Hello kellyi. The living room needs straight, long drapes in a simple pattern, I think. No swags, no tie-backs, no extra anything. I'd look for something with a light, off-white background as the room is a bit heavy with brown, and perhaps a geometric pattern that introduces your favourite colour. It could happily be green, but the room is so neutral it could be anything. Pick up that colour in a couple of throw pillows, which could also be patterned, or plain. On the lighting I think you could probably get better advice from someone else. But I'd also like to suggest big art for your fireplace to hang just a few inches above the mantlepiece. Again something modern, light and bright. Preferably with a touch of brown in it but other colours predominating -- including the curtain colour. I think these are both charming and cheerful, but of course nothing is more about your personal taste than choosing a painting. These are on etsy.com, in the landscapes section.

Are you sure you can add a wooden etc floor to your apartment? There are often strata restrictions. I'd go for the product that wears the best.

Vinyl......easy to keep clean. Laminate floors can only be mopped with a mop wrung out til nearly dry in cold/lukewarm water or dry mop. My floor never felt clean the whole time I had laminate floors.......I like a hot mop with cleaner in it.

Hello Erika, thank you for posting this link, but more importantly one should read the reference material it relies on; namely https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/562CF83B7AECFC8FCA2584420002B113/$File/NDDT-Final-Report-June-2021.pdf where this tabloid with its sensationalizing headline and selectively quoting from a single study and saying "there is increasingevidence dust control measures do not reduce the levels of silica to non-hazardous levels." all makes for a good story, however this so called "evidence" is of one small study that measured exposure and made its conclusions from dry cutting practices, which is a practice that is in contravention of existing Work Health Safety regulations. So going back to the lead reference material of your link; the National Dust Disease Task Force Report, they identify the major problem is Non-Compliance of those said safety guidelines that I discussed in my earlier post, where this non-compliance is happening by some remaining Stonemasons who now knowingly don't comply with those safety guidelines. I suspect I am not going to change your mind on this issue but I think it is wrong to demonize the product when the problem today is human behaviour of those wanting to save on their bottom line and knowingly fail to comply with set safety regulations. Your condemnation of this product is like saying all Cars should be banned because there are some people who drive recklessly. This report from the National Dust Disease Task Force is worth reading along with its recommendations to combat this non compliance. Malcolm