floor!
finally installed the laminate flooring this weekend. it looks awesome--really adds a lot of warmth to the room:

overall it was pretty easy to install. the only tricky part was the dealing with all the weird wall angles. it was sometimes difficult to accurately measure the angle and transfer it to the piece i was cutting--a couple of pieces i had to do sort of by trial and error and mess up a few cuts until i got it right.
it's amazing how much of a difference the flooring made. it completely changes the vibe of the room and brightens it up a lot since i no longer have that dismal, gray, concrete slab thing going on.