I grew up in Anaheim! I've been visiting there often lately looking at quartzite slabs (dreaming about a kitchen makeover).

At first I was going to vote for the darker color because I thought it would contrast nicely with the Swiss Coffee, but when I read that you would be using dark walnut cabinets I changed my mind. I think the lighter color might work best with dark cabinets.

Of the three, taking into consideration your future kitchen, I vote for number 1.
But, I wouldn't mind having other choices if you are so inclined to look further :)

Are those pits/indentation on that lighter middle tile? I think with kids and a dog the indentations will be major dirt catchers and the tile will look dirty/grungy in no time. That would be a deal breaker for me.

I was in your "old" town 3 times last week at the fabric store. Hadn't been there before. The main street looked really nice. I need to plan ahead for next time and go early so I have time to walk around.

Thanks ellendi and juddgirl2! juddgirl, Tile Mile was amazing! So much to choose from.

Here's a 4th choice. It is much more traditional MCM and warmer look. I love this look but am concerned about competing wood tones with the walnut kitchen. I feel like this would box us in bit with regard to our cabinet choices, but it is definitely a more MCM feel:

thanks, Chispa! I hadn't thought about the indentions, but that's a really good point. Were you on Ventura Blvd?

I like your 4th choice and in that first kitchen you are showing with the wood cabinets, the floors are wood and seem to go nicely.

I like #1, and think it will look especially good with your future cabinets.

I think with the painted ceilings I would like #1 on the floor. The walnut cabinets would look great with #1 or #4.

The 4th choice for sure. Can't really see the handscraped in MCM.

Pipdog,
The 4th option is what I would go with.
Order extra and when you go to choose your cabinets in the future, see what color of wood cabinet you would like.
You never know, you might end up with painted cabinets in your kitchen. People can change their minds, right?
The wood in the 4th option is gorgeous!

Most definitely #4. It's perfect for the home and I think would work well with walnut, but if you don't think so why not use something else in the kitchen area to define it as it is now?

Oh . . .I think you should keep everything as-is! I adore the warmth of the yellow, and think the black is a lovely companion.

Such a neat house . . .I can't wait to see more of it!

I'm really with you anele. I'd never paint over that gorgeous wood!

WOW, I grew up in Anaheim too. Still live in the area. I never knew about Tile Mile. Where have I been? lol

Were it my home, I'd definitely use #1

Pip, yes, Calico on Ventura. I'm ordering a bedspread, shams and valances.

So far #4. I agree handscraped would not really go with MCM. That is just my opinion.

Oh yes, number 4! So much warmer looking.

i would probably choose #1, tho having an already 'scraped up' floor would be very appealing to me if i were living in a house with kids and large dogs, so my 2nd choice would be #2!! (my kids are older, but i will probably always have at least 1 large dog...)

thanks! I have another option, and this one is real wood. Our concern over using real wood stems from the fact that our dog Pip has a disease known as Wobblers, which means he has stability issues on his legs which causes him to slide all over the floors and scratches them up. Our current hardwoods look really beat up after just a few years. We had thought tile would be a great option for durability for us, but I keep coming back to blonde wood. I think this would be a good match with walnut. What do you all think?

[Midcentury Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/midcentury-modern-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2115) by Washington Architects & Designers KUBE architecture

anele, the black tile floor was ruined in several sections, so unfortunately we can't keep it. I do like it, although I've had black tile floors in the past and they are sort of hard to keep clean with a dog in the house.

for those of you in Southern California, here's some info on Tile Mile in Anaheim. I've never seen such a selection of tile, but they also have hardwood flooring, carpet, fixtures and other building materials. We discovered some beautiful showrooms (Porcelanosa, Eleganza), but also some places to find some really good deals. Bedrosians was having a huge sale that lasted the whole month of November. We'll definitely be back when we start on the kitchens and baths.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tile Mile

I vote for #4. I also like #5.
We have an active dog and our wood floors are scratched. But, with a semi gloss finish, I really don't notice.
At some point you can refinish the floors to remove the scratches.

I vote No. 1--a really pretty, calm look.

I prefer the light wood tone and general appearance of the last one #5. Don't care for the grays at all, especially since the ceiling will be white. The other wood tone (tile?) looks too busy (chopped up and too much variation) and doesn't have the right feel, imo.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Sun, Nov 10, 13 at 14:59

I like the last option a lot. (blonde wood) I find it very contemporary feeling and is the color wood I had in my last home.

I would keep looking, wood look tile is not really ideal for an MCM. I do think real wood is a better look but I have had the same problem with our large dog and know how you feel about spending tons of money and then having it marked up. What about a large format tile or a terrazzo style floor?

These are both vct tile but you can get a similar look with other products.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

pipdog, I love your inspiration picture with the blonde wood floor. Looks wonderful with the gray walls & white ceilings.

Terazzo would be a nice option too. But don't rule out wood-look tile just because it's not typical for MCM homes. It's a great look, and the practicality for dog owners is a major advantage. Authenticity is always best, of course, but sometimes a practical approximation works very, very well.

I love #4 but then you posted the beautiful blonde wood floors so I change my vote to real hardwood that you posted. I love your MCM house.

I love the blonde hardwood. We put Bona Commercial matte on our floors, and despite bikes and dogs in the house (don't ask about the bikes), the floors have held up extremely well. (We have natural oak).

I really like the blonde wood. It would be a nice contrast with the darker wood and I think it will give you more flexibility with the tone of the wood on the cabinetry, whether you stay with what you have now or go darker with walnut. It also makes the room look very bright and large in the picture that you posted.

Sorry about your pup :(

Another option is reclaimed wood. I've attached an example.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reclaimed wood

I like the last wood the best. That being #5. My friend has a very old Lab and she slips and slides on anything other than carpet. She has had carpet bound and placed in every inch of her house over the hardwoods. Her husband hates it. He does not understand as he is not a dog person. I never understand someone not being a dog lover. ;)

Good luck!

Have you had Pip on primarily tile floors? A friend of mine, together with her elderly dog, stayed my fully tiled basement for a while, and she worried a lot about him on the tile. It was harder for him to gain purchase and can get really slippery when wet, plus it's just a less forgiving surface overall for falls. (She just put rugs everywhere, including those play mats you get for children. Also this is ubiquitous BigBox pinky beige ceramic (which *I* did not choose!) and I'm sure there are better choices out there that may have more "grip.")

I have two dogs of my own and hate tile and carpet, so I just ignore any marks on the wood floors and buy area rugs. ;)

Good luck!

I vote for #4 or #1. I love #5 but they will get so scratched up.

thanks so much for the input!

athomeinva, you're right in that wood look tile is not the typical flooring material in an MCM. But we looked at terrazzo and larger format tile and none of those options really grabbed us. We like the look of plank wood flooring. There are some wood-look tiles out there that provide the exact look we are going for. I think it's a great combination of form, function and aesthetics and allows us to live an indoor/outdoor lifestyle with dogs, kids with wet feet from the pool and beach and lots of entertaining without worrying about our hardwoods getting ruined.

StellaMarie, Pip lived on hardwoods at our house which he constantly skated on, but he is currently staying at a family member's house while we have ours on the market. Our family has large format tile and Pip seems to do better on tile and doesn't slip as much.

aktillery, I'm with you -- non dog people -- don't understand them!

kitchentime, i like that reclaimed wood a lot! we considered reclaimed it was too rustic for my husband's taste.

I found a lovely blonde wood look wide plank that I think is the winner. I'm out tomorrow searching for samples and will post some pics when I have them. I'll post some photos of the beautiful showrooms at Porcelanosa and Eleganza on Tile Mile. Those places had some seriously cool stuff.

In the meantime, the old black flooring came up today. Progress is good!