I've always seen the carpet tucked into the tile/carpet transition using the same scraping/tucking tool that's used at the baseboards. I guess it's possible to do this poorly and end up with fraying at the carpet edge, but I've had many like this in my homes over the years and none have frayed. This doesn't typically work at vinyl/carpet transitions because there's not enough height on the vinyl side of the transition to tuck the carpet edge in, which is why transition pieces are almost always indicated at vinyl/carpet boundaries. But carpet/tile boundaries can be finished looking and durable without transition pieces or binding the carpet edge. This post was edited by GauchoGordo1993 on Wed, Dec 4, 13 at 19:48

I used several placements in my showroom. In the wine bar below, I placed the Hafele LED tape lights onto the back of the light rail, in a vertical orientation, shining back towards the backsplash. They are the warm color ones, and they also wrap the inside of the faceframe of the corner cabinet to light it's interior. The outlet directly below is the power supply, and the drivers are hidden in the corner cabinet. [Traditional Wine Cellar[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-wine-cellar-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_755~s_2107) by Memphis K&B Designer ProSource Memphis In the Dynasty kitchen below, the counter is darker and more reflectivee and has no light rail. The Hafele LED tape lights are mounted directly to the underside of the cabinet boxes at the front, in a horizontal manner, shining down on the counter. IMHO, this produces the better task lighting, although the greater lumens supplied by the cool white lights may also contribute to that perception. Here, I have 2 different power sources. The right hand section of lighting is powered from a receptacle above the cabinets. You can see the lead from the box to the driver to the right, above the sink area. Thellights on the left hand side are powered from the receptacle behind the blender, but the driver on that side is still mounted on top of the cabinet. [Transitional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/transitional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2112) by Memphis K&B Designer ProSource Memphis You can see the lights reflecting off of thepolished Cambria Parys counter here in the corner where the seam is located. I wouldn't call that reflection ''glare'' though. [Transitional Kitchen Countertops[(https://www.houzz.com/products/transitional-kitchen-countertops-prbr1-br~t_439~s_2112) by ProSource Memphis

OK that helps. Bringing in the black will really help your overall look. Black helps "ground" a space. Here is a look that might be interesting and different for your high volume entry space. The glass globes hang from a center plate and you can design whatever look you want because each glass globe hangs independently. Believe it or not, it is pretty inexpensive as fixtures go for large, high ceiling spaces. This is a large home I did a couple years ago and with this turning staircase and a long window that faced outside, we wanted a "statement". This did it and didn't break the bank. You can get different numbers of glass balls as well. A good lighting store could help you do something like this.

you don't have to go w/hex,,,i was just showing you the pics on how to blend. you could do marble, or travertine, slate, porcelain,, you already have plain white tile. you're redoing it? but 12x12 is dated, and 12x24 is meh,,,that slate tile in the herringbone is nice. we know that's not dated since you find it in 18th century Europe. Hex has been around since mid century in home design, so, I don't think that's going anywhere. And mcm is on a comeback. just pick something you like that looks good. don't worry about the buyers in a few years. with the stuff I see in homes that get bought, some hex tiles aren't going to deter anyone!