Forum
« Pigeons Problem Contractor recommendation »
December 29, 2007
flooring personality switch
Folks, I've got a flooring question regarding a little brownstone in Lefferts Garden. I've taken down the wall dividing the kitchen from the dining room and now am unsure how to proceed with what to do for the kitchen floor so it looks OK with the more formal dining floor. The dining room floor is made of one inch by 12 inch slats grouped in bunches of 12 to form squares one square foot big. The kitchen has only its pine tongue and groove subfloor left. Do I try to match the two? Can I go rustic for the kitchen and have a wood floor that doesn't match exactly, but somehow still works? Or should I have to do tile? Or should I depart hugely and put down concrete?
Comments
you should do whatever makes you happy. it's your house.
why would you want strangers to make a decision of personal taste?
Posted by: guest at December 29, 2007 5:48 PM
Oh I know, it sounds lame. I'm just trying to gather more information, because I'm new to all of this and in a way my tastes are still forming....also, don't know the consequences of some of the options -- maybe someone will say you absolutely wouldn't want an old classic bronwstone parquet floor living right next to a polished concret... that kind of thing. Ultimately I will follow my tastes, but meantime thought I'd put something out there.
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 29, 2007 6:13 PM
Not sure of your age or how much you are into cooking, but I strongly recommend a floor that has some give, like cork. We put a granite floor in our kitchen about 15 years ago and I feel it for days in my legs after intensive preparations for big dinner parties (and I am not out of shape!). Concrete sounds unforgiving to me.
Posted by: guest at December 29, 2007 10:15 PM
We cook a lot, yes. Thank you.
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 29, 2007 10:18 PM
I agree that concrete might be a bit hard. I don't think you should worry about matching the dining room and kitchen floors. Even though the dividing wall is gone, it's clear that they are two separate areas, so it's ok to use a totally different type of floor. I like your idea of doing a rustic type kitchen floor.
Posted by: guest at December 29, 2007 10:26 PM
Yeah, you've identified something there that I felt unsure about-- whether one big space, albeit with two different purposes (cooking and eating) can have two very different floors bordering one another. It's been difficult to visualize whether that would be attractive....
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 29, 2007 10:39 PM
Anna,
There is no need to apologize for asking that question! IMHO, it's an interesting problem. As for looks, I think you should get some samples of different flooring options (stone tiles, various hardwoods, bamboo, cork, marmoleum, etc.) and see what you think will work best with your dining room floor. As for functionality, I also concur with those who suggest that concrete, over the long haul, may be way too demanding on your feet.
You should also try posting your question to the Garden Web home forums. In particular, you might want to try the kitchen forum at
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath
or the home decorating forum at http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/decor
You are likely to be pleasantly surprised by the number of homeowners of various experiences and design tastes on those forums(including Brooklyn brownstone owners) who will be more than happy to offer you solid, constructive advice without making you feel guilty or silly for asking.
Posted by: Brooklynista at December 29, 2007 10:40 PM
I used cork tiles about 8 years ago for a similar project and have been quite satisfied. It's comfortable and works nicely next to a parquet floor kind of complementing it.
Posted by: guest at December 29, 2007 10:43 PM
This is an excellent question--or at least I think so, since my partner and I are wrestling with a similar one. This weekend, after some visits to wood-flooring places, we came to a decision.
First of, I would totally agree with the above rehabbers/cooks: Do not put down concrete, tile, marble, or anything that hard (on feet) or jarring (on eyes).
Difference between your project and ours is, you took down a whole wall between dining room and kitchen (we didn't take down a wall; our rooms are divided by just a doorway). We ripped up crappy floor tile in foyer/hallway/kitchen, down to the subfloor. We have parquet in dining room, as you do. And we're trying to figure out what to put in foyer and hallway, which connects naturally to kitchen, and also in that kitchen.
In your case, lacking a wall dividing the two rooms, you now have no natural way to transition from one flooring type to another--you'd have to have a 10-foot, 12-foot, 18-foot saddle on the floor between the rooms, which is a little odd. (Not the end of the world, but a little odd). So you may want to replace ALL the flooring in kitchen AND dining room. That would probably look the best. If you can swing good flooring. Costly, I know.
Personally, as you suggested, I think it's weird to have fancy oak parquet next to rustic, refinished wide-plank pine that was always intended to only be subfloor covered with something else. We have decided to cover ours with quartersawn oak ($5 a square foot), with a stain that will kinda sorta match the old parquet. Perhaps with a walnut border. Good luck.
Posted by: Rehab at December 30, 2007 12:08 AM
I'm in the create consistency camp. I think it's odd looking when open plan kitchens have different flooring than the living/dining spaces they connect to. Is it all parquet or does it have a border of straight planks you could match?
Posted by: guest at December 30, 2007 1:27 AM
No border of straight planks we could match, no. So just to sum up, a few feedbacks here say it's best to be consistent looks-wise, whether that's matching wood as best I can, or perhaps cork. So tiling or linoleum would be strange. What about a wood floor that's painted? Farmhouse style I mean. I know that's not consistent, but would the wood aspect rhyme a bit even if the color and texture didn't exactly match?
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 30, 2007 2:30 AM
what will the rest of the kitchen look like, country, modern, etc?
Posted by: guest at December 30, 2007 9:48 AM
To me, coming close to matching an existing wood is a visual no-no. I say create noticable difference or match exactly. A little contrast is a good thing.
Bought some cork (which I still have in the basement if anyone wants it very cheap!) but went with linoleum in my ultra-modern kitchen. A little springy, very easy to maintain, and looks kinda cool next to the original (but now stained) wood floor. The kitchen floor's raised about 4" to make more seperation from dining area, which helps too.
Posted by: Johnny at December 30, 2007 12:08 PM
Our seller put in new stone floors in the kitchen and being brand new and well-installed we left them. The stone floors totally kill our feet and legs when we're preparing a lot of food, but if I wear springy soles with good support I do fine. So there is a way to work with hard stone floors if you must.
Parquet floors with more intricate patterns should be able to transition into plain, wide-plank floor areas okay. I don't like vastly different floors right next to each other either, but there's no way everyone has to follow a rule of never pairing different kinds of floors. That's a bit lazy, IMO. Get creative. Like what about a narrow, decorative inlaid tile border between types of wood? Just an idea to brainstorm.
Lastly, I agree with Brooklynista. If you want great ideas and pleasant exchanges go to Garden Web. It's what Forum should be but isn't. Every Forum thread always seems to turn up somebody like the first poster. To the first poster, dude, have you ever heard of a thing called interior designers? They help people design their homes. By giving them advice. Just like people are doing here. It's a given and goes without saying the OP will in the end ultimately decide what she herself wants. The only result when somebody never asks anybody for feedback or ideas when doing home decor, is more often than not an ugly house. See bad 70's and 80's renovations when middle class people didn't use designers and before the internet or HGTV existed. Those people might have thought their house was pretty but nobody else did!
Posted by: guest at December 30, 2007 3:16 PM
Agree with those who don't like hard surfaces on kitchen floors. Why all the ceramic tile out there - because it is more "modern" and "upscale" than our childhood kitchen linoleum? Even if you don't cook a lot, tiles don't look so good next to old wood. And stuff breaks more easily on tile when you drop it, and hearing a toddler's head hit it is hard to take (they will fall), not to mention hard on my knees when retrieving things from the floor.
Wood is best. Agree best not to try to match colors - but best to have complementary color. And yes, an inlaid border could be your transition. Love wood floors in kitchens - don't understand why people think they aren't durable. If you are a mess, you just put on lots of coats of poly, and perhaps repoly the room sooner if it wears. If you want to paint it, like that idea OK, but not as well as wood color - but be sure to seal it well with poly. Can't speak to cork, haven't used it, but like the idea. Like linoleum in general, but think not in your application, with the next room open. Like it best when the entire floor is wood to the eyes, even if the wood changes. Even just wood planks on top of the subfloor would look better.
So, just avoid having a saddle - hated my tile kitchen that was a bit raised from the adjoining old parquet floor - the transition always irritated my feet when they landed on it. So make the floors even in height, however else you transition them.
Agree with poster who says new floor in adjoining room too solves problem, but you may not want to spring for that, and you may like the old wood floor too much to rip it out (I like keeping old wood floors - they don't make 'em like they used to). Why not use parquet like the next room? Do they make something similar, or better yet, can you salvage the same sort of boards from a home of the same era, where someone is ripping them out? Then you COULD stain the same as the next room. That would be my number 1 choice.
Posted by: guest at December 30, 2007 8:50 PM
I have ceramic tile and I cook a lot (ususally only in socks) and I have NEVER had a problem. But there is a subfloor under my tile -- that may make a difference (not just concrete). So if you like it, go with it. I think that you can have two materials -- but you should "border" one -- even if it means staining the perimeter of the parquest in the dining area -- it will set it off and make the transition understandable (like a rug on a wood floor).
Posted by: guest at December 31, 2007 10:22 AM
concrete is the easy way out. more exspisve yea, but man, what a floor. the easist floor ever to keep clean. never a stan, and what a shine
Posted by: guest at March 4, 2008 4:35 AM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.