It looks great! Thanks for sharing your finished back splash. It's always nice to see everything come together. How are you liking your counter-tops? I am considering those for my own kitchen. They look wonderful in your photos.

nosoccermom, Yes those tiles were the ones we had actually looked at already. We definitely need a new floor, the old one has been really beaten up and in fact was only glued around the edges, and it's coming up around the wall in some parts, and overall looks dingy. We weren't sure how the color would fit in with the kitchen however. The interior designer recommended something called "grey washed" is what I have written down. I like the appeal of the luxury vinyl, they aren't cold tile, easy to install, and the grout is actually a better version than regular tile group in that it's not porous.

I adore arabesque (and lantern. and other spanish -influenced traditional shapes-after all it's my favorite style ever, if I have to choose) but it doesn't spell modern to me.depends of course of what one means by modern because often people mean different things by that -some mean certain style, some mean something being more recent, contemporary. here's Fireclay tile blog..I liked glazed bricks on the first pic..second as well-shapes but less fluid shapes, more geometrical ones..and I strangely like this sweater pattern..I think last from the top? the one they call prep school. it might be too much and one needs to make sure they have enough space on their backsplash to pull it off. yet it exudes certain warmth..as if it was a sweater..:) https://www.fireclaytile.com/blog/ (as for the brand itself. I never used Fireclay myself, it's not inexpensive either, yet many people on these forums did, and remained extremely pleased with their quality. take a look at what they offer..they have many interesting products. including a lot of black plus white designs, some with a lot of contrast in the pattern, some, paler, more "barely there" of an effect)

Okay. My 2 cents. It appears that the dining room is a bit squishy. Lots of big furniture. My thought would be to remove the sideboard, put a banquette along the wall and shift the dining table over. This is a tad fancier then what you are going for but this is right beside a kitchen peninsula...same layout. I think they shifted the chandelier over so it is centred with the table. If you search for "banquette dining" on PINTEREST you'll get lots of inspiration. Just a thought to give you more breathing room if desired. :) The balance between the beautiful banquet and the open chairs would be perfect (in your style).