Ugly Kitchen Quick Fix - Vinyl Floor Tiles

Tuesday, March 17, 2015


In my last kitchen post I mentioned that we had just bit the bullet and chosen a strange-for-us, dark grey, click-together vinyl floor tile as an easy quick-fix for our gross kitchen floors.

Exhibit A:

So nasty, right?

The boxes sat in our breakfast room for a good week while we second guessed our decision. The tiles were really dark. And the pattern on them was kind of weird (out of the four samples we brought home I tried to choose the one that looked the least like fake ceramic.) After awhile we came to the conclusion that pretty much anything would be better than what we had before. With the help of his dad, Alex went for it.

They had a few issues to contend with, seeing as our house is a bit odd, and, well, 75 years old. One of the main problems that they had was cutting the tiles to fit under the doorway trim of SIX door openings. Our kitchen has doorways that lead to the dining room, living room, basement, powder room, breakfast room, and pantry. When I called the boys at 2 pm to see how everything was going all I heard on the other end was cursing. At that point I knew it was a bit of a challenging install. Also, they ended up having to place the tile directly over the linoleum (instead of removing it and a layer of plywood) because the gaps under the trim would have been much too big. That required trimming all of the doorway trim with some kind of magical tool that I forget the name of. Even with all of the hiccups, the whole installation took about two weekend mornings.

I'll be honest. For the first few days, neither of us liked the floor at all. We were kind of sad about it. It didn't help that after removing everything from the kitchen it was painfully obvious that all of the walls needed to be repainted, the baseboards needed work, the appliances and kitchen carts were filthy on the sides and back, and everything in general just looked tired and scuffed up.

With everything out of the way we took the opportunity to do some fixing up. First, I gave our kitchen carts and appliances a thorough cleaning on the sides and backs that aren't usually accessible. After that I washed, sanded, and repainted the kitchen walls. We also sanded, caulked, painted, and added quarter round trim to the baseboards. Alex also replaced a seriously old light switch with a nice, shiny, new one.

Exhibit B:



Exhibit C:



With everything repainted, cleaned, and put back together I do have to say that the floors look a lot better than they did before. Do I love them? No. Does Alex love them? No. But do we like them now? Yeah, we're getting used to them. :)

P.S. It's hard to tell in the photos but in person you can in fact see the lines in between the large, rectangular tiles as well as some subtle texture on each tile.

Now let's take a look at the before and after pictures. Here is a picture of the original linoleum flooring:



And here is a picture of the vinyl flooring installed over top:


What do you think? Do you like the before or after better? For me, it definitely feels crisper and cleaner in there and a lot less dingy. Yay for a less dingy kitchen!!!!

Wanna hear some other fun news? We have two boxes of white subway tiles and two lengths of butcher block counter sitting in our basement right now. Our kitchen quick fixes aren't done yet. The idea is to spruce up this side of our oogly kitchen next:


Someday soon I will be saying goodbye to that green and white laminate. Triple yay!!!

33 comments:

  1. The floor looks nice in pictures! Maybe get a fun rug?

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    1. Thanks so much Casey. That is exactly what I was thinking.... a little Dash and Albert might do the trick. :)

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    2. Exactly what I was thinking too.

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  2. It definitely looks better than before -- great job! What color did you repaint the walls?

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    1. Thank you!!!!! The walls are painted with Benjamin Moore Gray Owl, but mixed at 1/2 tint. It's a light blue-grey. :)

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  3. Lovely!! It looks so crisp and clean :) Liz

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  4. I think it looks fantastic! Your kitchen has so much charm, even in the before pics...but the after is definitely a big improvement:)

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  5. That is a huge improvement already. Clean and less dated and a nice neutral look. The butcher block is really going to be nice.

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  6. I think it looks classic and modern and grounded !!! Good job !!!
    Tanya, Australia.

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  7. Oh I think the floors look great ... as you say, crisp and clean.

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  8. I love the after!! It is hard to get use to something that is such a different color than you are use to, but from someone who is not use to looking at your old kitchen, it is really nice! Everything does look crisp and clean. I can't wait to see the rest.

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  9. Love the new floor! Sleek and chic!

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  10. It is nice and fresh looking. I agree that a cute little rug will help cut the dark. You have such a lovely way with decorating, it will look like you in no time! Just put your Sarah touch on it.

    Kelly

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  11. Looking good Sarah! :) I am excited to see rest of your quick fixes come into play as well. Also wondering how much time do you guys have until the new baby comes? Excited for you on many levels!

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  12. Huge improvement!! I love the dark floor with the white cabs! The gray paint is lovely too!

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  13. looks so clean in there! love it HUGE improvement missy ;P

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  14. Sooooooo nice! Crisp, clean and trendy! Love seeing the little (and big) changes you make in your home :-) Greetings from Melbourne.

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  15. I *love* IT! Love the colors, texture, and looks great. More photos please! :)

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  16. I LOVE it!! It's a great look with the gray/white contrast--beautiful! Can't wait to see the rest of your kitchen re-do!

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  17. I love the new floor! I agree that adding a rug would be fun. I noticed new cabinet knobs - I like the new ones better. We have similar ones in our kitchen and I love them! Your kitchen looks so crisp and fresh now. Just in time for Spring!

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  18. The gray floors are such an improvement over the first ones. It helps give the kitchen a crisp, clean feel. They may not have been your first choice, but I really like the look.

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  19. Looks great! The floor looks more uniform and flows with the rest of the room, nice work!

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  20. I have heard of your blog before. TLC sent me your way today. I have a horrible obsession with cottage also. I will be sticking around to check you out! :) I see what you mean about the grey, however, your kitchen looks much, much more up to date and clean. And it makes your whites look more crisp and stand out--so I would say it is great! We had to change out our stove-eewwww! Gross goop down the side of the counter from 15 plus years (5 of it our doing). :)

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  21. Uh, forget the floors for a sec, Mama (which look awesome by the way)....Layla just posted you as one of her 4 favorite blogs!!!!!!!!! Happy dance!! Congrats, that is huge! And that is all, bye bye:)

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  22. ^5's to you, as we are also laying plain Jane, dark floor tiles in our kitchen! Oh, + BTW, I had your exact same tile in my 1970's kitchen. Harvest gold. ;-)

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  23. I am coming by via The Lettered Cottage. You have a cute kitchen and yes I like the new floor. It isn't fun at the time to clean and paint the walls but with the fresh paint it really brightens up your kitchen. The subway tiles will be a great addition.

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  24. Absolutely agree with all of the above! It really looks fab and I can't wait to see the butcher's block, possible rug and subway tiles - my favourite choices! Love your blog :-)

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  25. Well I think it looks great. And all your hard work paid off. I like seeing economical improvements over the ever so popular high end 'sponsored' improvements on so many blogs. Thanks for posting what I call...keeping it real.

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  26. AnonymousMay 06, 2015

    Really love the new floor.....what a transformation.....the butcher block counters and white subway tiles will make it look even spiffier. I love your blog. Thank you..

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  27. What brand of flooring did you end up using?

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    1. Hi Stephanie, I'll have to dig out some leftover floor tiles out of the basement to figure out the brand, etc. because I can't remember off-hand. Check back in a few days and I'll leave the info under this comment. :)

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    2. I'm so sorry - I can't find the info for the vinyl floor tiles that we used. Once we put them down I wasn't digging the color as much as I thought I would so I didn't bother to write the name down. I thought we had some extra in the basement but I haven't been able to find it. Sorry again and good luck with your flooring search! :)

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