I am curious how you coordinated your dining furniture with an open floor plan, assuming this opens to your kitchen. I am having a challenge visualizing our options. Pictures would be very helpful especially if the picture shows a bit of the kitchen as well. Many thanks!

We put down click-lock strand-woven bamboo by HomeLegend throughout our whole house, including the kitchen. No one told us not to run it under the cabs, so we did. So far (it's only been about 5 months) we haven't had a problem with that. One thing you might want to look into is the click-lock mechanism. Our floor creaked and cracked quite loudly for the first few months. We were freaking out and calling the vendor and the manufacturer. They came to look at it, said there wasn't a problem with the product or the installation or the underlayment (we used QuietWalk). They told us that, basically, the wood in the click-lock isn't perfectly smooth (it's unfinished) and so there are burrs that need to wear out. Most of the very loud cracking and creaking is gone. However, the floor still has a lot of "movement." I'm not quite sure how to describe it... sometimes, in certain spots, it feels like a floating floor. Not sideways movement, but up-down movement. We've been wondering if our installer didn't level the floor quite right... Anyways, our friend put down an engineered cherry with a tongue-and-groove/glue installation (where you don't glue the floor down, but just put a small bead in the tongue-and-groove), which is still floating, but it feels significantly less like a floating floor. I think if we could go back and do it again, we'd do that installation method. Although we much prefer our strand-woven bamboo which has a much thicker wear layer to his cherry which has one of the thinnest wear layers I've seen.

It depends on the "gray" in the kitchen. And the counter tops. And the lighting. And the backsplash. And even the wall colour. And the level of modern you are going for. Hyper-modern would be white on white with some white and some white. Scandinavian Modern can be RED on white with wood floors (in a natural wood tone). Contemporary can be white on white with darker wood floors. Transition can be white on wood counters with a stone based floor. Whew! Sooo many options when it comes to modern/contemporary. A kitchen contains 7 elements. You have described 2. We will need a bit more (like counter top). I'm a fan of travertine-look porcelain tile. It comes in EVERY colour which means it is SUPER EASY to get a lovely match/compliment. With modern/contemporary, a light wood coloured floor (such as bamboo) is SUPER popular. But the rub is you do NOT want to put in "wood" when bamboo already exists....and you don't want to put in bamboo in kitchens (they are STUPID picky about moisture/spills). So that means we are back to some "other" products other than wood or wood look stuff. A photo or two of inspiration kitchens would help us. And a photo of your current kitchen would also help....so we can see how much light/space we are working with.

I know this post is over a year old... Wanted to compliment you on your choice of Table! I have a 48" Round Pedastal Table that has a huge leaf! I live in a small aprtment in the city and love the fact that my table is compact for everyday but can accomodate guests. I am on the hunt for an 8' ROUND rug fo rmy table and came across your post! GREAT CHOICE in RUG! You were asking for advice on any other improvements as well... I absolutley love that sideboard area...Was thinking instead of the cute ledges with pictures...I can't help but feel that corner is screaming for some reflection and light... How about a tall arched mirror..or even a rectangular window type mirror... (Link: Arched Mirror, Another Choice...)a little less wide than the buffet and tall in scale... and a cute accent/buffet lamp would be awesome! It could offer some beautiful reflection and some accent lighting... Just a thought. I have found some really cool mirrors at Hobby Lobby and Homegoods! What a beautiful space! I love the fireplace...I also love the clock over the fireplace... I'm a huge clock person...AND Its in a very practical place! Thanks for being a Houzzer and offerirng up a beautiful space for us to admire! Cheers!