thank you! I also found another recent post on the same topic. I think it looks like the best idea is to treat it like a garden-- using plants that will give it a sort of patchwork prairie/butterfly garden look. The daylillys and various other plants you all mentioned will all find a home I think. Boy--this is alot of ground though, its going to take a while. ;)

Well, you've sold me!!! We (DH and I) are going with stained and poly'd plywood. We had thought about doing ply floors when we first moved in, but later thought we should do something "nicer". But after looking at the tower pictures posted here, we are both COMPLETELY sold on the idea! It is beautiful! You should know, we made a trip to Lowe's Tuesday and were shown how "tough" laminate is- the guy demonstrated how scratch-resistant it is by running a penny across it. It scratched up pretty badly! He sheepishly grinned... We decided then and there that laminate would never stand up to what children, garden soil, and two 100 lb. dogs would dish out. So, plywood it is! Cheap and tough. We are going to stain and poly it before we lay it down, even sealing the edges. I realize there may be touch-ups to do here and there, but I can't imagine having to do it all after it is down---yikes!!! One more thing...I saw a really neat technique where you quickly run a blow torch over the plywood...it darkens the raised grain, giving it a lovely bit of depth. I am going to try this on a scrap piece and see if I like it. I can't wait to get these floors done! I just know they are going to look wonderful!

Thanks for the link pressurepros. That won't take off the opaque stain though, would it? I'm sure the product would work great on the flooring, but I don't want to have to strip off what is on the handrails and posts. Anyone have a good deck paint or something similar to recommend?

Thank you for all of your help and knowledge. I'm pretty new to this and you gave me excellent info and links. You also made me realize that the floor isn't the worst of the problems or the first thing I should focus on: it's those cabinets! I had no idea they were a known quantity. Ick! Regarding the cabinets: the easiest thing would be to temporarily remove the doors entirely as one blogger did, but honestly... I need somewhere to store my stuff. I already have about 20 square feet of open shelving and I've put everything attractive there, and used wire baskets with canvas lining to contain a lot of the less attractive. Even if I were to remove the doors 1) the gross interiors would still show; and 2) one of the cabinets is a deep corner one, which is just not going to look good at all (IMO at least). This post (a link from the brilliant Kylie link above sent by @nosoccermom--truly the best treatment of this subject I've found) is by a DIY owner who just painted the "wood" trim. Easy-peasy! But the white of her melamine was truly white, and as Kylie notes, it would be hideous to paint the "wood" white and leave the rest beige or try to match (matching to tobacco stains, omg whathaveigotteninto). Which leads me to two issues: I really need to use some heavy duty TSP/ammonia/OXY/goo be gone type cleaner to see if I can actually get them any whiter (not a lot of renovating experience, but I'm a great deep cleaner!). Part of the problem is that my landlord has painted all the trim white, which makes the beige-nic-whatever-ness so much grosser looking. I've cleaned them with regular kitchen cleaner and they're definitely not greasy, but maybe there is some level of filth that still needs to be stripped off. That's step one. If they're not white, I need to talk to my landlord about simply painting them white: just the beige area wouldn't be hard to do from what I've seen with the right product and some time/care (flat surface, right?--not the whole shebang including the "wood", and would definitely improve the look of the place. I think he'd be amenable. If not, maybe I could try finding some contact paper or adhesive to attach something that is either white or blue and truly removable. And clean well when I do move (don't worry @nosoccermom!). :) Question: is the "wood" on these cabinets actually wood? One blogger suggests that it is, in that she suggests a quick "helping" fix can be to use this product. It doesn't feel like it, and parts of the edges are crumbling. Even if it's not, is it possible to treat it like it is and stain it (after cleaning etc., of course)? Does anyone know definitively whether it is in fact wood on this type of cabinetry? The idea of adding hardware is great, thank you (@nosoccermom again!) I'm actually headed to Ikea this weekend and they have these pulls for (e.g. two 15" for $9.99). That's do-able! Larger pulls actually installed in the face of the cabinet would have a better "pull the eye away from the horror" effect per Kylie, but I know I can drill and then putty up these when I move. Maybe I'll talk to my landlord about putting in something more tho--if I pay for it he might be cool. They can't get worse. So in short, going to start with the cabinets, since I know that needs to be fixed and is the worst eyesore. As for the floor, I've said above I really don't want to put down any sort of rug, but I have found well-reviewed recycled plastic, reversible rugs from Fab Habitat like this one: (tried to make a collage lol--a link to the product here). NB: often listed at ridiculously high prices--a comparable FH 6x9 on Houzz is currently $329. They're machine made, out of plastic straws. But other stores (and the manufacturer) sell it for much, much less). And I already have an outdoor one that I've decided doesn't fit in my cyan-ized living room--just wish the nap was lower (can you seal a rug like a floor cloth so it has no nap? I bought it for a steal, I really don't care...), but maybe I'll do it :( If anyone has more advice I'd LOVE it! No Anglophile "pro" decorators tho, please! That elitist post bugged me all night :(. Thank you all so much. What a great community! :)