I am back, having gone into "radio silence" for a while to digest this, play with sample boards, and repair some other parts of my house. This thread is almost at 150 entries!! That is represents some extreme generosity of the GW community on my behalf! I am really humbled and honored. However, as a practical matter, the thread is out of room and I still haven't decided! I am going to start a new thread, and link to it in the next post of this thread. I will use the rest of this thread to get caught back up, to recapitulate the most promising ideas and show you what I have been up to! Catching up: OB2B (11/12@7:52). Oh, those are pretty. I wonder just how $pendy they are. Your photoshop job is so nice. Do you think it looks too busy, or is it small enough a pattern to become just a texture? BellaJ: the walls are SW 6676 Butterfield. If anyone is interested, here is how I arrived at that color. Interesting observation on the tile size. Hmmm, Complete Tile does offer all of their tile in 3x3... I continue to like your "diamonds with decos" concept, as you will see below. And thanks for the Houzz info and images. I also like that decorative band. Veevs, thanks for the vote. EAM: Re: kitchens from the 20's having plain walls/wild floors: Yes, you are correct. I had been made aware of that during a thread trying to choose my floor. Also, I have a book from 1935 called "C.B. Smith's Home Owner's Handbook" that I rely upon for some period-appropriate information, and that confirmed what you say. Also, here are a few good GW threads: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg1110391922585.html http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg1120450213517.html So, yes, I am committed to not having too wild a wall. (I originally was going to do a two-color hopscotch pattern! Fortunately, I got talked down from the ledge.) raee: I pretty much agree with you. I am fairly well resigned to painting the walls. And those tiles need to be warmer, I agree. EAM: Re: the hex mosaics. Oooh, pretty! I like that, although I am worried about the busy-ness. I am going to put that in my second-tier list of options. (Casey, aka sombreuil mongrel, used Rojo Alicante on HIS red/tan checkerboard floor!)

We are building in upstate SC which has red dirt - like the bottom photo in your post. It is surprising how much dirt splashes on the exterior during rains - even on houses with gutters and mulched beds. We were discussing brick color with our builder and commenting about red dirt stains on brick. He pointed out that most light colored brick is not the same color all the way through. Just the front of the brick is colored and that surface can be damaged by aggressive power washing. You might want to ask your brick supplier about this just to be sure you understand limitations of the colors you like. We wanted red brick with little variation in color. Turns out that the only brick our supplier had that fit that criteria was what he called "painter brick". It is the same color all the way through and has distressed texture on the face. It is typically used when the brick will be painted. You can see our brick is the same color as the dirt!

We ended up switching from an LVP to Mohawk RevWood Plus, which is a laminate that has a “WetProtect” lifetime surface and subfloor waterproof warranty, maximum scratch protection, and a lifetime “All Pet” warranty against pet stains. We are SO happy we decided to switch from LVP to this laminate, for a couple of reasons. We are still getting the water protection benefit of the LVP, while also getting the durability of a higher quality laminate, and for less money. Another huge plus, in our opinion, is that the “grain” in the surface of the laminate is visual without being abrasive. The Paradigm flooring was actually rough enough that I could not run a dust mop across the boards easily, only in the directions the boards were laid—which isn’t always the most convenient way of doing things. The laminate is enough smoother than this is not an issue, and is also MUCH more comfortable on bare feet, and gentler on socks and the knees of our little grandies crawling across it. Just my $0.02.

Here's one similar to Shamrock that is a bit cheaper, and here's another thats more like amazon and even more competively priced. For help with visualizing, the storeI linked has a free visualizer for any of their Haro products. You can upload your room and play around with what color might look good.