You can actually have all three. There are a couple ways.
The first thing is “looks good,” there is a difference between “looks good” and “is exactly what I dream of.” For example, you may dream of marble floors, they are very expensive. Hard wood can look good too though, and decent veneer can look good as can laminate or vinyl or epoxy. You might like art deco, but it isn’t the only style that looks good- it is just perhaps your favorite. So you can often have something that looks good but isn’t your ideal look for cheaper.
Next let’s look at quality. What is quality to you? Do you want floors that will last for 200+ years or do you think you might remodel in 10? Why lay exotic hardwood if in 10-20 years you may want carpet or you may want another color or grain? Can you take care of things? Hard wood can scratch too. You can sand and refinish- a certain number of times- but that is work and money. The cost to refinish a hardwood floor can match or exceed the price to replace..
veneer. So that’s its own thing. Details- quality work like moldings that line up and things being square etc. isn’t always on cost. I’ve worked with or hired more than a few people who didn’t charge high prices or were dirt cheap but had skills and put care into their work. If you do work yourself, you can control the quality while keeping costs down drastically. So quality in workmanship is about who does the job and doesn’t always correlate to price. You can also consider splits- hiring workers for large time consuming jobs and then doing smaller more detail oriented jobs like moldings etc. yourself.
You can also get used materials and finishings etc. often for very cheap or even free. The odds they will be exactly what you’d buy at the store if you had unlimited budget are low, but to point 1 about looks, if you are willing to compromise or even let what you can source guide your improvements and style, you can often do quality work that looks good and pay very little. If you have to have exactly what you want or some specific style etc. and want it don’t quickly and without you lifting a finger then yeah- instead of sacrificing in those places you’ll have to make a choice like what is in the diagram.
The first thing is “looks good,” there is a difference between “looks good” and “is exactly what I dream of.” For example, you may dream of marble floors, they are very expensive. Hard wood can look good too though, and decent veneer can look good as can laminate or vinyl or epoxy. You might like art deco, but it isn’t the only style that looks good- it is just perhaps your favorite. So you can often have something that looks good but isn’t your ideal look for cheaper.
Next let’s look at quality. What is quality to you? Do you want floors that will last for 200+ years or do you think you might remodel in 10? Why lay exotic hardwood if in 10-20 years you may want carpet or you may want another color or grain? Can you take care of things? Hard wood can scratch too. You can sand and refinish- a certain number of times- but that is work and money. The cost to refinish a hardwood floor can match or exceed the price to replace..