More bath talk (clean me up, someone)

Oh, now I think this bathroom is ALSO like the men I adore ... white, clean and easy to dive into. This is the new Toulouse bath tub, available in Australia from 1 November through local distribution partners Plumbing Concepts and Designs and GRO Agencies. The AUD RPP is $5,500. You like?

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Black is back in bathrooms

I like my bathrooms like my men. Black, dark and swarthy. Unfortunately my bathroom is white and clinical. Oh, and so is my man. One day ... one day.

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Pictures: About.com

The most expensive home in the world ... or so they say

Houses are a bit like modern art - there's always a bigger, a better and more outrageous thing around the corner. And now India's richest man is proving it. He's built a 173-metre tall mansion in Mumbai for an estimated billion dollars. The house has  three helipads, its own air traffic control, a six-floor car park, a staff of 600, a four-storey hanging garden and a cinema. It's been named Antilia, after a mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean, and has just been completed after seven years of construction. Hmm, not sure it's my thing. Read more here.

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Pictures: Jay Hariani via WikiCommons

Don't know about you

But I find it a bugger when I lose my pants in the kitchen ... especially when frying the bacon. Victoria Beckham doesn't mind, though. This is her in the new Marie Claire.

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Would you paint a wooden floor?

It always looks great in magazines, but whenever I walk into a real house with real painted wooden floorboards, it looks a little - how shall I say? - real average. Painted floorboards tend to chip and look hokey. Personally, I think it's like rag-rolling your walls - it will look good for a month, but then will start to look like you've done something as silly as try to paint your own car (or fridge, or iPod, or insert-professionally-finished-item-that-would-look-crap-if-you-painted-it). A painting expert has just had a chat with Elle Decor about the best way to paint wooden floors, and this method does sound like it has merit. I, of course, will never test it out for fear of having a bad floor. Here's what apparently works:

• scarify the surface with 150-grit sandpaper
• wash the floor with a powdered detergent cleaner to remove all dust and deposits
• allow floor to dry completely (this may take a couple of days)
• apply a primer suitable for your paint type
• allow primer to dry overnight
• lightly sand primer with 220-grit sandpaper
• wipe floor clean with mineral spirits, using tack cloth or a rag
• apply the first, thin coat of paint with a natural-bristle brush (which creates a smooth finish, rather than with a roller, which creates a stippled finish)
• allow paint to dry 24 hours

• apply two more thin coasts, allowing 24 hours between each

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Pictures: ElleDecor