If it is real wood you could refinish it. Sand and stain it darker.

By the looks of it, this is the 'standard' maple-look laminate that was SUPER HOT in this area. I've seen this over and over again. If it is in GOOD SHAPE, then leave it be....sigh...I know. That's not what you want to hear.

A floor change in a condo-apartment is VERY serious business. The Condo-Boards have SERIOUS pull in Vancouver (BC...I'm assuming...Washington State has their own Vancouver).

I've written SOOOOO many documents for condo boards regarding noise reduction requirements I could just spit!

Be VERY aware of those hidden costs. A CONDO APROVED underpad = $1-$3/sf CND (I'm in N. Delta). And the cost of labour for a LAMINATE install is now hovering around $3/sf. If you add in subfloor preparation (can be a REAL PITA) and you could be looking at extra costs of $7/sf...without BLINKING. Subfloor prep can add another $3/sf.

Now let's look at the math:

$6/sf for real wood

$5/sf for labour + finish

$3/sf for subfloor prep

$2/sf for underpad

Total = $16/sf for wood flooring

Now look at the cost of painting = $2000 - $4000 for a professional to tape everything off and put up a beautiful finish.

I'm a Scandi modern person. The light, natural wood coloured floors (like what you currently have) are de rigur for Scandi. Then they like to keep the walls white with ++ Chrome/silver accents. Then they put up BIG BOLD prints on the walls and as area rugs and for furniture. In a nut shell, the European style you see at Ikea is VERY much the Scandi design sense. Since Vancouver has TWO Ikeas, you are welcome to get some inspiration in their 'photo art' area.

The darker floors are more aligned with Danish Modern (the walnut used with Eames chairs and Walnut Mid-Century Modern furniture) or NY Loft industrial modern. Either way, your floors are going to be SUPER expensive to deal with in a condo. My advice = If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

My first thought is to update the fireplace surround and then go shopping for furniture you REALLY want. Make sure it is apartment sized. The regular places to shop have OVERSIZED furniture ('cause someone thought that N. Americans all live in 2500sf sprawling Ranchers).

You will need wall measurements and an idea of angles when you go furniture shopping.

Thanks for your help. I'm considering a neutral grey paint + a light color area rug+ some chrome furniture.

The gray wall colour is a tough ask for a condo with limited lighting. It can work...don't get me wrong, but the gray you pick in the DAY LIGHT will be VERY different at night. So different you might end up pulling your hair out.

I suggest you pick up some paint samples (like 4-5) and then purchase some 'artist boards' at Michaels (you want the 3ftx3ft or the 3ftx4ft size. All together this little shopping trip will cost about $80 - $100. Think of it as INSURANCE money. You put out a little now so you do NOT face a massive upset later.

Now you paint up each sample over the ENTIRE board. If you need two coats then paint two coats. You will then take the boards and place them - for a full 24 hours - in each room you are going to paint. If you have 5 rooms (living room, kitchen, 2 beds and den) then you will take 5 DAYS to make this decision.

Why? Because each room will display the colour differently. And each TIME OF DAY will display the colour differently. The 5 'lighting' points in a day are: Early morning, late morning, noon, afternoon/evening and night. You will need to observe the samples in EACH room at each of the 5 times of the day (whew...exhausting right??)

Gray is PARTICULARLY difficult to pin down because it has millions of different undertones. What it looks like under shop lighting is going to be VERY different in your home. Just turning the corner to go down the hallway it is going to be a different colour!

Go ahead and get your samples set up. The paint samples and the artist boards can be made up anytime.