Yes, common lilacs are all over this area. Some are blooming abundantly this year, but do not have the same massed flowering every year. I remember a long time ago watching a TV sequence where the director of the Seattle arboretum, the late Brian O. Mulligan was being interviewed along with another man in charge of a collection in the Midwest or back East. When asked about differences in conditions and results here Mr. Mulligan mentioned that lilacs were not in Seattle what they were in the other region. Since they do grow and bloom here, at the time I wondered what he meant. Probably the same thing you meant, they do not show an exuberance here that they show in continental climates. Blue Colorado spruces and white firs look much better in Spokane, too.

We are installing Mannington Restoration right now - sort of a spare time project. So far it is in our living room; we will also be putting it in our dining room, kitchen, family room, and utility room/half bath. So far I love it. It has beveled edges - I had also been concerned about keeping it clean, but I just use a small stick vac on it - that seems to do a good job. We are a "shoes on" family; our rooms are fairly high traffic, and we wanted something durable and low maintenance. This stuff is hand scraped, wider planks, mid/darker - the planks have varying tones throughout, which adds to the rustic look. We paid $3.09 through an online retailer - Ecomoso is the name, I think. We shopped the local stores, found what we liked, and gave them the opportunity to match the online price...I question if you'll be able to get quality laminate for your price - I've been told that *thick* is important with laminate in order to avoid the clacky sound. Ours is 12 mm - the thickest available, I think. We also got good underlayment - another cost for you to factor in, unless the product you buy has underlayment built in. Don't forget to figure the cost of trim pieces into your budget - you need transition pieces, etc. Have you gone to any of the manufacturer web sites? The Mannington web site has a virtual designer option. You upload a picture of one of your rooms - with the floor showing in the pic, of course. Their software will then allow you to virtually "install" any of their flooring into your room, so you can see how it would look with your furniture, etc. That was fun and helpful. Maybe someone that has long term experience with this type of laminate can chime in. I'm not being very helpful, I know, but since we're putting in the same flooring that you are talking about, I wanted to tell you that (so far) we love the stuff!

My laminate counters were put in when I re-did the kitchen in 1991. They aren't white, but they look just as good as the day they were installed. Back then, what you see under the quartzite sample in the photo below was a perfect match to Deer Isle granite. I wanted to do a face-lift for the kitchen now and wanted to get the Formica fx180 laminate in 'Calacatta Marble' as it's SO realistic looking. So, I had a large sample of that, which is mostly white, see link below, and I went at that with a big sharp knife. I am amazed that I could see a few tiny scratches for a while, and they 'healed up' overnight. I looked at it again the next morning, and they couldn't be seen or felt. I DID elect to go with Fantasy Brown quartzite, because that Formica with the ogee edge I wanted cost as much as some granites, etc. I bet that the quartzite won't be as worry-free as that laminate has been for 24 years. Here is a link that might be useful: Formica 180fx calacatta marble

I am about to install Atroguard Southern Trail in my entire downstairs. I had a water leak which damaged all of my engineered hardwoods, which I hated. I've looked at other engineered hardwood, Coretec, luxury vinyl, and now the water-resistant laminate. The water-resistant laminate looks and feels so much more like real hardwood. I brought a piece of hardwood home and actually liked the look and feel of the laminate much better than the vinyl, Coretec, or engineered hardwood. It is 7.7" wide and about as thick as real hardwood. I certainly hope I don't have any of the problems described above.