Get vinyl plank and warm up the dining zone w an area rug under the table . obtain coordinating mat or 2 for kitchen but vinyl is resilient you don’t need that much more cushion. You’ll save and so place a nice art piece on the end wall as you have improved your lighting . nice moves w the mono white feel .

To SammieJ: this is a photo of the dining area opposite the galley. It is all one large room. The popcorn is being removed, as we speak and more canned lights are going up. A MCM white pendant light will go over the table. The walls are being painted gray but I have to pick a shade still.

Popcorn ceiling is being replaced...has it been tested for Asbestos?

As for flooring, you can look to the floors BESIDE the vinyl to find out how to go about this. If you are into MCM retro, you can go with cork flooring. You can use a floating cork floor here (click together). I like to add a coat or two of Loba 2K Supra AT onto a cork floor...but if your choice of cork doesn't allow for that, you can have the edges of the click system sealed in the kitchen. The dining area would then be floated normally.

One floor for all the first floor. . Exception? Laundry. No matter what the floor is, and anything but gray , please for the floor, unless a SLATE tile everywhere, which is very MCM. Cork, also good. Everywhere. Hardwood? Good, Engineered hardwood? Good. LVP? Fine, not gray.

To SJ McCarthy: Yes, the ceiling was tested and no asbestos.

I like the look of cork but I have a very messy husband who happens to be hard on everything, We have friends that had a bad experience with a cork floor. I will add some pics with a couple flooring options I went and picked out. Some are a vinyl tile and some are waterproof laminate. The new paint color is on the wall, too. I went with Edgecomb Gray from BM after trying a bunch of different samples on the wall.

To Jan Moyer: I do plan to run the same flooring throughout the whole house. I love slate tile but me husband drops everything. Our floors are already cold and I think the tile would make them even colder. I am not a fan or grout, either. I will post some updated photos with a few floor options I picked out yesterday. The new wall color is up, too.

New wall color with the can lights and pendant, Popcorn is gone.

Some floor options I picked out yesterday.

In the galley area.

Do you have flooring in other parts of the home? Photos?

To SJ McCarthy: The rest of the house has very distressed hardwood floors original to the house since 1965. I would love to refinish them but it would require the removal of everything in the house, including us, two cats and two birds for a minimum of 4 days. Due to health issues, I do not have the energy to go through that so I plan to float the same floor I pick for the kitchen throughout the whole house, The two bathrooms have tile floors.

You can see the hardwood in the hall and dining room here.

Are you removing the hardwood? Vinyl cannot be installed over wood. Personally I would go as light as possible. Any darker than your current vinyl and the house is going to feel like a black hole.

I would look for a lighter wood sample to make it light and bright. Dining area looks really nice so far.