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Flooring Design Dilemma entry

Help. Dated entry tile floor. Want to update and need advice.

2 years ago

The house is a 90's brick traditional two story colonial. The entry floor is a dated, white ceramic tile. I want to update the entry without laying hardwood and having to refinish the main floor. We plan on adding wall moldings, color, new lighting, rug, etc.

Any design thoughts for the floor would be greatly appreciated.

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Lisa Caudill Designs

2 years ago

Some things that would look great in your entry

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Comments (10)

eld6161
2 years ago
You can really do anything. I would look at Coretec tiles. They are easier on the joints and not as slippery as ceramic tile.
T O thanked eld6161
H202
2 years ago
Why wouldn’t you match the wood in the rest of the house? You don’t have to refinish the rest of the house. Cost wouldn’t be much more than tile, and you’ll never be facing this issue again (the inevitable ness of dated tile.... because wood never really gets dated).
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I have four kids so I understand the appeal of 5 bedrooms, but as my kids got older, I wanted them less close to me and my bathroom - especially my bathroom:) My daughters like my nice tub. Now that they are older and come and go more on their own, they clomp up and down the stairs while I'm trying to sleep. What seems wonderful when they are little gets claustrophobic when they are older. The full bath in the hall is enough for 3 bedrooms to share. Sometimes we have had minor skirmishes - but again, I think it helps the kids learn to get along and be thoughtful of each others schedule. When I take my daughters to Parade Homes, they always point out how many bedrooms have their own bathroom - and I remind them grandma had one bathroom in a family of 7:) If that 5th bedroom is primarily for guest, nanny, mother-in-law visits or older child mostly at college, having it set up a little off from the rest of the family is a positive - especially if it can have its own bath. That might not be in the budget right now. We did not finish the basement and add the 5th bedroom till much later and some of our kids shared rooms for many years, which I think was good for them. Having 5 bedrooms has not much increased the value of our home - though the nicely finished basement did. With small families the norm these days, homes with excess bedrooms do not necessarily have more value. A guest bedroom is best if it is a little separate from the family - and that does have some value. We also thought of putting the master over the garage and making our old room the 5th bedroom. By the time we could afford the expansion, We wanted less kids upstairs with us, and it was less money to use existing unfinished space. If your laundry is presently in the basement, bringing it up to the second floor makes sense. Be sure the area used is up to the task of supporting a washer. Some second floor washers bounce around a bit because of too much flex in the floor joist. They can be strengthened to handle the job.
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I have - that looks way above my ability. painting the tile 1 color alone makes me nervous. I am wondering if I can take a lazy way out and put a wood looking vinyl/rubber tile right over this. I have enough clearance at my entry door..I just wonder if the grout lines would show thru.
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I'd be inclined to get it done right rather than employing a half measure. Call a tile/marble company to see if they could diamond grind it, or recommend a specialty contractor who could. Then you can lay your wood floor as intended. I got myself into a mall restaurant situation once and a tile contractor helped me out by using a diamond grinder that sealed against the floor and ground off all of the old concrete finish. I would have done it with my machinery but the dust could have wreaked havoc with the a/c and alarm systems.
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thinkdesignlive
2 years ago
Well in theory I agree with H202 but rarely do you see a situation where the match is exact - usually you have to sand the existing and stain all to get an exact match. Sheen is the other part that is really hard to match as an older top coat looks different than a new top coat even if done in the ‘same’. Best if your pro wood floor contractor can show you stained boards for your approval prior to starting. Have patience to wait for the right pro and maybe wait til wood prices adjust as now would be the most costly time to do this work should you go that route. A charcoal slate look floor tile would work should you choose to go the tile route.
T O thanked thinkdesignlive
PN _Bos
2 years ago
My first thought was do wood to match the rest of the first floor - then I saw the wood on the stairs - which looks darker & wonder if that would be an issue. Since you have to refinish the rest of the floors anyway, maybe they could go a bit darker to coordinate better with the stairs??? That's what I'd do - or at least find out if it's feasible.
T O thanked PN _Bos
Amy Lynn
2 years ago
Maybe think about the traditional and classic look of harlequin layed black and white tiles.
T O thanked Amy Lynn
apple_pie_order
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
One way to add new hardwood in an area adjacent to older hardwood is to use a contrasting wood border.

Dark Wood Floors · More Info

While you wait for the skilled crafts people to be available, you can have the white tile and grout professionally cleaned and sealed. If it has not been cleaned recently, the newly cleaned floor tile will look much better. See https://www.pinterest.com/pin/441352832212438819/ for great "before and after" photos.
T O thanked apple_pie_order
T O
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you all for the comments/suggestions. They are all very helpful. We had a professional remodeling contractor take a look and they agreed matching the wood would require an entire first floor refinish in addition to the fact that new oak flooring just doesn't look like old oak flooring even after refinishing. The matching would not be a HUGE issue as we will more than likely have an area rug and a stair runner. We just want to avoid a larger, more expensive and involved flooring project.
detailaddict
2 years ago
I agree that it would be better to do something totally different from wood flooring so that it looks deliberate, which it is. I like the brick floor pics that others have posted, or you might be able to do a flagstone floor depending on cost and the look you're going for. We just had tile from Crossville (Argent and Color Blox, specifically) installed in our new home and they look great - miles away from the big-box humdrum.
T O thanked detailaddict
ptreckel
2 years ago
I love the look of square black Vermont slate, laid on the diagonal. Or you could do black slate in large format rectangles, too. Classic.

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