Contemplating Home DIY projects

Back in January, we had a pipe burst that caused our front room to flood.  We have been on the search for weeks and weeks to find new flooring for this room.  Usually when Hubz and I go out looking for ideas, it turns into something similar to this.

Talk to the hand cause I hate that floor!

A while back and I do mean AWHILE we bought some hardwood laminate that we were going to put down in our living room, entryway and hallway with plans to later on also put it in this front room.  The flooring is still in the boxes and now they have discontinued that color so we cannot buy more.  

Now we are looking at finding flooring for all of the rooms and the two of us cannot agree on much.  We had been given the idea of tiling the entryway and finding laminate for the front room and living room.  That's a great idea but we hate each other's choices on tile.  I want something like this

Very elegant.

and he wants something like this

which is nice and elegant AND $600.  

That ain't happenin'!

We currently have a real hardwood floor that is glued down directly to the slab in the entryway only but it is a color of wood that I don't like.  Another problem is that we do not have enough money to do laminate in all these rooms or a mix of tile and laminate from our insurance proceeds and we don't have the extra in the budget to come out of pocket right now.

I am trying to come up with ideas of what to do with the current hardwood in the entryway.  I really like the idea of sanding and painting it but am not sure if the Other Half will like it.  I need to do it before we install the laminate because if I wait until after and we don't like it, it could damage the laminate if we try and take up this section later on.  

I just have no experience painting a hardwood floor.  Most say it's horrible to paint over wood but if it's a wood you don't like, why not?  Here are some ideas I've found so far that I like.

Have you ever painted a hardwood floor?  Would you or do you think that's sacrilege?