About an hour after my home was featured in Design Sponge last week something happened; I walked around my house, gave a moment of grateful thanks to live in this wonderful place, then took a deep breath and decided I wanted to change everything.
Everything.
Why is that? I can’t imagine I’m alone in that, am I? I have a friend who spends huge amounts of time and money decorating her house, then, as soon as it’s done, she wants to move. Crazytown. Look, I’m not that bad. I certainly don’t want to move, but I do want change. In particular, I want to change the room that gets used the most: the kitchen.
So, let’s go in the kitchen. My cluttered, happy, well-loved kitchen. Keep in mind, this photo was taken this morning. No special styling or editing. Dishes in the sink, cat food on the floor. We are getting real y’all.
So, if yo have been following a while, I have shared what feels like seventy thousand photos of my kitchen over the years, but I have never shown the floors. Now you know why. It would one thing if they were just beige and boring linoleum, or, plain white tile. But no. I have beige and boring linoleum AND white tile. Why? No clue. I suspect this is because when I first moved in the dishwasher leaked a little. That might have caused the floor to peel up, and instead of fixing the leak they patched the floor. Because that totally makes sense, right? (Read: sarcasm). I want a single surface. One or the other. Or something new altogether. The almighty authority called The Interwebs tells me I can lay down vinyl tiles on top of everything in an afternoon. Has anyone actually done this? Do you have experience or advice to share? I’m all ears. I have zero interest in investing time/effort/money into hardwood or anything quality. I just want a functional floor that is easy to clean and that creates a single flat surface across the room. The existing tile/ridge situation divides the room in a way that makes me want to keep things as open as possible, which has thus far prevented me from getting what I always, always, always wanted: a kitchen table.
As much as I love having that yellow rocking chair in the room (and was just talking about the virtues of a comfortable chair in the kitchen!) I desperately want another flat surface in the house. Like a table. I need a table. Any given day of the week, I have 3-4 projects going on, and my dining table isn’t cutting it. I love the idea of having an old wooden farmhouse type of table in the center of the kitchen where I can eat lunch, or sit and paint in the morning, or take photos in the afternoon. It’s going to be a challenge to find one large enough to be worth the trouble, but narrow enough to not swallow the space. But I’ll find one. I have decided it. Lia Griffith is always taking the most fantastic tutorial photos on these textural wooden backgrounds and every time I see one, I always think WHY DON’T I HAVE A WOODEN TABLE? And then I’m like, I DON’T KNOW. YOU ARE A BIG GIRL. HURRY UP AND BUY A TABLE ALREADY.
So now I’m just talking to myself.
Let’s look at this other corner of doom that you never see on the blog.
Okay, usually that black and white curtain is pulled closed. But why bother toady? Let’s get in and dig up the dirt Dr. Phil style. And by “dirt”, I mean plastic laundry baskets with small appliances and cookbooks. Because I’m classy like that. And, obviously, this little under hutch situation is a huge waste of space. I think it’s intended as a breakfast bar where you put stools and stuff underneath. Good idea, but the thing is, the counter is actually cut on a diagonal and is less than 11″ wide towards the left end. Enjoying breakfast on 11″ of flat surface against a flat wall isn’t exactly the way I want to eat my eggs. I contemplated putting up doors or tearing off the counter, but neither one of those is a viable option (long story). Three years later, the curtain remains and the pile of stuff continues to grow. Not good.
Good news: Dale suggested I leave the counter situation as-is and install some diagonal cut shelves underneath. I’m having a hard time visualizing, but he also offered to do the installation, so I’m enthusiastically all in. And as long as this corner is getting overhauled, I think I’m going to take out that single wall shelf I put in and replace it with three smaller stacked shelves. I can do those on my own, but the under shelves are the big deal as I cannot cut wood to save my life. I hate saws. I’d like to think I’m pretty handy with power tools, but there is something about electric saws that I cannot handle. It’s usually easy enough to get around by getting the folks at Home Depot to do it for me, but they only do straight cuts. No diagonals. All the more reason to be thankful for Dale’s intervention. Thanks Dale!
Anyway. None of this is going on for a while, but this winter has me itching for change. Part of me wants to just overhaul the whole thing nice and white and clean, but the reality of the way I live and the things I love…yeah. No. Nice and white will never be me. I just want something comfortable and interesting and with room for growth!
Welp. First up is the flooring front. I’ll keep you posted, but if anyone has any idea on first-time vinyl floor installation, holler.
Thanks for the love:) I found my wooden table at West Elm.
Vinyl floor like the peel-and-stick kind? I remember my mom did this once on one of her manic “lets renovate the kitchen but cheaply” adventures. It worked out well but we didnt have a plan so we had a lot of cuts to make. I think if you read directions, start in the middle or something instead of against the wonky old house wall you should be ok. She also did the bathroom and that help up well too.
Good to know! yes, all the info I hear is the key is to find the dead center of the room, a good level tool, and work from there.
I second that. We found “light industrial” peel and stick squares in a random stone pattern that was also skid resistant — at $0.96 per sheet. No grout and 10 years later, they still look great.
I recommend opening all the boxes to look at the designs and mix them up — that way you avoid creating inadvertent patterns
That’s a great tip!
My goal was the same as yours: make my kitchen floors stop hurting my eyes for cheap and easy. I laid down a vinyl flooring in my kitchen over linoleum (I guess). It is a big square space and it only took me a day or so. I was a complete novice; it was easy and cheap and I love the end results (and get tons of compliments). The flooring I used was the Allure flooring from Home Depot. I went with the fake wood look and mine matches surprisingly well with the 1940s hardwood floors in the rest of my house. I don’t often comment, but if the email address I have to enter to comment is visible to you, email me directly and I can send you pictures or details if you would like them.
That is great to hear! That is exactly what I was hoping. I’ll look at the Allure line, but I’ll be sure to email if something comes up. Thanks!
Have you looked into cork tiles? You might have to pull up the existing flooring to get down to the subfloor, but you don’t have to use a saw to cut cork. Plus, it’s got a little give to it, which will save your knees when you are slaving over the stove for hours.
I would LOVE cork floors. Unfortunately, I have been advise dot avoid removing the existing floors myself (old adhesive = toxic fumes). If I could stick cork on top of vinyl I would do it in a heart beat!
Cork is great, it also looks fabulous painted and sealed – something that is advisable for kitchen floors.
If it were my kitchen, I would paint the linoleum, and hide the tiles under one of those very cool swedish Pappelina kitchen/outdoor carpets.
But then, I don’t share my kitchen with Lola…
Ok, for the flooring, LVP, Luxury Vinyl Plank. Period. It comes in tile looking and wood looking and you can choose to float it over the old floor with snap together planks or get the glue down kind. Either way, it cuts with a sharp razor knife, no saws, no sawdust, fast, easy peasy, lemon squeezy. We bought this http://www.earthwerks.com/index.php?region=US brand, but there are plenty of others. After a year+, 4 dogs and 1 cat, snow, dirt, and mud it still looks great!
Oooo. Oooooo! I’m off to lookasee! That sounds about perfect. I have never heard of this. I am most intrigued….
FYI which you probably know. You can successfully paint vinyl. Just saying :).
I have you tried? I have heard that. Good sanding right? If that random patch of tiles by the sink wasn’t there I would consider it, but I’d still have to pry all of them up, lay concrete to level the substraight, then put down vinyl to match…and THEN paint over. So, it’s a heavy undertaking. Then again, if I didn’t have that random patch of tiles I probably wouldn’t care. Durnitt. 🙂
congrats, girl! proud of you!
I’m sorry, I don’t have any flooring advice for you, my kitchen floor is old & worn through almost to the underlayment. It’s gotten a mottled, cratered appearance 🙁
However, that weird-angle corner would benefit greatly from some stacked shelves! Perhaps even extend them up to the ceiling, with some copper pieces on the highest shelf
You can lay peel-n-stick vinyl tile right over top of the old stuff, if you clean it really well first(I recommend using TSP as your final clean) and remove any crumbly bits. Take it from someone who knows, tearing up the old stuff is a pain, and depending on the age of it, probably a health hazard because you could release asbestos fiber into the air. Peel-n-stick is fun and easy to lay, you just need an exacto knife. =)
You sound exactly like the flooring folks at the store, but I’d rather hear it from someone who isn’t selling and has actually done it. In a house this old my assumption is the adhesives on the old layer(s) are certainly toxic.
Peel and stick, yes. Cheapest.
I like the floating floors that click together that can look like wood, pub floor, or tile. Next cheapest.
Oh, I mailed off the valentines today!
Yay for valentines! Yes, I know several friends with floating floors — looks great and easy to instal. If I wasn’t so uncomfortable around saws…
In our old house, when we sold it, we installed laminate (some people call that a floating floor I think)….anyway, we got really NICE thick laminate for dirt cheap, on sale, and it actually didnt look “cheap” like some of the cheaper ones do. This actually looked like tavern flooring. It laid right over the three layers of other flooring there was on the floor (110 year old house, lots of old flooring). It didnt take long to lay either. We had a guy do it, but it only took him a couple hours. Looked fabulous too! Easy to clean, didnt dent or scratch, and we have lots of pets.
As for storage….do you use your dishwasher a lot? Is your dishwasher something you cant live without, or could you live without it? If you dont use it much, if it’s more a space taker than really useful, use it for storage! Use the actual racks to hold stuff. Art supplies comes to mind. But you could pretty well store anything in it really. And it’s easy to access said stuff. Just a thought.
I use my dishwasher daily (a lot of cooking in this house!) but I know what you mean. I lived in a place with a broken dishwasher ten years ago and it made for an excellent drying rack. Ha!
Sounds like your 110 year old house and my place could be twins. Floor upon floor upon floor…
So I painted your basement floor with this great geometric pattern… the dogs walked on it once. It then looked awful.
So we used the Traffic Master peel and stick tiles from Home Depot. They were easy to install and look great. We used the ones that are supposed to look like slate. I kind of love them, though I thought it would be a quick fix before we put something permanent down. These will now stay.
I wonder if you could paint them ala this dreamy floor,
https://decoratorsnotebook.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/patterned-floor-tiles-black-and-white-monochrome.jpg
Oooh, that is a dreamy floor! This is one occasion I’m going for practical function over appearance, but the bathroom floor…it’s open for improvement.
I have used “luxury vinyl plank” flooring twice. First in our bathroom, as I wanted the look of wood, but not the cost. It was SO easy to do. We just placed it over the existing, aging vinyl. No adhesives. Just measure, score with a box knife and float it on top the old floor. You can get it from almost any big box home improvement store! I recently used some as a kitchen backsplash! Love the stuff! I have a suggestion for a kitchen table. I had always wanted a rustic-looking reclaimed wood table, but I didn’t want to pay the outrageous price tag that accompanied them. So, I found a very cheap table at a thrift store, scavenged wood planks here and there, screwed them on top of the old table top (from underneath), and sanded till my arms fell off. Now everyone asks where I got my gorgeous table! Good luck with the makeover. Whatever you decide, I’m sure it will be amazing!
Awesome. I was looking at LPV online last night after previous suggestions — it looks like a winner. I’m going to look in person this weekend. Glad to hear you can use over existing vinyl without trouble — that really is the key. I can’t take up the old (at this time at least). And that’s a great idea about the table! It would also give me some control on the size. The few places around here that sell reclaimed wood planks are VERY pricey (like whoa)…but I’ll keep an eye out!
I also installed vinyl plank tile. by myself. years ago. still looks great. best part — I measured carefully and cut it on my paper cutter. no knives, saws, box cutters, etc.
We did the “floating” floor throughout our house and I loved it until…the dishwasher decided to act up and overflow all over. We then had boards that were swelling and peeling from the water. Not pretty! Also…every think about putting a small bank of cupboards and an over hang counter where you can put a couple of bar stools for a breakfast bar instead of a table? They also sell a piece of furniture at Lowes that is built like that but its on wheels. I got that for my kitchen. Is great for visitors to have coffee at, can wheel it to the stove if you need extra counter area. Has a cupboard and draws. Just think what you could store in there!
My daughter did my art studio floor with peel and stick, in a brick pattern, 6 years ago. Still great and easy clean. Took about 8 hours. For measuring for the center point…measure each wall and mark the center. Then pull a taut string from point to point, on opposite walls. Mark center and chalk a cross. Stat at middle point and lay 4 tiles. Off and running with your first 2 rows, then just keep going. Buy extra tiles in case of damage while laying, or years later. Your tile may be out of stock. Good luck and love you Aunt Peaches. I am 81 years old and I have adopted you….
Haha! Glad to be adopted by one who knows how to lay down flooring. My kind of gal! 🙂
Man, I always learn (read “get into trouble”) on your site! I wasn’t even aware of Luxury Vinyl Plank and didn’t KNOW I needed it. Until just now.
In a moment of weakness I bought a cute shower curtain. If I hang a cute shower curtain, I’ll need to take down the old wallpaper. If I take down the wallpaper…. I need to redo my entire bathroom. Apparently, floor included!
I will visit your site with caution from now on! ; )
I cannot recommend the kind of vinyl that comes on a roll enough. Our is “commercial use grade”, ii is nearly impervious to everything, and looks great. One caveat…I paid someone to install it…but it wasn’t too expensive! I stand on it for 8 hours at a time, and my legs don’t tire.
I moved into an 80s house years ago that had a horrible, stained floor. I bought a bunch of the stick on tiles for a dollar each and stuck them down with the help of my teenage son. It looked great. We did a pretty fair job considering we each had no experience at it. Later on we did the bathrooms too but I had help because of tricky cuts around the toilet. I say go for it! I know you would probably want to get creative with it. 🙂
Thanks, Patty!Glad to hear all went well. Yahoo!