Declaration - I am a rug business owner. The pros for having a rug - subfloor protection, noise suppression and atmosphere outweigh the cons - scratched floors (we all have a friend who comes for dinner and tips on their chair) noise (my kids constantly scrape the chairs) and cold bare atmosphere. Rugs complete rooms. Maybe the issue with young kids who are messy eaters could be the only reason you hold back. The issue relating to timber fading is another matter - timber floors darken with UV exposure, so your rug should always be moved around to make sure the fade lines are not obvious. Even if it just 10cm here and there to mix up the exposed area.

Hi tweeza, I used Annie Sloan chalk paint and Annie Sloan clear wax on the table. It took 3-4 coats of paint, Then the wax. I still love it. It has stood up very well. I even use spray and wipe on it occasionally. I will probably re wax the top again in a year or two. I also have done this small dresser. I took the table photo today just now. It looks just as good. Annie Sloan you don't have to sand or prime, but you do need to watch for thick drips, the one I did get I sanded back between coats to get a flat smooth surface, not the whole thing just the thick drips. I have a small electric sander took a couple of mins each drip, wax needs a couple of thin layers then buff. I used lambs wool pad on an electric drill for the sheen. You need to make sure wax is really dry before the buff, wait about a week would be my recommendation. I love the chalk paint ..so many pretty colours, the table colour is pure white and the inside of the dresser is Paris grey. There is an antique white as well, apparently the pure white is the thinnest of the colours and you need an extra coat compared to other colours.

Most timber stains will look good but I would go for a mid brown stain. Look at kitchen photos here on house - search white kitchen with timber floors. I just checked myself - when you enter white kitchen and timber floor- the majority of photos have medium tone (35000 images ) and only 15000 images or for dark timber and even less for light tone timber.

I would pick one of the colours out of the bricks. I think lighter rather than darker so the house doesn't look top heavy. When you factor in the whole cost of the extension, paying a colour consultant could be well worth the money. I have added a single story cladded extension to my brick house. The colour consultant was well worth the money. For me, I didn't want it to look like I was pretending the cladding was brick, so went for a colour that complemented the brick rather than blending in. A lot of new houses have cladding bumpouts included in the new build as a feature, I think this is a good look that you could go for. The extension as a feature rather than try to disguise it.