Flooring suggestions? Hardwood, tile or other?

10 years ago

Hi everyone! Hoping to get some opinions on this one.....

We are part way through a remodel of a second home. Cabinets, counters, and most appliances in. Haven't selected backsplash or paint yet. The floor is my current dilemma.

This house is a mid-century modernish house in No Cal (I've been told it's prairie style...). We have great views from the back of the house, and intend to make much of the back of the house glass. The first two pictures below show the current state of the remodel. The wood floors are in really bad shape, and need to be refinished. They are nice wide oak planks (which is fine), but what I don't love is that they are grooved on the sides. I could probably learn to live with the grooves if we refinish them but, before we make a decision I'd like your opinions on some options.

The third picture shows what we are planning to do with our south-facing wall. We want to put in the floor to ceiling window doors that stack off to the side when you open them, enabling you to essentially have the deck as part of the kitchen. Although this picture shows a different surface for the deck versus the kitchen, I've seen other pics with both the inside and outside floor areas made of the same material that looked really cool.

What I've come up with are the following options:

1) Refinish the wood in the kitchen and dining room and choose a different material for the patio (tile, Ipe wood, etc)

2) Replace the kitchen floor (which goes into the dining room (partially visible in the picture) and the foyer with a tile (wood look tile or other tile), slate/stone, or ipe wood--and continue that material out onto the deck.

Reactions? Ideas?? Thanks-I always love reading everyone's opinions and ideas on this forum!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (10)

ck_squared
10 years ago
What a cool home you have. Love your kitchen and am envious of those who live in CA where you can open up whole walls to the outside.

I have seen photos where the floor runs the same inside and out and that is what I would do. Love that third photo, but imagine how much grander that space would look with the same flooring inside and out (though that space is already quite grand!).

With that said, I'd find some large field tile that would work in both spaces; something on the lighter side.

Your wood floors are gorgeous, though... Sorry, I'm no help, am I?

Either way, you can't go wrong! :)
Catherine Roddick
10 years ago
If you tear out those floors, do it very gently. Then call me- I'll come get them. :)
Related Discussions
What tile/stone + hardwood to complement each other?
Q
Comments (3)
main reason being i am not a carpet person due to allergies. so that has got to go (70% home is on carpet). and since carpet will be removed, i might as well just change all the rest of laminate flooring all in one go - this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime project and i dont intend to repeat such major remodeling work after i move in
...See More
What other hardwood flooring would work well with Santo Mahogany?
Q
Comments (9)
Sigh. Nope. You have a peachy-gray floor tile downstairs and a flaming red/orange/brown floor upstairs. There is really no match. The ONLY thing I can think of = ebony coloured floors. Sigh. Yep. Wood that is SOOOOOO dark it almost looks painted (match the dark grout lines). This is really the only thing that will pull these two floors "together". And living with a SUPER DARK floor is HELL. I wouldn't recommend it. You have a very good eye for complimenting the tile. The vinyl floor you have chosen is a beautiful match to the tiled floors. If this is your MAIN floor and the tiles are STAYING FOR 15 YEARS OR MORE, then I would suggest you IGNORE the Santos Mahogany and run the floor you want into the space. But IF YOU PLAN on removing the tile in the next 5-7 years, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you stop and take a breath. You will need to sit down and figure out what direction you want to the space to take when the tiles are removed. If you are doing renovations 1 step at a time, you BETTER HAVE a 7 year renovation plan IN PLACE. That plan will include COLOURS. You will want to create a story board (just like they do when making movies or TV shows) that documents what COLOURS you want things to be at the END of the 7 year plan. Whew. This decorating stuff is not as easy as it looks! And then the next question becomes, how long are you planning to keep the Santos Mahogany?
...See More
Kitchen Floors - hardwood vs Vinyl plank floor vs Other??
Q
Comments (9)
I am not a huge fan of vinyl plank flooring. It feels very fad'y. Ten years from now, it'll be the one thing that lets you date when you did the remodel. Having said that, they do have pretty decent designs these days. They come really close to fooling you into thinking it's the real thing. And while some of the hype seems to be just that, they reportedly do stand up to abuse much better than older man-made materials. The nice thing about real hardwood though is that you can relatively easily refinish it. Or you can pick a material that looks great even when it is distressed. Neither one is really an option with vinyl planks. On the whole, I do agree with you though. The much better flooring material in the kitchen is tile. No need to stress if you spill something. And if you install radiant floor heating, it feels really nice on your feet, too. And if you carry if through the rest of the house, you can use area rugs in select locations. But that's going to be more expensive than putting down LVP. So, it's a bit of "you get what you pay for". On the other hand, if you plan on living in the house for the long run, it might make sense to do things right once, rather than replacing the cheaper flooring every couple of years.
...See More
Hardwood floor -- stain color and other questions
Q
Comments (4)
The guy you had out works mostly with oil based. S/he figures every floor 'ambers' so that's what s/he is telling you. Which may or may not be what is happening. What I would worry about is an oil-MODIFIED waterborne poly. An oil-MODIFIED waterborne WILL AMBER...just a little bit. They are used because they are CHEAP, TOUGH and they offer the 'depth' of colour that old-timers LOVE to see with wood. By 'depth' we mean the 'amber jewel tones' in the wood (amber is a nice way of saying ORANGE). The photo of your floor is poorly lit. If you can stand ON the slate and take a photo from the other direction OR from a different spot in the wood floor room that would be much easier. With the lighting in your photo it is impossible to say if this is ambering or if it is 'bad lighting'.
...See More
remodelfla
10 years ago
Your home is fabulous. I adore those window wall systems and wished we could have done them in our home! My first instinct was to say go with the same floor throughout into the outside. Then I saw your floors. I'd be hard pressed to tear those out. I'd refinish and then do a tile or stained concrete that matched in color.
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
10 years ago
If I were lucky enough to have a midcentury prairie style, I would want to keep as many of the original features as practical... I think that the original floors are lovely and I would definitely keep them, even though your idea of running the same flooring inside & out.

If you decide that you cant live with them, though, you might consider cork. I think that could compliment those beautiful cabinets (it comes in many colors and patterns so you surely could find something you like)
Anne Harris
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you for the feedback!

CK--to your point, what I am hoping to do is have the space feel like a unified space when the glass doors are all open. I do think that will make the space feel more like one large room! (I am a native Atantan who is accustomed to looking at the beautiful outdoors from inside my air conditioned house during the summer because I can't stand the heat, humidity, and bugs! It's a treat to go to No California where it drops to the low 50s at night, even in July/Aug and you can open your doors and windows and there's a BREEZE!!! LOL

Norcal--I hear ya! These floors are in really bad shape (camera doesn't show it). But the refinisher I've had look at them promises they will look brand new. He will need to replace about 10% of the planks that beyond hope (water leaks, etc). He sanded a patch and put down some test colors. It is amazing how different that little area looks. I really don't like ripping out good hardwood...

Remodelfla--Thank you for your comments! I think your suggestion is a good one--to find a matching wood tile (not sure we can do concrete since the deck is slighlty elevated off the ground??(But it would be less expensive!)

Raee-- we bought this house two years ago, and I have really fallen in love with its mid-century style. We are trying to update the house and honor it's original design, while at the same time bringing electrical, plumbing, etc. up to current standards.

Thanks again for your help!
fumet
10 years ago
Hi,

Keep them! We just re-sanded and lacquered our old pine boards that are over a hundred years old and they do come up amazingly well. Some replacements had to be made because of damage (mainly bad tradesmen, probably).

IMHO, old boards brought back to life are more beautiful than new perfect boards or any other flooring for that matter. Just make sure that the sanding man goes through all grades thoroughly and applies a good few layers of lacquer.. We went for 4 layers of satin lacquer.
ellendi
10 years ago
Wood look tiles?
remodelfla
10 years ago
I actually didn't mean wood look tile (which I love and have myself). Just a tile in a similar color to what the floor looks like once refinished.
plumberry
10 years ago
have you seen this tile linked here. We really wanted to use it for our mcm home but we have white kitchen and it wasn't enough contrast.

Here is a link that might be useful: everstone durastone
Anne Harris
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Ellendi--I need to look at the wood tiles--see if there is something that will look good with real wood next (I could see it being perfect or a diasaster is it's "off"!)

Plumberry--those everstone tiles look very pretty. I'm a total novice about tile, so I really appreciate the link. I'm quite sure I wouldn't have found them on my own!

Flooring suggestions? Hardwood, tile or other?

Comments (10)

ck_squared

Catherine Roddick

Related Discussions

remodelfla

raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio

Anne Harris
Original Author

fumet

ellendi

remodelfla

plumberry

Anne Harris
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Flooring suggestions? Hardwood, tile or other?

Comments (10)

Related Discussions

Anne HarrisOriginal Author

Anne HarrisOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Anne Harris
Original Author

Anne Harris
Original Author