I know many here do not like laminate. I had real wood in my kitchen, breakfast area and hall in the last house. I would never recommend real wood in a kitchen if you have dogs and kids. I worked my tail of keeping that floor nice, and it wasn't perfect when I left either. The new house came with laminate in the kitchen, hall and dining area. I have to tell you, I love it. it looks perfect and is easy to keep up. Also we have shower one piece inserts in the bathrooms and linoleum or whatever they use now-decent brand on the bathroom floors. I love these floors. A quick mop, and you are finished-no cleaning grout and resealing grout, no cracked tiles from the kids dropping things. Also, we had a tile leak in our bathroom in our old house. Out beautiful tile in the master was installed incorrectly and leaked between the shower stall and the tub. By the time we found out we had to replace the entire floor, including some joists and sheet rock the entire garage. Naturally, we had to replace the sheet rock in the bathroom and tile again. It was a nightmare. I told my husband I didn't ever want to look at tile again. Also, when we put the house on the market, I spent hours on my hands and knees touching up that floor. Laminate and linoleum are out of style right now, but they were introduced as a modern convenience years ago-these materials are very durable and easy to clean and very convenient.

Thank you @cd7733 I did see that one - I will keep searching. I love the style of the "inspiration" picture I posted - with the black and lighter grout look which I know is very specific... And have not seen that or anything that looks like it has any bit of depth or texture to it.

We are remodeling our mountain home. We'd like to add more rustic character to the house (and using this house as an inspiration: https://www.houzz.com/photos/gull-lake-home-rustic-living-room-minneapolis-phvw-vp~169675292. Here is the room right now: In addition to changing the furniture (that came with the house), some of the things we are doing: painting trim white, ripping out carpet and replacing with wood, adding reclaimed wood and metal railing where the pony wall is in upper loft extending that down the stairwell, adding reclaimed beam between living room and dining room (underneath where railing will be). We are also redoing our fireplace. I originally wanted to extend a stone up to the ceiling, but now I'm wondering if I should do something like wood paneling and plaster. I saw this picture and really loved it, but i'm not sure how that upper painted portion would look on such a large wall/ceiling and I think that's the part I love the most about this picture. We do plan to do white walls. And here is an example of a fireplace that our contractor recently did on another house: I do like the reclaimed wood mantel and sides. So my question is, should I do something other than stone for the fireplace in this room? If I do stone, what should I do? (Perhaps something like this: https://www.msisurfaces.com/stacked-stone/silver-travertine/) . (Adding, we don't have the budget for real stone so it would have to be a veneer of some sort.) . Thanks in advance!

I am in need of suggestions for my fireplace. It needs life...please offer up some suggestions. Thanks