Apparently i've been living under a rock - did you know you can get tiles that look like wooden floor boards?! Long story short, replacing some tiles on the front porch/verandah has been on the 'to-do' list for a while but it's been so hard to find brown outdoor tiles (apparently brown's no longer the new black!) We don't even really use the front door except for guests & to sign for packages, so it's been stuck fairly low on the list because the last time we actually found a tile we thought was not going to look weird with the brick exterior (decisions, decisions!) when the sales guy went to look at his computer, they were discontinued and they didn't have enough stock for the job. But since then, apparently brown wood tiles emerged! Works for us anyway. So my topic for today is about the flooring at your place - is it new or old? love it? hate it? (and do you use the front door and porch regularly and does anyone actually have wood plank look tiles?)
When we moved in, most of the floors were covered with wall to wall carpeting. We ripped it all out and installed Wilsonart (think Pergo). Planks for most of it, but their version of tile for the kitchen. And when I say "we" I mean DH and me. It took us over two years on weekends to rip out and install. We finished about 20 years ago and we still love it, a true labor of love. Company uses the front door. We rarely use it. We enter the house through the garage.
In 2011 we replaced the original cheap carpeting in our house (which was built in 1994) with wood flooring. It looks so much better and is much easier to clean! We use our front door quite a bit, except when we're leaving or returning to the house because we park in our garage and use the door between the garage and kitchen.
We do use the front door... often as we sit on our front verandah/porch for morning and afternoon teas when we are at home. A couple of times we have had breakfast out there. We have lived in this house for just over 5 years and cannot afford to change the flooring. The carpet in the bedrooms ( ours and the other is my computer/craft room) is dark grey and serviceable and still in good condition. The remainder of the inside of the house is terracotta coloured tiles which I am not 100% happy about.. very hard under foot which is why I do not go bare footed inside the house. In our last home we had floor board style vinyl and really liked the look of it. Just remembered... the tiles in the bathroom are different... greyish bluish coloured.
My house was all carpet when I moved in. It's now about half carpet, half wood laminate and most of it needs replacing. I adore the wood-look tile and would love to have it everywhere, but it would be cold in the winter haha. We do use the front door all the time, and our main outdoor living space/deck is out that door. We do have a deck on the back and a back door into the laundry room, but you have to climb a lot of stairs to get there and no one wants to do that . No garage here.
I replaced Mom's 1970's orange carpet in 2003 with wood laminate. Due to accidents by older dogs there was some popping up of the laminate in 2016. So when I remodeled the kitchen I had new laminate put in. Pretty much had to since I was taking out a cupboard that would leave an area with no flooring! I got waterproof laminate this time knowing that I was getting a puppy. I did the kitchen/dining/living rooms and hallway during the remodel. About 9 months later, the 3 bedrooms were also done with the same flooring. No carpet in this house at all. There is still tile by the front door. It is old but that door is not used much so it still looks decent. I also have a rug on it as well. Underneath all this laminate (except the kitchen) is hardwood that Mom and Dad put in when building the house. She gave up on the hardwood after 10 years because of the maintenance of it and had the carpet installed. For the outside... did you know that you can get paver bricks that look like wood? When I had my patio installed, I wanted the look of a deck but not the maintenance. The guy doing it showed me pictures of pavers that look like wood. It looks awesome and people are very surprised when they realize it is brick!
We have wood throughout our 1910 house. When we renovated we wanted to have the old floors refinished and polyurethaned and went to CA for a week so the work would be done when we got back. However... the dolt that our contractor hired had no idea of what to do with our old soft pine floors and in the end we had to agree to an engineered wood - by phone and photo grrr - which does look like old floors but isn't. Our house isn't historic so it's not like it lost value with that but Dick's father was a wood hobbyist and Dick knew what we wanted could have been done. I knew too. C'est la vie. We've had the floors for 14 years and the hallway path from the front door to the back kitchen area could be buffed and refinished a bit. Had it been real hardwood or even our old soft wood it would be a simple wax process. I grew up in a 1950s rambler that had hardwood floors and my mother relaxed them every year. One out of the three of our upstairs bedrooms have the old original flooring, the largest (master bedroom) has nice wood with very narrow boards, and the 3rd room - my studio has the same wood as our downstairs but put in later. We found out about that master bedroom years after I bought the house. Apparently there was a fire in that room and the wood on the floor now is from an old bowling alley torn down in Annapolis. Who knew! We only use the front door coming in and out as our back doors only lead to the deck. We have wood in the upstairs bathroom and tile in the ground floor one. The latter has underfloor heating which is good if you're standing on it but not enough heat to heat the tiled room (walls and floor). Should we ever get around to renovating the upstairs bath it will have tiled floors but with underfloor heating. I've put my foot down on that issue! No carpeting anywhere but most rooms do have area rugs for comfort and for sound reduction.
OMG! YES! We're moving next year to Florida, and this is my dream floor. I saw it first in a rental condo that we stay in. I'm in love with it and my new color scheme will be gray walls with white wood trim. I hope to get this kitchen with those floors.
HAHA! I totally missed the question! I'm dreaming of my new home and forgot the one I still live in. We have so many different floors in our house. Slate tiles in the entryway. Carpet in the living and family rooms. Porcelain tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms. Beautifully restored 60-year-old original hardwoods in all the bedrooms, dining room, and hallways. I hate the carpet and love the hardwoods. We pull our cars into the garage and enter the house that way. It leads right to the entryway (front door). Visitors come through that door, unless they know the code to get into the garage. (family only, lol).
We have hardwood entryway and in our library and downstairs bathroom. Good ole vinyl in the kitchen and carpet everywhere else. I would love to rip out the carpet in the downstairs but that is probably not going to happen any time soon. After 20 years it is getting worn in spots (and the cat & dog think the carpet in the dining room is an extra potty). But alas no hardwood is hiding underneath since the carpet was put down in the house when new. We put down the laminate wood in our old house, which has been a rental property for 20 years. I am surprised at how well it has held up.
We have hardwood floors in our living area, master bedroom, and all hallways. The bathrooms and kitchen are tiled and the other three bedrooms have this amazing, soft, kinda shaggy (but not in an awful 70’s way) carpet, as are the stairs. All flooring came with the house when we moved in almost 6 years ago but I like it all. We live on a corner and have a walkway from the driveway to both the front and back doors. We use the back door and any close friends and family do too. The only people who come to the front door are deliveries and anyone who doesn’t come to our house often.
I love that kitchen @djp332 That's what I would love to do in my house too. The kitchen is plain beige 12x12 tiles. It's nice enough, so I don't feel like I have to replace it, but I'd love to re-do my kitchen and if I do, that wood tile is what I'd love!! Our house used to have a lot more carpet inside, but last year we ripped out the carpet in the living room which is by far the largest room in our house. There was white oak wood floors underneath, so rather than pay for new carpet, we had those wood floors refinished and it turned out really nice. There is wood in the hallway and dining room too. The bathrooms have tile floors of course, so the only carpet is in the bedrooms and the family room. I prefer carpet every where, but wood and tile is easier to keep clean.
