Let’s Talk Cheap, Temp Flooring

Our Current Kitchen Flooring

Look at that awesome floor!  That’s what’s currently in our kitchen.  There is no doubt about it that whoever did the last major reno to this house loved pink.  We have pink countertops, an entire pink bathroom that feels like a ceramic womb, pink floors, pink window ledges, pink walls.  There is no end to the pink.  But for now, lets just focus on that floor.  At a distance, say standing up and just looking at it, it’s ugly, but you can’t tell that it’s actually that filthy until you get down close to it.  Granted this picture is from underneath the fridge.  But you get my point.

So what are we considering?

Well we know for sure we are going to rip out those stick on tiles.  Thanks to the above picture we can see what’s underneath it and no part seems to be “soft” as we walk on it (and trust me I walk heavy) so we should just be able to put the new floor down on top of the existing subfloor.

We also know that we are aiming for “cheap, yet modern and stylish.”  The cheaper the better without compromising the looks too much.  We want this kitchen update to satisfy us for about 5 years and then we hope to gut it and rip out walls and have a much more open floor plan.  So we are not opposed to vinyl or laminate.  However, we are opposed to tile because it hurts the feet. Plus who wants to clean grout?  Not this girl.

These are some options and ideas that I’ve bookmarked and perused.  (For an ongoing and up to the minute look into my brain, follow me on pinterest! http://www.pinterest.com/jessiedrm – nobody pins harder than I do)

First off, I am pretty obsessed with laying the floor in a herringbone pattern.  However, with the options of actual flooring we are considering, I don’t think this is possible based on the size of the planks/tiles vs. the size of our kitchen.  The scale is off.  I am still brainstorming on whether or not this is possible, though, so it’s still in the running.

Herringbone Patterned Floor #1

Herringbone Patterned Floor #2

Originally, the plans were for a grey floor, but now we are unsure.  I also really love Home Depot’s fake cork options.  The end real kitchen update in ~5 years has a planned cork floor in my head, but as of right now, fake cork-look is much more in the budget.   We don’t want wood because the rest of the house is wood and it’d be killer to try to match up.  Plus, it seems like it’d be a lot of work to maintain in a kitchen.  Here are pics and links to the options we’ve been discussing:

TrafficMaster Ceramica 12 in. x 24 in. Coastal Grey Vinyl Tile Flooring (30 sq. ft./case) at Home Depot for $1.69/sq.ft.

Armstrong Imperial Texture 12 in. x 12 in. Classic White Standard Excelon Vinyl Composition Tiles (45-Pack) for $0.73/sq. ft. – but NOT in this classic/retro checkered pattern, but still patterned in someway

TrafficMaster Allure 6 in. x 36 in. Lisbon Cork Dark Resilient Vinyl Plank Flooring (24 sq. ft./case) for $1.99/sq.ft – This is a terrible picture. Who has a bright orange kitchen?

TrafficMaster Allure 6 in. x 36 in. Natural Cork Resilient Vinyl Plank Flooring (24 sq. ft./case) for $1.99/sq.ft.

TrafficMaster Allure 6 in. x 36 in. Natural Cork Resilient Vinyl Plank Flooring (24 sq. ft./case) for $1.99/sq.ft.

 

There are also some considerations from Lowe’s, that d0n’t have “room views” —

Cryntel 12″ x 12″ Ebony Marble Finish Vinyl Tile for $0.88 each

Style Selections 18″x18″ Aspen Gray Stained Concrete for $2.21 each

Style Selections 12″ x 12″ Crescendo Marble Gray Marble Finish Luxury Vinyl Tile for $1.13 each

Congoleum 16″ x 16″ Quartz White Stone Granite Finish Luxury Vinyl Tile at $73.04 each case of 10 tiles

Congoleum 16″ x 16″ Quartz Midnight Granite Finish Luxury Vinyl Tile at $73.04 for a case of 10 tiles

 

As you can see, the choices are wildly variable and we’ve got a long way before we make a decision.  We like to mull over things until we’re sick of thinking about them then we just make some sort of snap decision like it shoulda and coulda been made in 10 minutes lifetimes ago.

A Quick Preview of Mission: Trash Hiding

Disassembling the awkward corner cabinet

The end plan to hide the trash involves a very awkward slanted cabinet.  Follow me through this picture.  As you can see we have 4 openings in this cabinet.  The top two on either side look they should be drawers, but nah, that’d be too useful.  Instead, they were just two fold down drawer fronts that opened to one big awkward space.  In the months we’ve lived here, we’ve never used it.  The two huge openings that remain were doors.  They both opened up to one big awkward moveable shelf.  We attempted to store baking sheets and the like in here with disastrous results.  It was annoying and we hated it, basically.  So we popped out the adjustable shelf after we took the doors off and then Kevin got to to town using his oscillating tool to remove the piece of cabinet between the folddown parts and the door.

Removing the permanent shelf

You’d think the remaining “permanent” shelf would easily break out, but alas it did not.  So Kevin went at it with the oscillating tool and it eventually snapped out.  No turning back now.

Opened up cabinet

Eventually we arrived at this point – a big wide open cabinet.  The plan is the permanently attach the fold-down fake drawer face and the bottom door both to the middle piece that was formerly attached to the cabinet.  Follow me?  So we will have two larger doors for each side that look the same as before, but each side moves as one solid piece.  We haven’t decided if we want them to tilt out or swing out, but we’re hoping we can find some ovular trash bins that will fit in these spots for our trash and recycle.

 

So here’s where we stand as of this post on our kitchen checklist:

• Prime, paint, and seal the cabinets.
• Buy new hardware and add it to the cabinets (duh)
• Paint the walls and ceiling
• Re-do the countertop (either paint or re-laminate)
• Replace the floor
• Finally finish installing the big light
• Replace the under cabinet light
• Find a permanent solution for the trash and recycle bins (on our way!)
• Make the upper corner shelf open shelving
• Possibly replace the above-window light
• Add some sort of curtains to the window and the door
• Strip and repair the doors to the outside and to the basement
• Paint the doors to the outside and the basement
• Bright high glass white paint on the trim
• Create a family command center on the big open wall that includes a calendar, mail center, meal planner, and anything else we may find useful.
• Decorate.
• Enjoy.

 

We’ve come a long way. ha. ha. ha.

Our first before & after reveal – The Main Bathroom, During (Paint Fixin’)

Before we did anything, I had to remove all of the old paint from the top of the tile. There was no ‘clean line’ where the paint stopped.

One of the first things I tackled for the new bathroom was removing the old paint off of the top line of the tile.  I really liked the mint green & yellow combo, thankfully, so this was more of a facelift than a reno.  But the last owner painted the bathroom a very plain white and got it all over the tops of the tile.  In the pic above you can see where I removed the paint starting from the right and was working my way left.

Want to see something gross?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pictured above is actually DURING the cleanup of one of the windows in our new home.  That’s right – they were ever way way dirtier than pictured here.  Every window in the place was caked with orange dirt.  We later realized it was probably the result of some indoor smoking (something suggested by a friend – which we had not considered).  It is incredibly gross though and we finally got it off with a LOT of elbow grease + 409 cleaner + Windex (obviously).

The only “after” I seemed to take was once Kev & his dad mounted the new fauxwood window blinds, but it’s obviously in that slideshow as well haha  As you can hopefully see though, they look about brand new!  Elbow grease, man – something that after two months here that we’ve realized is both priceless & in short supply haha