I'm no boxerpups, but think a peppercorn stained quartersawn oak in a shaker stlye would look great with that floor.

Ok, well then at least I'm in the right direction with the cabinets!

Doraville, you are better than boxerpups!!!
Great idea qurt sawn oak would be yummy.
~boxerpups

Sivyaleah,
Those floors are a treasure. How exciting for you!!!
How about some images of Arts and Crafts style? I know
you said Art Deco but you might find Arts and Crafts
to be easier to work with. Sometimes Art deco can be
dated and specific. Not that it could not work, I just
know from my own personality.
Hope these help you plans.
~boxer

Craftsman backsplashes on Gardenweb
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg1119353324157.html

Here is an image of tile from the Arts and Crafts period.

Vintage Seattle

Norsorcom

Art Deco style Oldhomesnewlife

Timber Creek

NBN news

Arts And Crafts

Avaliving

Bungalo

craftsman

Trikeenan tile

Jay mielo

Here is a link that might be useful: Modernize 1922 kitchen keeping vintage charm

The real question is whether you can salvage the floor. That vinyl was probably put there for a reason you might not like. Good luck, it is beautiful tile.

Dear sivyaleah, Your Art Deco tile floor is amazing. I can see how finding it would make you rethink your whole kitchen plan. Boxerpups has posted some of her most gorgeous ever photos of vintage kitchens -- hope you find your inspiration. I have a friend with a Kraftmaid shaker cabinet in Peppercorn in her Arts and Crafts house and kitchen -- looks great.

Thanks Boxerpups, and everyone else!

Yes, we're aware that the floor might not be able to be saved. However, it did also maybe point me in a color scheme which I had not considered before, which is more historically accurate to the house, so that I will be grateful if it turns out we can't keep it.

Boxerpups, thanks for those photos. Several of them are what I'm striving for in my kitchen and I think they will help me quite a bit. I think I could possibly incorporate both aspects, perhaps using the art deco in the lighting/flooring (decorative items) and the Craftsman as the main elements.

If the tile is cement and not terracotta there are companies that do restoration and reproduce missing tiles. I'm posting a link below. It would be really cool if you could salvage the floor.

As for the Art Deco part - having mixed styles is pretty common in the town I live in. There was a huge building boom here between 1910 and 1920. While many of the homes have craftsman elements (QS oak and built-ins) almost none of them are true craftsman. Most of have at least one or two other styles like art-nouveau, art deco and colonial revival influences with a few spanish revivals, tudor and prairie splashes thrown in for good measure. It's like no one wanted to go over the top with one thing so they just cherry picked the elements they liked.

I think if you stay focused on tones and scale of older houses in general (no bright, pure whites or beiges, no oversized tiles, that sort of thing) you can get it to all work together. You are lucky that your house already has some mixed elements - I think it is much more interesting and makes it more of a home rather than a museum.

Here is a link that might be useful: tile restoration service

Skyedog - funny you should mention whether or not it is cement, not terracotta. Actually, I said to my BF that it didn't quite feel like terracotta although it sure looks like it. I brought up the possibility that it may be cement tile, but I am not familiar with that product at all - let alone if it had been used in that time period.

Where do you live, if you don't mind me asking? I'm in NJ. My home, is a Four Square Craftsman with sort of Mission/Praire elements to it. It's built out of terracotta block in fact, with stucco over. It seems out of character for the area which I live in to be honest.

Yum! What incredible luck! (Have you posted this over on the Old Homes Forum? They'll eat it up!)

Of course your art deco kitchen needn't look like this:

But there are surely ways to cleverly blend your craftsman aesthetics with the tile. This image, for instance, brings to mind both the swoops and extravagance of deco with the natural materials of craftsman:

One piece of luck is that your tile has the fabulous deep rich earthy tones, not the pastel palette. That frees you up to use whatever wood you'd like. I think dark espresso, even a black stain dye, would really sing with that tile. You could consider stainless counters?

There are some amazing images of art deco tile at this outfit: The Antique Floor Company

Even if you are unable to resuscitate yours, there's a good chance you can sell the pieces you do manage to salvage. Or save them for a powder room, mud room or porch, staircase decor, picture frames, etc. It's such great luck to find a treasure you know is original to the home.

Hey, if it's not fully salvageable you could always use it to cure the -what-kind-of-backsplash-question that comes at the end. That could be pretty spectacular.

There is also a very good possibility that reason the old floor was covered with vinyl was it was the cheapest way to get a floor with a less bold pattern or colors that suited the current owner better. There may have been nothing wrong with it other than being something at odds with the current must haves.

The quartersawn oak sounds nice. Good luck with your discovery!

Oh! Bathroom floor! I am redoing the bathroom adjacent to the kitchen. And yes, the backsplash lol!

BTW, Lascatz the current vinyl floor is rather awful and if that was their way of going "less bold" then the old Owner certainly had no taste at all ROFL. But, I do agree that this could certainly be what happened plus, since they enclosed the porch at some point it probably was the easiest way to mesh the two floors together. The floor under the porch section, we haven't quite figured out what material that is yet and if we are able to keep this tile, we'll have to figure out some type of "border" situation around it - sort of like making it look like a large rug in the middle of the room with solid colored tile matching one of the colors, around around it.

Your floor, by itself, looks transitional (for the time period) to me. It's always good to remember that people building a home have always chosen the finishes they liked - not necessarily slavishly following a pattern book.

Some things don't have a defined style or exact time period. William Morris patterns were equally used in craftsman, victorian and art nouveau interiors. When I look at your floor, I'm thinking the original owners stuck with victorian style tile.

Wonderful to uncover something like that- its beautiful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reproduction and antique floors

Hi,
since the scale of the pattern is important, and you didn't put something in the photo to reference the scale, we really can't judge the overall impact. Are the square motifs 6" or 18"? Kind of has bearing on what I would think about it.

Old tile jobs were done on a cement base up to 3" thick, often on specially-constructed subfloor and framing. The impact runs deep and preparing the room for wood flooring could be a very large project.
Casey

The porch addition makes sense -- vinyl was used as a quick fix for just about anything on the floor (and it doesn't mean what was put down was better or prettier, just quick, easy and probably the least expensive option out there). I really hope it was something like that and that the original floor is in god shape. It would be such an unexpected treasure. Hope you love it and it makes the house that much more special too.

siv...just wanted to chime in that my newly installed Kraft peppercorn shaker (Layton) cabinets are IMHO to die for...Mine are in cherry. They look like dark chocolate...yummy! The oak is definitely more grainy, but beautiful as well. I think you will love them!

I'm learning so much on this forum..I don't know anything about art deco tile. It's really cool! Keep us updated on what becomes of your discovered treasure:)

Can't wait to see your finished kitchen then Kitchenaddict! I'm very excited about my choice :)

Oh WOW! Clean it up and do some colormatching with paint chips so we can all talk the same colors..

That could nicely go "Craftsman" if you like, or "Arts and Crafts" or "Mission" ... it was a very common motif for a few centuries, in vatious colors.

sivyaleah,
I'm in Iowa, which maybe explains why the Chicago Prairie style had such an influence here. I don't know why most of the older homes here are venacular in nature. If I go to towns an hour away or so there are great examples of period homes true to one style.

Maybe it happens more than people realize. I think so much of what we perceive about older homes comes from images - print ads and movies - and they aren't always that accurate. Best not to think about it too much and just enjoy your home. My last house was a foursquare and we LOVED it! Good luck with you floors, it's always nice to get a good surprise during a reno.

sivyaleah, you have no idea how jealous I am. And I never wish I had something that belongs to someone else. I might like it enough to copy but I wish I had YOUR floor! Yes, even if it can't be a floor, it could be back splash. If not your house, maybe mine;-) I found 1940 lineoleum in my old kitchen. I had hoped I could make it into some kind of backsplash. Maybe covered with glass. It didn't clean up as nicely as I had hoped. I still have it.........

skyedog, I sometimes drive around Mason City looking at the homes there. The old ones. Lots of Frank Lloyd Wright. And Dubuque. LOVE Dubuque. I think Cedar Rapids has lots, too, but I never get there.

Feel free to copy Pinch Me!

I showed pix to my friend today, who is my ex-box, who is an architect. He nearly fell off his chair lol. He assured me that it can be cleaned up, and said that it needs to be regrouted, but certainly should be kept by all means. His opinion was just find a solid tile which matches one of those colors to finish off the floor where there is none, and don't worry about it - so big deal it won't be perfect. I agree. It will be part of the character of the room.

My BF is all excited to get cracking and try to clean it up now. We're going to just try some liquid Lysol, diluted first (Architect's suggestion), and gently scrub if necessary. We'll see how that goes. As for regrouting, I'll have to have a tile person come in for that, I don't think either of us is equipped for that chore (me for sure - I have two bum knees).

That floor is just beautiful and it's great that you want to keep it. The patina of wear can be an asset and totally agree with the "so what if they don't all match" approach.

I have attached some recommendations for maintaining cement tile from Tierra y Fuego.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maintain cement tile

Thanks for that link Steff!

Oh and BTW, here is a better picture of the floor, it shows more of the room.

The room to the left, with the wood floor is the dining room. The room directly to the top, is a powder room. We are closing up that entry and gaining space into the kitchen as the bathroom is larger than it needs to be (relocating door in a Butler's pantry in dining room).

The other area, with the old fridge sitting on it, is the enclosed porch area I mentioned, with a different floor underneath. That's the space where we need to tie in another type of flooring (along with whatever space we gain from the bathroom).

Beautiful!!!!!!!!

Wow. Just lovely. I can see darker wood cabinets with that floor. Congratulations on your find!

sivyaleah,
Although this is not exactly a pattern for a white kitchen freak, it is wonderful for someone with gutsy style sense and timeless ideas. The colors allow you a lot of latitude, believe it or not, once you get your breath and can look about you. May the Force and some good advisors be with you. You're on your way toward a true original in more than one sense.

It's a great floor. You should be able to find a plain bone, terracotta or other color cement tile to tie in the adjacent spaces. The color inside the diamond looks like aubergine and would be a great accent to pull out and use.

The inside color is black, a bit on the charcoal side. It just looks washed out because the kitchen lighting is awful currently. No matter how many times I tried to shoot it, I just could not get the correct coloring to come out of it.