Saturday, July 8, 2017

Kitchen Floor

Since doing a crazy amount of work in a short period of time, it is taking a while to get things back to normal in the house. We were both physically and mentally drained.

The kitchen and half bath floors have been completed for weeks now but we just finally installed our new dishwasher. 

Here is the loveliness we enjoyed while tearing up 2 layers of ancient nasty flooring.
This flooring was the thing that bothered me most in the house and it is the last thing we have replaced! The top layer was probably about 40 years old and completely disgusting. 

Check out the super retro layer underneath! Maybe 1930s or 1940s?!? The gold specks are glittery.
Original hardwood is still here but this would have been too much work to unveil being under a sub floor and not knowing what to expect. 

So we went with this lovely, elegant tile!
It is a perfect compliment to the granite since it is understated.
Yes I am constantly sweeping its lightness. But we are very happy with the choice. We still don't have the heater cover put back on yet. That was one of my project, painting it white (it was a very tired brown before).
This choice is so perfect with the espresso stain of the cabinets and the white walls. We need to add some base trim along the floor below the cabinets. I thought the new flooring would cover where the stain ended, but not quite!
We thought we would have to have custom thresholds made but the 2 pieces our wood guy put in were perfect! Just the right height.
I also love it against the old radiator that I painted silver (another thing that was a tired brown)!

I just know you wanted to see a toilet photo today.  😉
We haven't done any updating in here except my painting of the heater. Luckily we have this odd wall sink so an attractive cabinet with sink can be added at any time. Luckily the tiled walls are still in perfect condition and in a pretty neutral tone.

We say we are done with renovations now particularly since we still have a long to do list of all sorts of small DIY projects.  Time will tell if we end up doing any work with the bathroom. 

The floor under the toilet has been rebuilt though! That was an entertaining day before the install date. We knew the floor had issues (probably from a leaking toilet 20 years ago and was never repaired properly) so Jim had a fun day of rebuilding that part of the floor.

After he did his work, I had to follow behind him to paint the heater since it could not be done with the toilet in place.

Best part of this project? This grouted tile is not real! It is called luxury vinyl tile (LVT). It is fascinating. The tile goes down and then the grout is added afterwards just like traditional.

It looks and feels like real tile! 

If we went with porcelain or ceramic we would have needed to remove the old sub floor because it would have been way too high. We realized this early on when shopping and were told of this type of flooring by the shops we went too. 

It is apparently really catching on. More people are choosing it over the real stuff because it is softer on the feet and you never have to worry about cracking it. This installation took 1 day but if this was traditional tile it would have taken 3 days.

I hope you enjoyed viewing our new floors! Thank you for stopping by. ~Val








12 comments:

  1. The LVT looks great and being uncrackable is a wonderful feature. Oh, and thanks for the toilet photo in particular!

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  2. Lovely work and the finishing is really nice. A nice and lovely home you have. Warm greetings!

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  3. It looks great and I know you will enjoy and love your home even more because of the work you did.
    :)

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  4. Your home is coming together nicely, Val! I wouldn't have guessed the tiles are vinyl. They look great! And easy to care for too! This makes me wish for a complete makeover in our little house :)

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  5. wow! you guys are such an inspiration! the floors are looking amazing

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  6. Everything is looking really great! I am so impressed how much you manage to do yourselves.

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  7. Great job Val! Home repair & replacement is so tedious. I understand. HaHaHa I'm glad to see you're getting it done before the holidays roll around. Everything looks great. Love what you guys have done.
    http://www.averysweetblog.com/

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  8. Val, everything looks wonderful!! I love the kitchen floor tile. A perfect match for those beautiful cabinets.
    I have LVT in one of the room in the addition we constructed a couple of years ago. I just LOVE it, and you'd never know it's not tile until you actually touch it. I also find that it is a bit warmer in the winter than is "regular" tile.
    Have a wonderful week!

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  9. Fantastic Val!! Looks amazing!!! Luxury Vinyl Tile?? Never heard of it! I have to tell mom about it! So cool!!!! Again, I have to say, you and your hubby should be so proud of yourselves! Big Hugs!

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  10. Very cute! Do you have any tips for pulling up that old, icky vinyl? We're about to purchase 'the old family farm' and the 1908 farmhouse has multiple layers of vinyl in some places. The most modern layer is just tacked down, but some of the older stuff is adhered.

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  11. Fantastic job!
    It's so rewarding when you can revamp your house on your own! You guys can be proud of yourself for all this hard work.
    I think you will enjoy much more everything in the house! :)
    Happy summer Val! :)

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  12. Your flooring looks great, Val! I've not heard of this new tile option, but it sounds like a winner!

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Thank you for stopping by! I love reading visitor comments! ~Val