We put in a low loop design with some stainmaster type treatment, from HD. There is a pattern of squares created by the weaving which seems to "hide" the wear pattern and also dirt. MY best advice is to buy a roomba for the basement and run it regularly to keep dirt from being ground in, and to refresh the carpet. I usually run it while I work out, and feel doubly virtuous :).

If its cold, insulate it. Start with an inch of XPS foam sheet then lay subfloor over top of that. At most that takes up only 1-5/8" of headroom. Countersink and predrill holes and secure subfloor to concrete slab with countersunk tapcon screws. Then you can put whatever floor you want. If you fear flooding and want a waterproof subfloor use concrete board, otherwise, the XPS is your vapor barrier. Carpet should absolutely not touch concrete, at minimum have a pad underneath with a vapor barrier. I still hate carpet on concrete even with a vb pad. It always seems to get nasty/smelly in some way or another. If you want a nice floor and a warmer basement, it is worth the extra expense to insulate it. Instead, most people just throw some flooring on the concrete and then they wonder why the basement is always cold. As rwiegand stated, make sure you don't have a moisture problem first. To test, tape clear plastic down on the floor in random areas and see if moisture forms under the plastic. A way to help mitigate a moisture problem if you have one is oil based watertite directly on the concrete. I wouldn't push exterior waterproofing unless you have major water problems.

So a few things: -Be careful doing dark flooring and a dark ceiling. It may feel like the room is closing in on you. I'd go lighter for one of them -Don't do laminate in a basement. Laminate is water resistant at best, but even that's kind of a lie. Go for LVP (laminate vinyl planking) instead. It's far more durable for a basement. -Dark floors show everything. They're nearly impossible to keep looking nice so just keep that in mind when picking flooring. -The brick column looks nice, don't worry about it -Stair modifications (even adding drawers under) should be done by a pro only. Never DIY stairs because there's a lot of structural math involved and local codes. -Pick paint after everything else is installed. It will really help you determine what the best colors are.

I worked on a house that had a huge water problem in the basement(2,300 sq. ft. basement). Very long and involved story starting with the builder and running through two previous owners to the current owner who hired me. Turns out there was a natural spring under the basement floor and the french drain would be overwhelmed during a medium/heavy rain. The fix was to cut out a channel around almost the entire perimeter of the basement, install a drainage system which was connected to a catch basin and a sump pump which was connected to a buried exterior drain which was piped to the storm drain on the street. On the direction of the company installing the system, she ran a dehumidifier for a month. I then glued 6 mil plastic to the basement walls(special adhesive) and located the bottom of the plastic hanging in the small gap left between the drain system and the basement wall to direct any moisture permeating the walls into the drain system. I then built 2" by 4" walls to allow for R-13 insulation and installed sheet rock, tile flooring, base molding and finished 3/4ths of the basement. 6 years later---zero moisture problems. That was in 2004, cost was $8,000 for the system and drains.