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Kitchens Design Dilemma Flooring

1950’s hardwood-best match for a kitchen remodel?

2 years ago

I recently purchased my first home-a 1950s ranch! The home has really pretty hardwood floors that were refinished about 7 years ago. I am doing a large remodel to the kitchen and ripping up some old tile. I would love to match the beautiful hardwood throughout the rest of the house…I’m having a hard time figuring out the wood. I’ve had three people tell me different things. I was leaning towards white oak, I’ve also had someone tell me it’s Maple, and someone else tell me it’s beech?? Anyone have any insight?

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Comments (8)

PRO
G & S Floor Service
2 years ago
Beech
Meg Dews
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you! Any thoughts on extending this type of hardwood? I’ve had a hard time finding unfinished beech wood.
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Yeah one finished room. (Of course still full of dust) They finished our bedroom yesterday. Still have to enventually come back and do the closet, but for now have moved on to the great room. camlan..Their doing the same thing here. Running the wood with no seams from room to room. I hope ours eventually "glow" right now they just glow of dust, but it still is looking nice. judydel. I like to buy rugs at TJ Max HomeGoods. Patty Cakes.. Oh no. The stairs is what inspired us to do this hardwood job. We just finished painting the stairs yesterday. The carpet that was on the stairs was old, dirty and ugly. It had to come up. My kids are teenagers, so hopefully safety wont be an issue. We'll see if they become too loud, etc., we can always eventually add a runner to them. beth..Your floors, rugs and house are beautiful. Thanks for sharing the photos and experience. work.. Thanks for the advice. I'll remember this for the near future. Id love a sweeper I could run on the floor and not have to worry about damage.
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Susan, Thanks for your helpful response. Apparently I shouldn't be using the word "remodel". We will not be moving any walls or the location of any appliances. We currently have an L-shaped kitchen with an island, but we will be going to a U-shape and losing the island. We already tore out the island so that the floor will be refinished underneath it, and the other cabinets will be torn out but replaced with ones in the exact same spots. I really just wanted to know if it was worth the effort to take the refrigerator and range in & out for the refinishing process for the rare possibility that the new refrigerator and range will be slightly different sizes and show the old floor color. But again, we think it's a remote chance that this will even be an issue. I'm not exactly sure how difficult it is to move the refrigerator and range out and replace them, so I'm trying to figure out if it's worth the hassle.
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Yes, it is being installed perpendicular. I know it's not the ideal... but in the interest of time and budget, it's what we've landed on. We are likely going to do an engineered floor on top, to eliminate a little bit of the extra height. I would (just for my own knowledge on what to expect) love to hear the cons of this method, even if we're likely to do it anyway :) And it is a wood subfloor - so just add plywood ontop of that until it becomes flush is what I'm hearing. Thank you!
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From your post, it sounds like your budget isn't that big. Once you start in with the soffit, it will snowball from there, and you will be in for an entire kitchen overhaul which will cost tens of thousands. Here are some quick ways to update your kitchen without spending a lot. Halve the number of plates along the top of the cabinets. It looks old-fashioned; just pare the display down to the best ones. Remove the window valence, which is fussy. Change out the chandelier over the dining table to something more current. Not an ultra-modern light fixture, cause that would look jarring. But that chandelier is a faux 1930's style, and changing it out for something without curlicues or little lamp shades would update your kitchen. Also remove the doily/wreath/candle from the table. Remove the stuff on top of the microwave, the picture above the paper towel holder, and the chicken clock. Your range and microwave both have clocks, so adding a chicken clock makes the kitchen look old-fashioned. If you want to get more ambitious in your update, I would change out the counters, sink and faucet before I'd change the backsplash. The backsplash isn't bad at all.
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PRO
HALLETT & Co.
2 years ago
I would reach out to a local independent lumberyard- with enough lead time they can usually produce anything.
Meg Dews
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you so much, will be reaching out to a local lumberyard today! One last question-in reading about Beech Hardwood I noticed a few articles mention it is prone to shrinking. Do you feel like this is a durable hardwood for a kitchen area?
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PRO
HALLETT & Co.
2 years ago
Sorry no idea, I'm in the south where we have pine and oak
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PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
You get flooring pros to help they will know what wood and how to match it .As for if it is beech if it hasn't shrunk in 50 yrs pretty sure it won't now . I am happy you want to keep the floor it is very nice . I have a MCM ranch 1956 and would have loved to have had those floors . BTW beech is actully harder than red oak

Because of its strength, beech flooring is an option for most rooms in your home. It can also work in commercial applications because it's good under heavy traffic. The one exception is moist areas, such as your bathroom, but most hardwood flooring isn't recommended in those spaces anyway.
Meg Dews
Original Author
2 years ago
That is great to know!! And yes I agree, I love the floors and want to preserve them so I definitely want to work with a professional and get it right! I know very little about beech wood, so I am glad to hear it is such a durable choice!
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Fori
2 years ago
If you can't match those, a complementary floor that plays nicely could be linoleum (not vinyl or laminate).

But matching that floor would be ideal. A good on-site finishing floor pro can match the color if they can get the actual wood.
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