Ship's Log aboard S/V No Más: Naked or covered? ~Captain Steve

Work, work, work, and more work. It seems that is all we've been doing but the results have been amazing. One of the bigger decisions was deciding about the floor and the walls. In our case, leave them bare/ "naked" or cover them with paint and carpet. I've seen heated arguments between sailors over something as simple as paint. There are basically two groups of sailors in this regard; traditionalists and everyone else. We fall in the "everyone else" category.
Traditionalists believe a boat should be covered in shiny, polished teak, head to toe inside. They spend most of their spare time polishing, buffing, shining and cleaning the yards and yards of teak. I don't believe they have kids and I'm sure they don't have big dogs. I know they have a money tree planted somewhere, and they are rightfully very proud of their beautiful ships.
I, on the other hand,

Have kids.
Have not one, but two big dogs.
Don't have any spare time.
Have NOT found my secret money tree.
My boat is my home.

I want my home to be comfortable for my family. Whether it's so my wife won't slip on the polished teak while walking through the boat at night, or so my dogs won't scratch the floor I just spent 3 hours polishing; I decided I was not going naked….at least not my floor. I just replaced all the wood flooring since most of it was rotten and then I promptly covered it up with carpet. Now does that make me a rebel? I hope so! I know it makes my feet happy at night and my kids happy when they don't fall down everywhere. I know it will get wet, I know it won't last and that's why I went cheap. (Remember I still haven't located that money tree) It was free! It's always better when it's free!
How about the walls? Traditionalists like to see acres of dark wood because that's what a sailboat should have, right? Well, not me. What makes a room look bigger? Light colored walls, that's what. I think it looks sharp. And I'm not the only one. Anyone heard of a guy by the name Herreshoff? Nathanael Herreshoff was a famous yacht builder in the late 1800's. He was known for white walls and ceilings with beautiful wood trim. It looks amazing, it looks clean, it looks roomy and it looks like home. This technique made our 28' Morgan look like a 33' inside and it has made our 41' look huge! Painting walls are a great way to cover imperfections and open up the space. I will post more pictures soon but here's example of the finished reading nook/Ralph's bed and a before picture of the v-berth. Wrapping up the cosmetics and initial repairs soon!
~Captain Steve