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