Fallen in love with a floor... should I or shouldn't I???

[MascaraOHara]

Have been looking for a new floor for my living room and have finally found one I love but it's just over £90 a square metre (plus cost of laying/screeding etc). It's more than I wanted to spend and I'm not sure I can really stretch that far for a floor but it's sooo perfect and I've got my heart set on it.

Pashmina, I can't rememebr but I think most natural flooring specialist will stock an artificial version.

As for slate being a no - the chap said to me that slate is very brittle and breaks in slithers which can sometimes leave a sharp edge - also it is absorbant so spillages can sometimes stain. It'It's also quite delicate and he said there is more chance of things getting dropped with young children are about and that a drop could very easily cause a tile to crack, which would be costly and not easy to replace.

I'm really pleased with my artificial version I have to say. I think mine cast about £70 (roughly) per m2. Real slate would have been around £35-40 but there was cheaper artificial versions.

Interesting comments on slate

we have a coloured indian slate floor the slate was 15.00 square metre and is gporgeous naturalvariations of colour from pinkish through to black

although the tile thicknesses varied dp laid it and accounted for them in the laying so there aren't any ridges and it looks lovely..wide grout to account for any variations in tile size

he sealed the slate once before grouting and then gave two further coats

needs redoing at the moment because we are building work butI am really pleased with it and it doesn't sem to have bothered mr plum

Have arranged for them to come and give me a quote. eek! especially as ssaw a lovely settee in John Lewis that would just finish the room perfectly if it had a wooden floor.