@Alan Ward I also noticed the Max is 8mm thickness and heavier, while rigid is 5.5 mm thick. Not sure how that affects things. @kaycreighton1 thank you! Initially we were just looking at Max. the stairs themselves we are carpeting and thankfully the hallway/loft upstairs is mainly above the garage, so not TOO worried about a lot of noise. From what I've read Max is still more soundproof than Rigid as well right?

We used a Valspar paint in Summer Gray in DS's condo garage. Please note that I do not recall which line of Valspar it was. We used it because DS received a gift certificate for Lowe's. We also used the primer recommended by the paint counter customer service person. The walls were finished about six months before, I believe. Pretty much builder grade everything. The Valspar paint we used was horrible. Spattered, required three coats and still wasn't great coverage-wise. It was thin, messy, smelly, and saggy. I'm nothing like a pro painter, but I get uniformly great results with Farrow and Ball, and I have done fine with certain SW lines, although I dislike the odor. (Oh, and a pro painter who was my GC's sub and used SW exclusively put the wrong color labeled with the right name in a guest house and no one made good on it--so paint mix goofs do happen, even in the expensive stuff). I have used Frazee happily in the past, too. Perhaps because we told the paint guy it was for a condo garage, he recommended the junkiest paint. I don't know. To spend so much time and effort for such poor results . . . I won't go near Valspar again.

I remember reading that...but it's still just as funny.... I am completely surprised that I didn't find a post from me on there...My DH has done a few things during our 42 years that I tell on him every now and then. patti

you're mentioning Montana and East Coast as some future locations I've never been to Montana..I haven't been to Arizona(if not to count Grand Canyon of course, twice)..I lived on East Coast though the things that come to mind-is how different the landscape might be. and light. because they're on different latitude..and many other things. thus, the relationship between a house standing say on East Coast and a house situated in Arizona might develop differently from the get go and it's important, that inside-outside relationship Different considerations will depend on house itself too. what year your house was built? seems to be nineties, or..? does it have an architectural style one can define, more or less? How the yard looks like? what do you see from your windows? Things and details and pallettes that work in houses X wouln't work same or with same success in houses Y. It's like..say, I'm not a tall blond. If I'd do everything to look like a tall blond it'd be epic fail. Even if I love tall blondes with all my heart. I need to work with what I've got here-small and dark:) okay I can dye my hair and choose wardrobe as the mood strikes, That's going with my loves. But my essense stays the same. Similat is the thing with the houses. You can-and should-do things that you love. But you have certain givens that you have to respect, or it won't be same house. You'd break its will. You never want to break anyone's will. You want to find a key to a successful relationship with them. A color-any color-is never a fad. A fad is more description of infatuation with a product, or combo of such, that many people become deeply infatuated with and then discard them fast, too fast even for a trend cycle. ( it seems the cycles started being shorter too..as I receive lots of silly emails from all sorts of design mags..what took them 10, then 5 years before now takes half a year to admire-and then denounce. It's amusing, really) you do describe gray as your love, not infatuation, and I easily believe you-I love greige/taupe for example, and I don't care whether it's everybody's love at the moment, or just mine but. I'll always care how and on what surface and in what proportion I should apply it, depending on a particular house. Its style, the light it gets, everything that house tries to tell me. If wood like tile-I'd look for more.. wood like tile. Something greige, warmer. As you've mentioned. woods are warmer in nature. Even the grayish of them all (well I don't know all the species the world has..but I've travelled to many)And yes it's hard to install to get it right. Or maybe a stone? If you're going with tile anyway? which brings me to stone painting. I think it'll look fake..at best. Stones are-for the most part-full of strong character. They don't like manipulating. They are what they are, maybe the most of all other materials. Can you work with your stone as is? It seems pretty neutral, the surface's not big. I don't think it'd love shiplap either next to it. (not that their mirror is the best choice..but shiplap would be, in certain sense, repeating that mirror) different sensibilities. One can try and be eclectic, I'm eclectic myself. But some things, they're ready to engage in dialogue. and some will not speak to each other. as somebody who really tried to redo a firepalce she hated(hated!) on a cheap..which wasn't that cheap.lol...it was a fail. I mean it's still better than it was. But some things, you try to do on a cheap. Then you realize you have to pay twice as much to still bring them to your vision. But you're already out of energy, and as for money, you need it for something else. Think hard what you want it to be and how much it will cost and whether justifies a result. Maybe art you absolutely love will bring you much more happiness. And art, you'll be able to take with you. Lastly, I admire you for being a good sport..and wish you luck with the purchase going smoothly, and with your new home. If one has opportunity to live there a bit figure out himself in the house, daily live and all-he has an advantage. As everybody has said. Don't give up that avantage if you can, use it. You'll know the house better, and you'll see what's worth changing, what works for you, etc. Or-change just one thing right now, the one that's the hardest to get to later...say you're dead set on changing flooring..find it, invest in it, redo it..see where and what you'd rather change next.