Brutuses, I'll try to answer this as an interested consumer. I am by no means a scientist, and I can't vouch for the veracity of the tests/reports quoted in the articles I've read and linked to. If you google this, you can find a lot of alarmist type reports, which I tried to sort through and not include here. I am a fan of natural and organic, just because it makes sense. I don't want to unnecessarily alarm anyone with this info, and urge you all to do your own research on this topic. Basically, the chemical that kept stains from adhering which was used in Scotchguard in until several years ago was found to contaminate human blood and wildlife. Over 90% of the population in the late'90's had the chemical in their blood (also used in Teflon, etc). Testing revealed it to be lethal in high doses to animals, however Scotchguard, Teflon, etc used much smaller doses. The new formula does not contain those chemicals, though it has been criticized for not working as well. Furthermore, the company hadn't revealed the test results for the current chemicals, though they will say that these new chemicals do not stay in the body as long as the old ones and that the new chemicals are safe. There is some uproar over why these chemicals do not have to be proven safe before they are used and just who is responsible, if anyone, for monitoring companies like the makers of Scotchguard. The EPA concluded around 2000 (? not sure of date) the chemical was toxic and was linked to birth defects. It is no longer used in Scotchguard. These chemicals are in carpet, clothes, etc and have entered the food chain to the point of being found in baby eagle's blood (who have never left the nest, thereby leading researchers to conclude that the chemical has entered the food chain). They are not sure yet HOW these chemicals enter our bloodstreams (water, air, etc). Given this info, I'm not sure how much impact it has to choose to not use these items in our homes. Clearly, there is so much we do not have control over and therefore can't impact through our choices. But for me, it makes sense to opt out of stain/water/oil repellants whenever possible. links: http://www.enviroblog.org/2007/06/ask_ewg_why_is_there_teflon_in.htm http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2005/02/toxictraces/ http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/02/22_edgerlym_3mscience/ http://www.ewg.org/reports/pfcworld/ http://www.protectingourhealth.org/press/2003/2003-0622-SJMN-scotchgard.htm Here is a link that might be useful: stain/water etc replellants

The diamond pattern. The wood-slats one atop a wood-slats floor looks strange to me--if you have a lovely wood floor, why would you want to replicate that pattern in a rug, which is what it would look like you were doing? And the 3rd option is too bland, not IMHO worth spending extra money to have a rug hand-cut when you could probably find that online or in a store (altho I understand the problem of color-matching). You've decided on this avenue for sure? No solid-on-solid pattern, for example? Here's what I'm talking about (just the design pattern, not necessarily the color): http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Martha_Stewart_Living_Chrysanthemum_Area_Rug/810/ http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Optics_Area_Rug/420/ http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Aberdeen_Rug_I/860/

I would recommend the barn lights be placed over the garage doors.

These are the pictures of the flooring