I never use laminate. Overall it looks too "manufactured". It can, at best, be sanded and refinished once. In Texas, I am paying $7/sf for real hardwoods labor & material. Some laminates are $5.00 material only. All laminates look fake to me.

I think this piece is quite lovely. It appears that your couch and chairs have dark wood so I would be tempted to stain or paint the buffet to match these items. Changing the large modern handles to smaller antique ones might help to make it less bulky looking and tie in with the other items in your room.. I like the idea of putting a mirror in the upper door, however much as I like the criss cross effect in the sample pictures, adding more detail may conflict with the curves in your sofa and chairs. You could look for a decorative detail that has more subtle style. As for placement, it might go on the short wall where you have a bench or even on the wall where you have your table with two chairs, one on each side to balance the look.

Hi Rasa, Nice to hear from you and I’m glad I was able to give you some inspiration for your kitchen tiles. I’ve included another image for you to look at that shows more of a farm house style kitchen with the coloured tiles. If you worried the coloured tiles might look too contemporary for your space, I would advise going for quite soft, muted colour tones to give you the same effect but in a more rustic style. You can see in the attached image how they have used a soft sheen, textured tile in neutral tones, with a subtle hint of colour to be in-keeping with that farmhouse feel. For your tile colours, you could pick up the off white tone of your cabinets with the grey in the granite, and a very soft hint of green or blue to add a little colour to achieve the same look for your kitchen. I have also added some paint swatches below you could use as reference for tile colours to help you visualise the combination. Off white: Greys: Blue or Green: Hopefully this answers your questions for you and I’d love to see some pictures when your project is finished. Good luck with the decorating. Paola Dulux Design Expert www.designer.duluxamazingspace.co.uk

Hello Pete, It is indeed tricky to select the laminate from small sample patches. We feel it is often misleading as the small section is just a 2 inch piece cut out from a 8ft x 4ft sheet. Depending on your location you can do either. Check on Merino website .They would show images of the full sheet and if you are lucky even real life application of the same. Another option is to visit the Merino depot. Your designer would be able to book the visit for you. Thanks, Nitin Cornerstone Designs Bangalore.