Simulating wood with a photographic applique layer under a clear protective layer, laminate is just a composite. I would not consider spending money on a laminate floor at this point. It isn’t a better solution than going with the ivory carpet for a few years. Laminate is $, but it's noisy and doesn’t like water. "Water can cause laminate flooring to swell if it gets between the seams. Being made of pressed board, laminate can easily chip--especially the critical tongue and groove sections.” Where I would spend extra money is on the padding under the rug. That will go a long way to help keep the rug clean. It isn’t the rug fibre which stains, it is whatever liquid has soaked into the pad that keeps coming back to haunt you. Spend a few cents extra and ask for Mohawk Smart Step. it has a coating which keeps any liquid from soaking into the pad. If it needs to be seamed, have them duck-tape the seams. I have a light wool wall to wall carpet. Should something spill, I grab a dry cloth or paper towel or newspaper and step on it until all the liquid is out of the rug. Then, use a combo of water and ammonia, and just dab at it. Actual dirt or mud, just let it dry and then vacuum.

Here's the kitchen. She didn't pick the floor, that was matched to existing--it's quite red! I had decided two tone cabinets and white subway tile, she helped me pick the specific cabinet colors, tile, counter, and wall color. Walls are Edgecomb Gray Here's the bathroom. I had decided wood vanity and white tiles--she helped me pick which tiles, cabinet stain, and paint color (BM Healing Aloe) She recommended paint colors for my 2 bedrooms as well, but I ended up diverging slightly. I wanted to paint my bedroom very dark almost black; she recommended a medium green, and I ended up doing Newburg Green. For the guest room, she recommended Edgecomb Gray again and I did Revere Pewter (I know, I'm a daredevil). I had a pretty good vision of what I wanted, so didn't get a ton of creative input from her (rooms actually came out fairly close to my inspiration pics). For me, I was spending so much $$$ on the remodel, especially on permanent fixtures (cabinet, tile, counter), that $500 was worth the peace of mind that I was making the right decisions.

@Janelle rVarathane Kona might be a good option it still has some red undertones so it would be a warmer brown. Ebony would defiantly make it darker and be a bit more matchy/matchy with the table. Or you can throw caution to the wind and do a Weathered Gray- this one you would have to strip the cabinets to bare wood in order for it not to look weird. Rustoleum has Dark Walnut that might be pretty as well and then again throwing caution to the wind there is a color called SunBleached which would be very similar to your flooring. Minwax has a lot of mixable colors as well. The downfall to mixable is there is always room for error- meaning if you run out, even if they use the same formula there is a chance that it could be different one can to another. what i would suggest is to figure out what wood species the cabinets are ( based off of the pictures I would guess Alder or Hickory, they seem to have a lot of variations in the tone) and test out the colors in your kitchen. IMO I would go darker- I think the darker colors like the Kona or maybe even an Espresso would really make the floor and the counter top POP! And if you decide to paint them Prep work is key! From experience taking the extra time to prep the cabinets and make sure they are super clean before painting is the difference between wow and oh no! Good luck! And post pix when you have it finished i would be curious to see what you decided!

Everyone's remodel takes longer than they think! I'll be 1 1/2 years out on a kitchen remodel we thought would take 6 months, so I'm sure you're doing great. Thanks for the big photo of the fixture, and it does look perfect for your space with a nice blend of those colors in the drapery hardware as well as your somerset pendants and the mirrors. As for the mirrors, really anything can be made to work and blend into a space as long as colors, textures or patterns are repeated elsewhere in the room. If you like the mirrors, by all means keep them as they are despite all the opinions people are giving you. Other people aren't living with the space -- you are. It sounds like your pendant hanging length isn't going to interfere with head or visual space, but I'm not an expert on that so double-check the measurements. If your counters are a standard 36" high and the pendants reach 36" above that, then I think you'll be fine. Some people are putting in elongated fixtures over long dining tables, similar to the ones you posted in previous photos, but I have a dining table that is long with a small chandelier above it and have never felt that the fixture was too small. If you like the colors and shape of the round one you just posted, I think it would work for your long table, especially because it has so many lights in it. You might want to think about installing it with a dimmer so that it is not actually too bright for some occasions. I'm happy to throw in my suggestions as so many people have helped me a ton with our remodel here in the Houzz forums, primarily through the archive of searchable posts. I'm like you trying to make decisions on my own, so it's required a lot of time researching everything.