I need to install tile in my living room, kitchen (with dining area) and powder room. The rooms run together and I want the tile to be continuous throughout. The floor is slab on grade.

I'd love to have wood, but have a large dog that managed to severely scratch Brazilian cherry (with a scratch-resistant coating!) and a cat that throws up almost every day. And there's enough of a moisture problem that tile requires careful waterproofing underneath, so even engineered wood is risky.

I don't like wood-look tile. It doesn't feel right or sound right when I walk on it.

The living room is quite small (16.75' x 14.5') and quite dark. It houses a 7' grand piano; the sofas are upstairs in the library. I will add some shelves and a Stressless chair and a narrow chest - no big pieces. The piano has to be where it is shown below for acoustics.

I'm going to open up the outside wall with a large window installation and mirror one wall, to increase the light and sense of space.

The tile will be large format, probably laid on the diagonal. I'm considering honed in the living room (if the tile is dark) and not honed in the kitchen.

Some say that light floors make small rooms look bigger because they reflect light. Others say that dark floors recede and make a room look taller. And that's right where I'm at. I'm pasting pictures of different scenarios below and would love feedback.

I also read that dark tiles show dirt: the ones I'm looking at are mostly speckled so this may not matter as much.

I seem to overload this page with too many pictures, so I'm going to try to paste them in replies instead.