Hey, guys! I need some unbiased opinions. I may have the opportunity to replace the flooring in our house. Where the mister and I differ is the dining room. The kitchen and dining room are actually just one room with a bar separating the kitchen space from the dining space. Currently, there is good ole peel and stick tile in the kitchen part and some truly hideous indoor/outdoor kinda carpet in the dining room part. If we proceed, we plan to do ceramic tile in the kitchen. I want to extend the tile into the dining area. The mister thinks it should be carpeted. What do you think?
I agree,the tile and area rug! If the area rug gets spills or you get tired of it ,you can easily change it. I have a separate dining room and kitchen right now,but we plan to move and that could change-I would use the area rug. In my home now I have wood plank floors in the dining and living room,with area rugs. We have carpet in the den and two of the bedrooms,I just finished cleaning the carpet in the den and was wishing the whole time I had gone with area rug in there also! We have ceramic tile and area rug in the basement also-that was a good choice for down there also-except for the black and white checkerboard tile.The tile shows every speck of dirt and every footstep! I clean it,then stand back to admire it,knowing as soon as someone walks on it,it is over! Good luck on your new flooring!
I agree with Katie & Ver2us to use an area rug. I've read somewhere that the Amish (I adore those folks) don't do carpet anywhere....wonder why? Probably they know that in the long run it's a better investment with the wood & tile flooring + with all those kids they have running around it's a heck of a lot easier to clean up than carpet. Tell hubby it's time to go Amish!
Living in Lancaster County,PA and my son-in-law was raised team Mennonite,I can tell you they do not use carpet usually,they use vinyl flooring. Many do use area rugs and smaller throw rugs.In this area they do not use curtains-they are to use the dark green roll down shades.The team Mennonites are similar to Amish,they do drive horse and carriages and dress plain. The dress is different than the Amish,though. Each sect of team Mennonites has different rules,some have electric and phones in their homes,some do not. Some farm with horses,others with steel wheeled tractors.There are Amish who drive cars-car Amish-it is allowed by their church. Their are many different rules with the Amish and Mennonites depending on their church district and sometimes even personal preference.My son-in-law has many friends,Amish and Mennonite,he attended Amish school as a child and there were both in the school. Whenever I see something different with any of them,I ask him and he can usually tell me what church district allows different things. Many of the younger Amish and Mennonites no longer live on the farms and have quite nice homes-very modern looking and decorated very nice-I am sure there are some that have carpet even!. As you drive around this area,many times it would be hard to tell if a home is Amish or Mennonite if you did not see horses and carriages or someone outside. I am sure it is easier to clean the vinyl flooring in most cases. Many also use generators to run appliances and pump water,so they can run vacuum cleaners.My son-in-law goes to many younger friends homes,I will have to ask about carpet in their homes! He will say-oh no more questions!
Area rugs under a dining room table adds pattern, color, and "grounds" the table. Hey, I work part time at a Pottery Barn store and they taught me well!!! As someone said, you are only covering up a portion of the tile. Also, tile is easier to keep clean than is carpet which has to be replaced every 5-10 years.
We agreed I could get our contractor guy to quote tile for the kitchen/dining room area so it depends on his price. I can lay tile but I'm not sure my knees are up to it or down on it, as the case may be.
The mister pulled up corners of the carpet in the living room and two of the bedrooms and found hardwood. Not sure of the condition but we'll check it out once we have the furniture out.
Susan-I love Pottery Barn. The closest one is about 100 miles away but I always stop and look when we're in the area. Never bought anything but I sure do like to look.
Annie, that word causes more fights in our house! We know we should leave the bathtub in for "resale" but we're going to have it taken out anyway and just have a big ole shower. The mister says if he's going to live in the house, it's going to be the way he wants it. I say, if that's true, why are you complaining so about having a bigger closet built? hehehe
Hardwood floors! Nice with an area rug also!You are right about the knees and installing tile! I could not do it either anymore! I agree about the shower-I can very easily live without a tub. We live here 14+ years and I think I may have taken a bath 2 or 3 times. Those big garden tubs look wonderful,my brother installed one in his house,now they very seldom use it because it uses so much water!
Hopefully you can get your tile and your hardwood floors look great under the carpet!
How lucky can you get Deb? That's so cool & I hope the condition is good because wood floors give a real nice warm feeling to a room & really do complement a country decor as well. My living & dining rooms have hardwood floors. I'm hoping to put a hardwood floor in the family room next year. Early this year we put wood on the cathedral ceilings in that room w/2 sky lights....talk about a million bucks it looked so good we did the same thing to the cathedral ceiling on the screened back porch!
I was planning to reply to your tile situation sooner, but had problems logging on. Ended up reregistering. Anyway, as to your tile situation, which apparently you've solved, I have tile in my kitchen and dining area, as well as laundry room, entry way & halls. We built our home 20+ years ago. About 7 years after building we had a broken pipe situation while we were gone and many of the floors were ruined, including tile floors, which had to be replaced. Tile has held up very well but the grout does get stained and is hard to clean. We have blue tile with blue/grey grout. This year, for the first time, we had Merry Maids come in to do thorough tile cleaning and it looks much better now. Also when you drop something on those ceramic tile floors, you can pretty well count on it breaking! BUT, if I had to do it all over now, I'd put in the hardwood floors. 20+ years the hardwood flooring that's available now wasn't available then. I don't use an area rug under the dining table as it's a bit awkward moving the chairs for dining. And the dining area tile doesn't get dirty anyway. It's the kitchen area that gets dirty, even though I don't cook that much anymore!
I hope your hardwood floor situation works for you and good luck. Janny
I forgot about the grout! I've ivory tile in kitchen & breakfast nook w/ivory grout....what was I thinking right??? I've scrubbed that grout a handful of times in the past 16 yrs & re-sealed each time. I usually use straight up white vinegar on the tile once a week, but, should probably do it more often than that. My only problem with the tile is that I've noticed a few small cracks & chips from heavy items being dropped. If I could do it over again? Probably would invest in top dollar tile next time as I went for the bottom of the line at home depot mainly because when you're building & the floors are the last thing you do...well, you seem to run out of money in the end!!!
I have tile in two different parts of my house. The 400 square feet in my kitchen, utility room, and powder room were wet bed set. They put down wire mesh and then used a cement bed. It has worn really well. The grout is a medium gray. The entry way had tile set on cement board. The grout constantly cracks and we have to scrape it out and reapply it. If you can, have it set on the wire mesh with the cement type base.
We've installed both ways. In the house it was wet set on a wire grid like you did & the grout is fine, but have minor problems with the tile itself pitting & cracking especially in front of the refrigerator, but it's a high traffic area & low grade tile. In the garage apartment we installed the tile on the cement board & moved my FIL in up there & haven't been up there much since he passed. I put 3 coats of sealer on that grout up there....I'll have to go see how it's holding up.
Renovations start Monday! Unfortunately, budget for the kitchen/dining room tile is a no go at this time:( Now I just have to pack up my dishes plus the rest of the house as they will be doing some work in every room. The mister, the kitty and I will be bunking in with Mom for 3-4 weeks. Oh my.
It will still be wonderful to have some new things to look at-pack your dishes carefully! I tell everyone,when we move I will be responsible for packing,carrying and transporting my dishes and some other very fragile items! Good luck with your renovations!
Moving back home tomorrow - finally! I wish I had thought to take before and after pics but duh of course I didn't think of that until I'd already packed the camera. The kitchen/dining room floor isn't done yet. Because of $$$ and because the original floor has major issues, we're going with a vinyl plank flooring which looks like laminate. It's ordered but hasn't come in yet. The mister and my uncle will install it. Uncle has it in his house and it looks great so that was a good compromise for us. Pictures when I find my camera:)
it looked so good we did the same thing to the cathedral ceiling on the screened back porch!
