I spent some time at this web site when I was contemplating something different for the bathroom floor. I went plain jane instead mostly to Get It DONE! Google fleur-de-lis floor design or dark wood fleur-de-lis inlay

Here is a link that might be useful: fleur-de-lis

I think the Marmoleum or hex floor would be great. Hex tiles are very common older kitchens. I see them all the time in older buildings and public spaces in NYC. I notice them a lot in bakeries and small shops.
Marmoleum can be cut and designed to any pattern you want.
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On the low$ end you could stencil on the floor, to the high end check out wood floor companies that make medallions or will laser cut a custom design for you. Mine will appear on the liner in the backsplash. Happy dreaming!

I love mosaics; we have large and small marble ones that I still love looking at after living with them for five years.

I think your best bet would be either an existing design in marble if you have a tile floor, or a wood medallion for a wood floor. If you or DW are artistically inclined it probably wouldn't be too difficult to make your own mosaic with some form of stone.

Do you think a white hex tile with black or dark gray grout looks too cartoonish? That would be the ''easiest'' way to get a design in the floor, although a somewhat blocky, crude one. But I don't want a tile floor unless I can avoid the ''dingy grout blues.''

There are marble water jet companies that can cut/create any design. I'm guessing it'll be in the form of a medallion. OR.... concrete floor and paint it?

If you're in the Northeast, put a call out to Bill Vincent. He's put some beautiful inset designs in floors in both residential and commercial properties.

Link below should do it. Shelf brackets, knobs and pulls, switch covers, sinks, tile and other misc stuff.
This is my fav...

Here is a link that might be useful: ebay, hon

I vote for the wood inlays! I think that would be beautiful and no additional maintenance.

How much open floor space do you have? For floor design like that to make impact, it needs to be visible, not under your foot.
As your DH likes the design, I personally would use it on door knobs, or maybe back splash, not on the floor, at least not in the kitchen.

I like the wood inlays, too.

And for an easy update, how about fleur-de-lis switch plates? The bottom style on the linked page comes in many finishes and switch / outlet configurations.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fleur-de-lis Switchplates

I too like fleur de lis. I'd go subtle, like these wood inlays that could be positioned 12" or so away from the corners. Could be connected by contrasting band, or not. If anything, I'd add a fleur de lis touch on hanging pendant lighting if you're incorporating pendants or a fleur de lis finial on the paper towel holder or a fleur de lis etched into a glass front on a cabinet. If your wife wants more, then an easy addition is to stencil the design over the paint. For a less in your face effect, just change sheens in the same color paint, or for more drama go with a bolder or gold paint.

Here is a link that might be useful: 5

I don't think you will be happy doing a makeshift fleur-de-lis with hex tiles. Motifs work best when you have to find them, rather than have them smack you in the head. Perhaps stenciling them as a border on wood floors or using them as the 2" insert tile in an octogon tile floor. I'm attaching a link to encaustic tiles with Tile Source. Not that you should do encaustic tiles but to give you some border ideas and medallion ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tile Source

You might want to stencil fleurs-de-lis on your current kitchen floor with a paint that can be washed off. If, after several days of walking on them, you have not heard any bellows of outrage from NOLA, you will have a sense of the angst trade-offs entailed in a permanent installation.

Go Saints.

I like the idea of the wood in-lay medallion or the stencil, but I wanted to through out some more ideas.

If you are having butcher block anywhere in the kitchen what about doing the wood inlay in the butcher block? Or a branded burned in fleur-de-lis in the butcherblock?

If you have glass front cabinets you could possibly frost one yourself into the glass ala this project:
{{!gwi}}

Another thought might be to aim for the lighting to incorporate the motif. I thought about something like this for my front porch at one point.

First, I think it's great that you're trying to incorporate SWMBO's fav design into the kitchen. Instead of putting the design on your floor, how about doing it in your backsplash? Here's a link to a mosaic fleur de lis BS. Also, if you google fleur de lis kitchen decor, there are lots of ways to decorate with the design. HTH!

Here is a link that might be useful: fleur de lis backsplash mosaic

Oshkosh Designs inlays has a wooden fleur de lis in its repertoir. I suspect you can spec out whatever woods you would want. They also do a lot of custom designs. Don't rush when you explore their website.

This same design could be adapted for stencils and such to compliment the insignia in the floor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fleur de Lis by Oshkosh Designs

I printed out some hex graph paper and tried making fleur-de-lis by coloring in selected hexes.

Was I pleased with the result? Well, yes, as in, I was pleased that I could do it at all. but not that the result was particularly pleasing. Sure, they looked like fleur-de-lis, in the same way that

looks like a Space Invader.

If the motif is to remain on the floor, the wood or marmoleum inlays seem like the remaining choices. Both would allow the design to be small, subtle, and accurate. That does seem like a positive - especially as, I now realize, the center of the floor will indeed be obscured by table or island.

If other than on the floor, then where? Drawer pulls seem an easy and attractive solution. I won't have a backsplash, but could lightly stencil the wall. If I have glass doors, then that would be a nice location. None of those would be indelible, which might make a real estate agent happy someday.

I don't want people to walk into the kitchen and say, ''what, are these people descended from French royalty? Off with their heads!'' but rather would like just a subtle scent of lily.

Ha, you joke, but there was a long debate in our house to keep my husband from putting in a giant Pac-Man made out of Marmoleum Click tiles... ;)

I like the Marmoleum inlay or potentially a stained stencil on wood. One of my kitchen books has photos of a gorgeous floor made by staining fir in a checkerboard pattern, and then finishing it. I'd guess you could do something similar with other woods, which could be a less costly alternative to the wood inlay if you want to go with a wood floor.

That's a great idea! I'm going to look into it.

Yep, with two different wood stains, some stencils, your possibilities are limitless. This is for me to go tehnique when I want to have fun. Here is one of my projects doing just that:

I worry about stain bleeding through to the ''other side'' of the lines. Do you mask with tape, if so what tape works well? Would gel stain be less likely to bleed than liquid? Does some wood have too much grain for this, as in the grain wicks the stain past your tape?

I do not tape, as for the types of designs I have done, it would have not been possible, see the above example. I first trace the design with the pencil on the wood. Then use fine artist brush to stain/color in the dark stain. Then cover it with the light stain, including over the dark stain. There is little bleed but I use as little dark stain at the time as possible, to make it bleed as little as possible. In general little bleeds do not make or break the overall end result.
Alternatively, you could use dark paint (on any color really) to do the design. This will not bleed and just use the stain for the background. I have done gold paint and dark stain like that.

In any case, try it out on scrap wood before you start the larger project, to make sure you know how the end result would look like and that you will be happy with it.

punamytsike, your ideas are fabulous. Wish I'd seen them earlier--panels with these stain motifs would make a standard "shaker style" bank of cabs into a real work of unique art. I need to think on this--I still have some options left for me. I have lots of books on paint effects and stencils but have not seen stain effects before. Thanks so very much for posting. Feel free to teach us more. And to show more images.

johnliu: when we thought we had money and were considering an inlay for floor from Oshkosh Designs, we learned that the design can be inset later, after floor is made, at least in the case of "medallions" which can be put into a routed out area. The design is simple enough that it could be adapted for stenciling, etc. also. Consider a big one cut in half and riding on each door below the sink astride the opening? Very dramatic!

I know one can get a custom mosaic in tile or stone from ebay for much less than if you went retail. I'd try to see if there are medallions in wood there as well.

I still think the Marmoleum sheet would give you the most punch and artistic freedom.

Then again, stencils and paint or stain could come out great as well. I once made my own wiffleball stencils for dh's office and for his team logo and they came out great.

Having gotten rid of wallpaper years ago, are there any areas where a fleur d l wallpaper could make a minor impression?

This is NOT my work. It's the brain fruit of an excellent craftsman named Rod Katwyk working in South Jordan, Utah. I'm sharing it here because it's an excellent example of how creative you can be with tile.
Rod's client wanted a "Safari" theme. Rod found a zebra-print wallpaper he liked and took it to a water-jet fabricator to scan and plot. This entire panel was water-jet cut from basic 12"x12" marble tiles and installed by Rod and his crew.

A Fleur-de-lis medallion would be a simple process, once you decided on the materials to be used.
Shaughnn