. . . and now it begins I had SPECIFICALLY insisted that the carpet be power stretched. It was written on my order. It was written on the installers' job sheet. So what do I find when I check on their progress? A stinger. Which punches holes in the carpet and is explicitly prohibited by the CRI. I took a picture of it and emailed it to Lowes, and told them that the installer had violated the Mohawk warranty requirements. And hopefully didn't take chunks out of my subfloor in the process, but probably did. The installation team manager called Mohawk to confirm what I told him, and they said yes, stingers are a no go. So, I told them they are going to have to do it all over again, with new fresh materials, and do it right. more fun.

Really, thank you so much. So many great insights, and the best of all is to clean up the room, and live with it for a bit. My mind was stuck in the 'got to make a decision while the tape/plastic is up' track. It never occurred to me that I could remask--don't ask me why. My only excuse is I'm feeling overwhelmed. I recently moved to Germany, I don't speak the language yet, and the simplest tasks are difficult. The paint store is so foreign. There are about 20 pre-mixed colors (which look universally ugly), tons of white, and little bottles of concentrated color--you get to mix your own colors. I'm sure this is a delight to a real artist, but for those of us who flunked kindergarten art class--it's a challenge. Oh the things I've learned here (wish I would have known the primer trick on the first coat....) NHB room gave me hope that a vibrant yellow can work beautifully. I'll put up some pictures and see how I feel. I'll probably experiment to come up with a soft, universal color to eventually paint the whole house. Another amazing thing is their paint is not washable. It's more like a milk paint that washes off when scrubbed. As the owner of 3 dogs, I do wash walls, so they will be repainted one way or another. In the meantime, I'll investigate the possibility of glaze because I HATE edging so much that I was about to paint everything white. I so liked the fabric choices Les came up with, that I'm going to post my sofa and see if someone can work some magic there. You people are fabulous. I appreciate the help and all the honesty. Walkin-- kak dela? and prost from the Fatherland. I went to a gathering last week and met a number of people from the old Eastern Blok--all old enough to speak Russian and lament that the next generation was going to be divided; in the next breath, cursing the Motherland--gotta love those Slavs. I knew whom it was immediately from your greeting. I've spent the last several years helping take care of my father who had Alzheimer's--what a horrendous disease. I had no energy left to even think about any projects. But, it was all good. I have no regrets, I spent precious time with my family, and my father and I grew very close on a new level. I feel fortunate that I could spend that time with them. I have a feeling, I'll probably be asking for a lot of help. I have acquired a new look: a very contemporary house, I mostly brought things that I wouldn't regret losing, and they are more traditional in style. I guess we could call it modern rummage sale: nothing fits, most of it is a cast-off, and it all needs to be done on a budget. (We had the WORST, most expensive move possible--nightmares upon disaster). So, doesn't that seem like a good challenge for the decorating milieu? I'm glad to see you here and I'd love to see some pictures of what you've done to your place.

I will speak to the grey tiles in wood-look. I do not feel the "wood look" tile is over. It is very popular so it will continue for a long, long time. The concern with tile (any tile) is that it is PERMANENT and EXPENSIVE to install. And then, just for fun, it is expensive to remove should you ever tire of it. Most tile has a 25 year life expectancy. That being said, many people tire of their tiles (regardless of presentation) after 15 years or so. And that's when they are ready for a change....only to find out how expensive tile is to remove. So....when it comes to warnings about "grey wood look tiles", you are actually being warned about the PERMANENT design solution you are about to create. Since grey (as a hot design fad) is quickly losing steam (first it was greige, then dark grey/charcoal, and then light grey). The lightest version of grey is white. And that's where the trendy designs are already moving away from as well (white was SUPER hot 2-3 years ago...but impractical so only the super rich were able to get away with it). Now the design pendulum has swung away from 'cool' tones and is warming up once again. Floors are still light, but now they are moving towards NATURAL tones such as natural oak, natural pine, natural birch, beech, etc. Think Scandinavian Modern flooring (very pale yellow toned floors). For the reasons above, the warning against grey wood look tiles is multifaceted. The 'trend' is away from grey...and even white is past its prime. Now the cool tones are moving to pale warm tones with natural wood elements. A permanent grey floor is going to lock you into 15 - 20 years of colour. That's what the warning is all about.

Here's a simple picture showing how difficult this all is. The paint shown is the same grey paint. But it is showing up as a bunch of different colors depending on the light. They all do this. This is why we risk losing our minds. https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/How-to-pick-the-best-gray-paint-colour.-Showing-Benajmin-Moore-Shoreline-by-Kylie-M-INteriors-Edesign-blog.jpg