Is it "aglaonema?" (I had to look up how to spell that, BTW! Those names aren't always easy...) They're pretty easy to please. They don't mind low light and I just water mine when the mix dries out to about my first knuckle (fingertip.)

I love your inspiration pictures, so go for it! Besides, I'm about to get rid of the last of the shiny brass in our house, so that means it will be coming back into mainstream style big time any day now!

It's very frustrating Jen. I'm old enough and was brought up in an era where more folks cared about their work. They did it to the best of their abilities whether it was "their job" or not. I remember being called into the managers office once. Many of my coworkers asked me what I did wrong or laughed saying something like "you're in trouble now". I had no fear because I knew I did my job and then some. When I got there, he asked me to sit down and proceeded to tell me he noticed how when walking through other's departments, if I saw something out of place, I stopped long enough to fix it. That impressed him and he wanted to be sure to thank me. His taking the time to tell me really impressed me too. Sadly you don't often hear of that in retail anymore. Or many other service jobs for that matter.

I'm a little unclear on how much of the house you are putting new floors on, but if you are doing it all, I wouldn't change colors for the kitchen. Bathrooms are okay as long as they aren't wood look.