Worthy, thank you. No pictures yet as we just have a concrete block bunker at the moment and I doubt I could figure out how to post a picture even if I had one. We are in central coastal Florida and the exterior will indeed be what the builder is calling "old world" stucco painted white. The general idea is that the original owner was a merchant who rose is the world to afford a bigger house and added on rather than building new. Thus we have the "old old" wing of the house with the kitchen, great room and 2 upstairs bedrooms connected by the foyer to the "merchant's addition" that now has the master bedroom and office. This has not been researched for historical accuracy but is sort of a take off on the idea of how the Pennsylvania farmhouse grew with the income and family size of the farmer. Also, when we decided to build I was determined not to plunk another Italianate villa on the landscape. I hope I'm not committing an atrocity against an island style home but this is what the architect came up with.

msrose & jlmjawj- The first picture of your Parade of Homes is a Noce Travertine-looks like the color is the "Walnut". It is laid in a "versaille" pattern. We are actually in the middle of our kitchen remodel and that is exactly what we are using as our floor tile. It has been a popular pattern here in California. The overall look is an Old World, Tuscany style. Hope that helps!

We selected a high end vinyl free floating wood plank flooring, for several reasons including patio / yard access direct through the 12 foot french door in the kitchen, sloppy dogs and general durability. Great wear and scratch warranty, 20 years. We are doing the entire main living area of DR, kitchen, den, foyer and powder room in the same. Installed over concrete and in the what used to be a sunken floor in the den, now plywood. Should be completed in a week, fingers crossed. We have friends who have a Karndean vinyl wood plank floor in their sun room. 11 years of no heat, soaking wet from rain and humidity and a fun filled patio and pool and beer pong marathons and it still looks like new. I was sold.

Good thinking to see steam in action first. It is hard to imagine how good it is before seeing it. A small nozzled brush attachment is good for grout lines; with that, the steam has already cooled down if you brush your hand by only 1/8" to 1/4" away. If you run it without any attachments, you risk hurting yourself as the steam needs a nozzle calibrated to let only a small amount out. In all the attachments the steam that comes out is a minor amount of water. What concentrated steam does is loosen "dirt" molecules so it comes off, and the steam even partially breaks it down (into simpler organic compounds). If you keep going over the same area again and again you will warm the tiles and they will be wet too. Passing once or twice over any flat surface does not leave water behind, but in general they do not recommend using it on delicate surfaces; use your judgement once you get used to it. To wrap (diaper) the flat attachments I have tried using J cloth material, cotton, linen, swiffer material, etc. They are all good. They all let steam through and soak up the dirt. Thin towel material tends to soak up the steam but it still lets some through too so it works too. I should have video'd my first time. One day someone will do that and post it on YouTube. It's either fascinating or disgusting depending on how much you are involved in keeping things clean, and how hard you have tried to clean things before discovering steam cleaners. David