Please help me choose floor/backsplash combo

9 years ago

Greetings! We've been driving ourselves mad trying to figure out flooring, so I'd like to ask for opinions. We're doing Marmoleum floors, either sheet or a Click pattern. Uppers will be soft white, lowers will be natural cherry. Walls will most likely be soft yellow.

We're trying to get a look that's updated but sympathetic to the house (1949 cape). Modest, light, airy, a bit fun, with vintage elements but not a full-on reconstruction. How to achieve this? We've come up with a few possibilities, which DH mocked up. Do any of these work for you? Or feel free to suggest something else!

A. Marmoleum Click pattern, white penny tile

B. Click pattern, 4" square tile in tonal yellows

C. Marmoleum Donkey Island sheet, 4" squares in tonal yellows

D. Click pattern, 4" white squares in a running bond

E. Donkey Island sheet, 4" white squares in a running bond

Thanks!

Comments (16)

emmarene9
9 years ago
I choose E
Cheaptap
9 years ago
see Appearance: Cheap Taps surface chrome plating is very particular, usually through several processes to complete. Distinguish between good or bad depends on its shiny Waterfall Taps extent, the smoother the surface, the brighter the better representative of the Kitchen Sink Taps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Emily Shaw
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Both will work - you have great taste. At first I thought I would prefer the one you do, the silver birch, because it's warm tones echo those of the floor. But when I put the elements next to each other, I prefer the contrast shine, and stronger colors of the chalkboard. It has warmth, whites, greys, metallic sheen, and iridescence. Your granites call for a statement bs, something a little bolder than the birch. Either way, you have grey granites, white cabs and a grey backsplash - what other paint are you going to use? The birch limits you to earth tones. The chalkboard opens you up to earth tones, shades of white, taupe, copper, greens and even purple. I understand that you want to keep things neutral to offer you the option for change in the future, but the one thing your kitchen could use right now is a color other than grey. BS tile gives you the opportunity to add some now, not just some day. Here are two glass mosaic options that harmonize with your greys but also add a lot of needed color, and will animate your space. Choosing either could narrow you paint options in the future, or open them up - depends on how you look at it, really. http://www.glasstileoasis.com/item.asp?item=13181 http://www.glasstileoasis.com/item.asp?item=18123
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Ok, ok, you mentioned Santa Fe, and my mind immediately went to a mexican tile mosaic that someone here at GW has used in a vertical orientation. This is not at all what you've been looking at, but I just have to show it to you. I love that mosaic, and it could work for you in the horizontal application throughout the kitchen, but it is miles away from what you're drawn to. OK, now that that's out of my system, here's what I think might work for you on the subtler side. The tile below is a mesh mounted mosaic and the sheet measures about 10.5" x 11", so you get an idea of the tile size, very roughly, 3" w x 4" t. The solid color field tile below in the same glaze (light green) is available in square and subway formats in a variety of sizes. I think in order to keep the look cohesive you should either keep the color the same and use a different shape for the special areas, or keep the shape the same and use a harmonizing, deeper color for the special areas. So, you could choose a light green brick subway for your counter area, and a light green ogee mosaic for the special areas. Or, you could use the ogee everywhere, in yellow quartz for the counter areas, and light green for the special spots.
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Jillius
9 years ago
I like b best, but d is cute too. I do not like the last one at all. It is totally devoid of charm and personality.
ainelane
9 years ago
I really like B and C. I think those two really hit on your points of "light, fun, modest, airy". I don't like E at all. And I'm not sure that A fits your description best either.

Looks like it's going to be a great space!
Gooster
9 years ago
What are you doing for counters? You left it out of your description, but it's important. If they are going to be heavily patterned or solid?
dcward89
9 years ago
I like b the best...very, very cute!! I also really like a because I love penny tile but maybe you could do it in a pale yellow instead of the white. I think e is not good at all...just blah.

This post was edited by dcward89 on Mon, Nov 24, 14 at 6:49
SharonNM
9 years ago
I really like A or C. I think if you are going to have a very graphic element you should avoid other graphic elements in the room. D could look good if you used matching grout but I think E is a little boring.
flying_c
Original Author
9 years ago
@gooster Oops, sorry, the counters are going to be honed Steel Gray granite. It's a fairly uniform charcoal gray with no movement. I've linked to a pic.

Looks like most people are liking the patterned floor. Interesting!

Here is a link that might be useful:
flying_c
Original Author
9 years ago
@SharonNM
I think if you are going to have a very graphic element you should avoid other graphic elements in the room.

This is what I'm struggling with. I know we want a pattern, but should we do it in the floor or on the backsplash? Or can we pull off both if the patterns are restrained and relate to each other well enough?
Hydragea
9 years ago
For practical reasons, I don't like marmo click in the kitchen, the reason being that the layer of lino on top of the cork base is very thin, and I've had some gouges/dents. Now that I think about it, the gouges didn't penetrate to the cork, but it just seemed like the cork was too soft for a kitchen application. One of my friends also had click in her kitchen and said she wouldn't do it again, for the same reasons I mentioned.

So, I would recommend one of the options that includes the sheet marmoleum. I like it paired with the funky yellow and white BS. I also like the idea of a plain yellow backsplash--it creates a nice chunky colour -- I think the term is 'colour blocking'. Slightly warmer than than the straight white BS.

Really, I like all your options :-) but I highly recommend marmo sheet rather than click.

You can do 2 graphic elements as long as they are completely different in scale (this is what I read somewhere).

Marmoleum feels and looks wonderful!
kiko_gw
9 years ago
I think those patterns look pretty contemporary. Is that what you want? I would think straight checkerboard would be more traditional. Or something like one of these two patterns?

Here is a link that might be useful: Two Other Patterns
kiko_gw
9 years ago
And here's another pattern I love, the first one:

Here is a link that might be useful: First Pattern in Post
flying_c
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks all. Wish I could respond thoroughly to e eryone but my computer died last night (ugh) and posting from my phone is proving painful. Will be back when I can. Thanks again.
flying_c
Original Author
9 years ago
Computer back, hurrah! And in the meantime we've made our flooring decision: the Donkey Island sheet Marmoleum. According to the flooring guy we were going to have a 1/4" high transition to the hardwood in the next room if we went with the Click, which DH was not okay with. So sheet it is. I'm a little sad about not doing the pattern, sniff. But relieved to have one decision made. Thanks again for the opinions!
Lisa5731
9 years ago
You made the right decision! Picture C was my favorite!
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
9 years ago
I am no expert, but in the older homes that I have had and been in (all circa 1868- 1942) I have only seen the penny tile in bathrooms, never in a kitchen. I don't know why that would be, but when I see penny tile I think "bathroom".

I like the multicolor pastel backsplash. That relates to those I have seen in those older homes, too -- although usually a solid block of one color trimmed in another (which is a look I often disliked because it was a pastel trimmed in black).

Please help me choose floor/backsplash combo

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emmarene9

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