Jane, I was not attempting to discourage you from painting your floor. I just wanted to share what I learned through my own experience, because you had mentioned that you once considered using tile. Also, whoever buys the house might choose a floating floor and the paint wonÂt make a difference. Although I decided not to use paint on my porch/sunroom, I plan to go ahead with painting the plywood floor in the finished basement. Like you, I am contemplating a beachy (or summery) look, especially since I am on the coast. I thought about a distressed white or a gray similar to weathered shingles or weathered wood (ThereÂs so much of it around here). The patterned floors look great and seem like fun. The possibilities are endless. You can use stencils or sponging. You can also paint a faux area rug. This year I donÂt have the time or patience to attempt a pattern, but I am trying to learn decorative painting and maybe soon I can acquire the skills to attempt a pattern. For now, the painted floor is something inexpensive to go under area rugs. IÂm no help with a color scheme, but your wicker serving cart is great and will probably look good no matter what colors you choose. With area rugs, lots of plants and that lovely wicker cart, the floors donÂt have to be noticeable unless the paint looks really good.

Thanks everyone. I think I will have the curtains made and the room painted and wait and see before committing to the white for the chairs. I love the curtain fabric and if the white looks wrong I'm sure I could find a creamier matelasse if I look hard enough. I just want to have it all "done" but I don't want to regret any decisions either. My kids think the empty room is pretty fun anyways! I'll update with pictures when those steps are done:)

I love a hand scraped hardwood floor but I'm not sure I see that jiving with the more formal traditional cherry cabinets. A regular white oak floor that was natural would work. I think you need to work from the bottom up. First, pick your floors, but they should also reflect the vintage/style of your home. There seems to be hardwood under the bar area - is that also under the carpet. If so, I would sand it down and finish it with a water based clear coat for the lighter look you like. You could run it into the kitchen and it would look fine with the cherry or if you decided to paint the cabinets. Otherwise, I think real actual hardwood is a wise investment. A couple of chairs on either side of the fireplace with maybe a small coffee table. I don't love the 90's green marble so I'd switch that out. I'm not a fan of wood trim so I'd paint the mantle and maybe try to pry off some of the decorative trim (but that's just me) as I prefer light and bright. It's hard to arrange furniture with no dimensions, so that may have to wait.

Because you have a bold print on the seating, it creates a challenge finding a bold print rug that goes. It helps to have the prints on a different scale. You didn't mention what size rug you are looking for. It would help people make appropriate recommendations (I was looking for 9x12; if you want bigger than that it will limit your choices).