We also have a courtyard villa and had all the carpet and linoleum removed. We then had the whole house done with Italian ceramic tile. We also had the master shower re-built and tiled as well.
I would suggest using the smaller (12") tile instead of the larger (18-24") tile in case you need one replaced somewhere down the road.
We also had him remove the carpet from the Lanaii and had it tiled before we had our glass sliders installed.
The old carpet was in good shape, and was donated to habitat for humanity. We replaced both toilets with higher toilets since they were removed for the installation and they were also donated.
Since we have a teacup chihuahua and a Bichon.....and cats...we did not want carpeting.
There are several tile people that are listed in the paper that will give you a good price, but I really do not want to recommend one over another.
I have installed pergo before and do not like the "plastic" sound when walking on it. We prefer a nice wood or tile.
You might want to consider solar lights also....they are great!
Clean, fast installation and they give lots of natural light.
