Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Kitchen Floors: Opinions Welcome!


Do you remember my last post… Kitchen Remodel: Let's Get this Party Started ??

Yeah, well. Let's just say I haven't even sent out the invitations yet.

I'm still in the "party" planning stage. There's so much to consider, and I'm not even talking about the fun part like the tile and countertops and lighting. I'm talking budget and layout and making sure I have the right cabinet pieces to keep the kitchen functional and organized for the next 20 years :)

I've been meeting with contractors and remodeling companies and cabinet makers, and getting estimates. I'm also toying with the idea of serving as my own general contractor. You know, because I don't have enough chaos in my life!


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So, the kitchen party hasn't even started and we've already run into a glitch. Less than 4 years ago, we installed hardwood floors throughout most of the house… the living room, dining room, foyer, and upstairs hallway.





I always figured that when we were ready to remodel the kitchen, I would continue the same hardwoods into the kitchen and family room (because the carpet in there desperately needs to go). Well, guess what? The floors were discontinued, and can't be found anywhere. Believe me. I've looked. Everywhere.


All of the rooms connect to each other, as you can see by these pics I just snapped with my phone…


The foyer leading into the family room, where gross carpet needs to be replaced.


Close up of transition between foyer and family room with gross carpet.


Transition from current kitchen hardwood floors to dining room hardwoods. (Ignore the dog hair and dirt!)

At the time we installed the now discontinued floors, we were torn between solid vs. engineered vs. pre-finished vs. floors finished on site. We ended up going with Columbia Flooring's Chatham Timeworn hardwood floors in "Dockside Maple." (let me know if any of you is hoarding 900 square feet of the stuff!) It is a pre-finished solid floor. Columbia carries the same floor, but only in the engineered version. I'm just not sold on engineered, as it can't be refinished and I don't know how it will hold up over time.

Does anyone have any experience with engineered floors? Please share!!


These are the options I'm considering:

1. Get the engineered version of the floor (at least it will look the same), and install it in the kitchen and family room.

2. Sand and stain the kitchen hardwoods to get as close to the finish of the other floors. The only place it would be noticeable is the doorway between the dining room and kitchen. Put new carpet in the family room. The only wall-to-wall carpet option I really like is seagrass, and I'm not sure how well that will hold up.

3. Put carpet in family room and tile the kitchen. This is my least favorite option as I haven't seen any tile I'm crazy about. And, I'd have to switch out the tile in the adjoining side entry, powder room and mudroom, so that it's all the same.


Which option would you choose??

And, since you have been such good sports and stuck with me through this riveting post about floors, I'll reward you with a little eye candy…


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Hopefully, I'll have fewer glitches and more eye candy moving forward!

18 comments:

  1. Oh dear that sounds about like my luck, my floor man is serving time for drugs. ..no more flooring or warranty. Have you considered brick? I have been pretty satisfied with my engineered hard wood but I was lead to believe it was real wood, so kind of confused on that but whatever it is I like it

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    1. Oh goodness… I had a granite guy once who disappeared… not sure what happened to him! I do love the look of brick, and would consider, but not sure about comfort level?

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  2. We did our kitchen about a year ago and added hardwood floors. Our floor guy was able to strip the dining room and then re-stain the new kitchen floor and the old dining room floor to match. It worked very well. I'd go for the hardwood, I think once it's done you'd never know the difference. Go with what you really want, doing a remodel is a pain so you might as well get what you love.

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  3. I would go with the engineered for the continuity of the look but definitely google reviews first.

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    1. Thanks, Lori! That's what I'm leaning towards, but I can't find any reviews on this particular product. I'll have to keep digging!

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  4. I'm with Allyson. A good hardwood guy can match the stain and if you do horizontal boards at each doorway, rather than running the boards continuously , it will help with the transition. Seagrass is a great look, but with kids and dogs, it would be a heartbreaker. It is impossible to clean accidents without discoloration. And it tends to have "pulls" from doggie toenails. I'd only do it as an area rug, and that wouldn't solve your issue. Dang! It never fails that what you want most comes with warts, doesn't it? Whatever you do will be fabulous, I'm sure. You have such great taste and talent.
    Linda @ A Toile Tale

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  5. That stinks!! If your floor guy thinks he can give you almost a perfect match I would add hardwood in the family room too and then have him stain them along with the kitchen. When we redid our entire first floor last year I even took the hardwood in our powder room...I love it!

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  6. I love the stain that you've used on the living room floor wood. In that doorway where the wood changes; I really like that contrast in surface design. What made you think to change the tone of the hardwood in each room? That could be something I might consider employing in my home.
    http://www.rainwoodinteriors.com/hardwood-flooring

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  7. My wife and I are looking to get all new flooring in our kitchen and entry way of our home. There are so many different options of flooring that we don't know what we want to do yet. We are taking some time to research and look at different types of floors to see which kind we like best. This blog was super helpful and the flooring in these pictures looks awesome. http://www.modernpaintandfloors.com/en/products.html

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  8. My wife and I are looking to get all new flooring in our kitchen and entry way of our home. There are so many different options of flooring that we don't know what we want to do yet. We are taking some time to research and look at different types of floors to see which kind we like best. This blog was super helpful and the flooring in these pictures looks awesome. http://www.modernpaintandfloors.com/en/products.html

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  9. Hi! I would recommend you to go and visit reclaimed wood flooring company. They have a huge collection with variety of stylish wooden floors. I am sure you will find the matching floor type there. They have different categories like natural wood flooring, painted wood flooring and more. Hope this will be helpful.

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  11. Thanks for good posting | Kitchen Tiles. Kitchen Tiles

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  12. Thanks for this wonderful post!! I was just seeking ideas for my birthday party at some local event space NYC and found this post. I wonder if you have any suggestions for 20th birthday themes!!

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  14. Amazing post!! I am a home maker and i want to redesign my kitchen and so I am planning for hardwood floor installation . I came across your blog and found it really very helpful. thank you for posting. looking forward for more blogs from you.

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