Thoughts on new flooring

Instead of a pets on furniture post this morning, you're getting my thoughts on my flooring situation because I am short on submissions once again (if you'd like to submit photos please send them to kim[at]desiretoinspire[dot]net). I had Friday off so the husband and I went tile shopping AGAIN. Ottawa seems to be very limited in anything renovation related, so I have been having a hard time finding anything even remotely interesting, and every store seems to carry the same products. I am desperate to get the flooring situation in my house dealt with soon because I feel like that should be the next step before anything else I tackle. To recap, we are looking to rip up all the hardwood in the vestibule, foyer, living and dining room, and the tile in the kitchen. I want to tile the vestibule, foyer and kitchen and do a rustic looking hardwood in the living and dining rooms. Here are some photos I took when we first moved in of the foyer and vestibule:

Here is the kitchen which leads to the door to the backyard. In the photo above the dining room is to the left with the kitchen behind it, and living room to the right. 

My tiny kitchen. TINY. 

We would tile down to the back door, and this is the little hallway where our fridge resides in a bump-out on the back porch. Strange, I know. 

The kitchen walls have since been painted in Farrow & Ball's Stiffkey Blue, the hardware and lighting have been replaced with brass and we've been waiting almost 2 months for our freaking brass faucet to arrive. 

Farrow & Ball kindly sent me a roll of Anime wallpaper to line my glass cabinet...but since they sent me an entire roll, I was thinking of also wallpapering the wall with the archway leading to the back door. 

In the living and dining room we want to make our own 'rustic/reclaimed' wood. This flooring we spotted at Orange Gallery was made with Home Depot wood! 

At first I thought black marble would be a good choice for a tile as it would suit the style of my traditional craftsman home. 

But that's a bit boring. And what if it ends up being too vein-y?

Friday we came across these grey dark concrete colour hexagon tiles at Céragrès that I fell in love with. We brought one home to try and it seems really dark, and I'm not keen on introducing another colour to the kitchen. 

Céragrès is getting samples of this gorgeous chevron tile today but the length is 24" and I think that would be too long for the narrow spaces we are working with.

A kind employee at Centura Tile told us about a new line they are carrying next month - including this cool herringbone tile (by Fioranese). 

But again, maybe too dark. And I don't think this would work in the kitchen. 

At Centura I spotted this in a corner and immediately started hyperventilating. (But at about $16/sq ft it's pricey)

After discussing this topic with some family members around my parent's pool Saturday during a heat wave, a suggestion was made to have a different tile in the foyer from the vestibule and kitchen. I had not thought of that. I mentioned my concern for not being able to use a fun wallpaper in the foyer and up the stairs (I have been dreaming about Farrow & Ball's black and white Lotus pattern) if the tile was too graphic. So my younger sister came up with what I think is likely the perfect solution. The patterned black and white in the above photo in the really tiny vestibule and in the kitchen, and solid black and white tiles in a checkerboard pattern but laid diagonally in the foyer. This way we get the drama of the gorgeous pattern which I think is a perfect tile in my rather plain kitchen, and then a solid in the foyer so I can use a bold wallpaper that won't compete with the floors. 

I would love to hear your thoughts/comments before I make my tile purchases hopefully next weekend. :)

Comments

[Jenny]

Don't do anything to forfeit that amazing wallpaper! That is my 2 cents.

[B]

If you plan to hang wallpaper in the foyer, will you add molding to the entryway into the living room to match the dining room?

[KiM]

Thanks everyone for your comments! Now you all have me totally rethinking what I thought was a pretty solid plan. I'll do a post on Monday with my latest thoughts on where I think I'm going with this. But bottom line is I think I absolutely have to have that wallpaper.
@B - no. That moulding is there because there are 2 stained glass double doors leading into the dining room. And I would have to get holding custom made to fit the arch and that's an expense i don't think is necessary.
P.S. The Canadian Home Depot site blows.