I can't tell from the picture--what is it--marble? Marble is pretty soft and will continue to deteriorate on the floor. What's your budget?

Here's an e-how article on repairing scratches on a marble floor: http://www.ehow.com/how_8167519_repair-scratched-marble-floors.html

Unless you live in a truly tropical climate, ceramic tiles or stone/marble will be very cold underfoot in winter unless you have underfloor heating. And everything you drop breaks.

That's a good point about things breaking on a tiled floor.

We are not very big on ceramic tile in living areas here. Wood is much more preferred at present. Bamboo is supposed to be pretty hard--although pets can scratch about anything --including glass (I have friends whose dog would jump up on the front window and he thoroughly scratched the glass).

Jackie, when we lived in London I wanted terracotta tiles in the (ground-floor) kitchen but the cold put me off -- the utility room had floor tiles and it was freezing!

Instead, we used synthetic flooring from Amtico, a company that makes (made?) floor tiles in realistic-looking finishes to imitate materials like ceramic or stone or whatever you can think of and more. Sounds appallingly tacky, I know, but actually, it looks great.

We had it for about 4 years, then since we moved in 2002, our house has been rented to sharers and the floor still looks good, so it's tough too. Just my tuppence worth.

Thank you Pallas. Just ordered some brochures from them so thinking the same thing cheers.

We have a laminate that looks exactly like slate and it has stood up to 2 huge dogs for years. It looks good and is warmer than real stone. It is similar to Exsquisa from Quickstep in Britan.They also have some really beautiful wood look laminate which I find the best choice with pets.

I've had a completely tiled first level for almost ten years. I live in the interior of So. California where it is hot, hot. Wouldn't trade these floors for a free "upgrade" to wood or any other surface except possibly concrete. Yes, things break if dropped. The occasional dog mess is easy to clean and I can change the look with area rugs when I want to.