We used Mohawk Smartstrand berber in our basement rec room and a nylon Mohawk in the bedrooms. Ours were more expensive than you are looking at. As for berber, we had an off white wool berber in our old house for 20 years that was indestructible and unstainable (grape juice, red Kool-Aid etc. did not stain it and nothing snagged it, not even our dog and cat). We were so impressed by that berber that we got it again for this house, but we got smartstrand instead of wool because wool is extremely expensive. The smartstrand has not stained, but it does snag. Luckily, it has a backing that keeps snags from running and the snags can be repaird, but they may not use that backing at the price point you are looking at. If the berber you are looking does not have the backing that stop snags from running, I would not get it if you have small children and pets. In fact, although I really like the berber that we have in our new house, I would not get it again as long as we have pets even if it had the backing that stops snags. We've only had three snags in the basement carpet the year and half that we have lived in our new house. The first snag happened when the dog was rolling on his back on the floor--one of his dog tags caught in the carpet and of course, being a dog and feeling trapped, he kept tugging and tugging at it and pulled out yarns that left a 3/4" x 3/4" bare spot--if the backing didn't stop runs I'm sure we would have had a run that went from wall to wall to wall to wall. We were able to glue the yarns back and the repair would have been invisible, except that cat really liked the latex glue that you use to fix carpet and the cat kept pulling it back up. The other snags were not from the dog and were small and easily repaired, but I do worry about snags every time the dog is down the basement. Good luck!

Thanks! It was a nightmare DIY project (moved shower and toilet locations which involved gutting the floor and beefing up the joists and tying into old 1926 plumbing. Ugh.) but we loved the result, especially at the ~$1200 price tag! Believe it or not, it's about the cheapest Lowes/Home Depot tile you can get. I really wanted the classic small penny tile but I couldn't afford it! I can't remember the brand... I just searched on line but can't find it. It's ceramic, and is actually an octagon-and-dot style in all white (it's more common and home-depot looking in the black and white pattern, around here.) I think the repeating pattern is about 4" x 4" and it's on 12" sheets. It was very afordable and the finished look was great. It also feels nice on bare feet, and was easy to keep clean. Sorry I don't know the exact brand/stule. We moved and I left the extras for the new owners...

I just posted this on someone else's thread but I wanted to say THANK YOU for helping me find my voice! And making progress! The granite guy came today and fixed the crack. You can't tell at all standing over it. I can see it when the sunlight is reflecting off of it, but also bc I was specifically looking for it. Anyone else would just see it as graining. Granite guy said it happened probably when the cabinet guy was hacking at the trim he had to remove bc it wasn't right. This I can live with. The cabinet guy showed up yesterday. The magnet he brought to fix door wasn't the right one. I started to show him which cabs had nails still sticking out and he said he'd check all of them. Then he said ok I'm done. I opened a cab and said the nails aren't finished, I thought you were going to finish them. He says,"Oh I didnt realize that you wanted me to do that." Really?Really? I guess he thought the splintered wood was fine? So then he says ok I'm done. I'm going to run to HD and get the magnet and be right back. Then I went to check his work. He missed cutting nails in 2 cab and didn't finish 3 others. Well...An 1 1/2 later he calls and says he got the battery but needed to go home and he'd come back tomorrow. I told him he missed more nails etc. And... he didn't come. But I do consider it a small victory he came at all. And lastly, I called the glass guy and said it was really driving me crazy everytime I look at it. He said he was going to call daltile to see if there was anything he could do, but if not, they would have to do it over bc it was their mistake. Yea! So I'll let everyone know how things turn out. I really don't expect to hear from cab guy. But, it's not the last he'll hear from me!

I have mixed feelings about picking stone counters quarried from the earth. I am terribly aware of the scar left. OTOH, having just ripped out the laminate that was only 12 years old, I think it's a crying shame that it only managed to look decent for about two years (small countertop area that got hard use due to lots of cooking!). What a waste. I hope that my kitchen will have staying power (form *and* function) for a long time to justify having used natural stone. I am prioritizing the stone counters as a design decision. Other than the hardwood which was already adjacent and got extended into the kitchen, and the stainless appliances already purchased, my stone counters come first as a design element. Unless they are installed I will not pick anything else - not cabinet fronts, or wall colour, or curtains, or anything. I hope that will be some insurance against having regrets. I probably would have picked quartz if I was making the decision on my own. Of course, every option does have environmental consequences.