casa2 - thanks.
Here is a summary of what we have found in regards to cost:
Porcelain tiles from China ~ $30/m2.
Porcelain tiles from UAE ~ $40/m2 plus.
Porcelain tiles…

An article I found on the staining and polished v unpolished (matt) porcelain tiles. I hope this helps.
Is Polished Porcelain more easily stained?
There are two contrasting views on this issue…

Thanks Grout Perfect - we are finding your comments to be extremely helpful.
We have now performed the red wine test on both the matt and the gloss version of the…

Thanks for the helpful comments.
We are swinging back to the polished/gloss ceramic tiles though we are concerned about how slippery they are. What are the maintenance issues with matt tiles?…

Which ones did you select?

The place we went to was a part of Tile Boutique which I think is a buying group for independent stores.

Thanks for the suggestions/comments.
The tiles from the UAE are grade 4.
We did do some scratch testing at first but have not followed through with it for all the tiles. We…

We have been going through a lengthy process of selecting the porcelain tiles for our new home and I thought I would share our experiences so far as well as…

We also have a front face brick that they have run out of supply. They told us the same story about a problem with the batch and have added an…

Our project has turned into a nightmare.
We have a half finished house made out of bricks that Boral has run out of and is refusing to produce any more saying…

Is anyone else experiencing problems with Boral suddenly (and without prior notice) discontinuing bricks and unable to fill orders for bricks?
It appears they have suddenly discontinued some of their brick…

We just went through this issue - powder coat v anodised.
Anodised was almost 10% more expensive than power coated.
The design required silver/grey windows. We had them send out a sample…

We are building and have gone for 3m downstairs and 2.7m upstairs.
2.7m is ample enough for most purposes. Our current home has 2.7m ceilings.
We went for 3m downstairs because we…

Powder coating may result in a much more efficient production process for the window manufacturer. They can easily incorporate the process in-house and dont have to keep stocks of different…

To be honest, I have not seen this being done in any estate that they are building in. Obviously it is the best way to do it but it seems…

No it wasnt silasec.
I can find out exactly what we used if you would like. But here is an example of what we used:
http://www.getprice.com.au/Drizoro-Quic ... 387262.htm
What…

Thanks onc_artisan. Your comments are insightful and I am sure they would assist others.

No doubt you are an expert at what you do and all would appreciate the time you…

It would be a very gutsy decision to do it yourself. It is pretty hard to hide gyprock and there is some skill & technique involved in getting a good…

Interesting issue - not sure if the following helps.
Wind has a capacity factor of around 30% (ie produces around 30% of its rated capacity over a year). Solar has…

Your going to need plans to get planning approval. You will either need to get them drawn or you will need to get them off the kit home company (who…

So to get this back on topic. Here is my original post. If you dont like it then pick it apart - dont take aim at me - take aim…