Beth H. : - thanks so much for sharing those last two images. I'm working on a staircase in an addition to our old house and I've been using Houzz images to help the staircase maker understand what I'm seeking and hadn't seen those. And I agree, Houzz has chronic "control issues" when it comes to sharing images easily from other sites. I really think the owners have ambitions to take over from Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, let alone all the also-rans, ugh. It's a sharing world, Houzz - get with the program! Anyway, about those images you've shared; are they from Houzz? I tried clicking on them to see if they'd open a post, to no avail. Thanks!

What I'm hearing about the husband wanting something different = different colour. That's easy enough to do. When lacing in a new wood floor, the ENTIRE wood floor will be sanded and refinished. The colour you have NOW will change (as per your hubby's wish) by the end of the project. Excellent. Win-win. If you leave the existing hardwood IN PLACE you will save the cost of material + cost of labour to remove it. So part of your $16K budget will be minimized by $1K - $2K. So far so good. Currently the vinyl sits LOWER and the carpet sits HIGHER than the hardwood. That's GOOD! That tells me your floors could all be sitting on the SAME subfloor. That's could mean a cost savings (no one will know until the vinyl comes up and the carpet comes up). Or it could mean nothing at all. Subfloors under 'sheet' goods can be horrible. Especially under carpet. Carpets hide HORRIBLE subfloors (that's why builders like to use it...it saves them TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars during a build). If you choose to remove EVERYTHING you will most likely be looking at subfloor repair/replacement. Again, NO ONE will know until everything is down to a continuous layer of subfloor. At that time, the HIGH-END flooring professionals (who deal with hardwood day in and day out....no "guy with a hammer" need apply) will evaluate the subfloor and decide (at the time) what is required to install a hardwood floor. At that time you will be given the ACCURATE quote for the subfloor and labour costs for that portion. Until then you are flying blind re: costs for subfloors. In my neck of the woods (Vancouver BC Canada...just a little north of you), subfloor prep runs $2-$3/sf when dealing with carpet/vinyl removal. Sometimes it is less...sometimes it is more. But that's the normal ball park. I vote for keeping the existing hardwood and adding to it. It will be the cheapest option by far. To give you an idea of costs for refinishing what you have = $5/sf for a full sand/stain/refinish. You can do a quick calculation of the square footage of what you have and then multiply it by $5/sf. It is CHEAPER to refinish hardwood than it is to rip it out and replace it with a factory finished product. Try to convince hubby that he can get the "new" that he wants even if you keep the old. At 19 years of age, your hardwoods are looking for a sand/refinish in the next 3-5 years anyways. Now is a GREAT time to lace in some of the SAME wood (same species/cut/width) and redo everything all at once. Your timing couldn't be better!

Old thread, but hoping someone can please add me to the facebook group. We're considering Paradigm Conquest in Tower and looking to see more photos and hear feedback. We have Agreeable Gray on our walls throughout and are thinking it might be too warm. Also considering Kingship, but can't find anything on this color.

@Natalie: While you may only be doing one project at a time, you need to have an overall future plan so you don't wind up with a patchwork approach. You posted a Design Dilemma just for the floor. Seriously, that's not how good design works. If you have a limited budget, many on here have given you answers that work about those floors: Keep your beautiful floors as they are. That will save you a lot of $$$. Use the savings to get professional advice on how to create a palette that works with those floors for future furnishings, art, gorgeous rugs, cabinet colors. Do you really need to replace the cabinets at all? Are they in good shape already? You could paint them or reface them if you want something lighter--far more affordable than getting new cabinets. Again, a color consultant could help you. Do some Houzz and Google searches for "kitchen Brazilian cherry floors" and you'll get many inspiration photos. Choose some that seem to work and share them with a color consultant who may agree or offer alternatives you may not have thought of.