The back yard is super nice too! We are excited for spring!!

I love the bathtub and the bathroom tiles--score! I agree with LL, find a sink to match.

I'm not big on white walls, I prefer a bolder color statement, but anything you choose is going to look better than what is on them now! Use primer, even in the LR. You'll have much better results.

The floor transition to the den is a tough one. The kitchen flooring is not my fave, but if you put real wood floors next to it, it will look really bad. I think I'd be in favor of new carpeting there!

Show us the yard! Are you going to garden?

quote:

Originally posted by Bernard:
I vote for matching the tv room floors to the kitchen. Otherwise the transition from tv room to kitchen may never look right. It works ok with the carpet because they are radically different.

Nice spaces, BTW!!

Second.

quote:

The floor transition to the den is a tough one. The kitchen flooring is not my fave, but if you put real wood floors next to it, it will look really bad. I think I'd be in favor of new carpeting there!

We're not going to do real wood because it's too expensive. And I don't think we want to do carpet. We'd rather have flooring and a nice area rug. (Plus, if we do have to move soon, I suspect that a good flooring will be better than another carpet.)

I'm hoping that with a threshold, the transition from living room (real wood floors) to den to kitchen won't be too bad.

We're going to take WTG's advice and buy a box of planks and lay them out and try to get an idea of the appearance that way.

Also, I'll share outside pics soon. Right now it's pretty brown and bare. Also also overgrown, the previous residents didn't do a lot with the edges of the yard (where the yard ends all around the back of the property) but it's pretty nice otherwise.

Late chiming in, but I think any attempt to match either flooring that doesn't actually match might look kind of bad - like you tried to match but failed. So if you can't find that exact kitchen flooring or something that looks just like it, I might consider going with something radically different - tile maybe? You'd just have to watch that the pattern you pick doesn't look too busy with the striped texture of the paneling. Black and white checkerboard vinyl tile would be appropriate to the age of the house but it's a bold design statement....I might be tempted to go for it though!



It would kind of echo the black and white traditional bathroom tile. If black and white is too much, gray and white or tan and white might also look nice. Or maybe gray and tan, to combine the warm floor tones of the living room with the cooler tones in the kitchen. Something like this:

Like Lisa, I've found it to be a real challenge to try to match flooring (it just never looks right) and have ended up going in the "don't match" direction.

Not trying to push my fave flooring company but they have some nice patterns that don't look like stone, tile, or wood and that give a neutral background look like carpeting does. I'm sure there are other companies that have similar patterns.

https://www.raskinind.com/interwoven

https://www.tomkt.com/ozogrip-install

An example of a wood-look floor meeting a different color:



Could the TV room wait for a little while till after you move in? I know Mr SK probably already has a lot on his plate, but loose lay vinyl is an easy DIY install.

Also, HD runs installation deals pretty regularly on flooring.

You may also be able to save a bit of money by pulling up the carpeting and pad yourself; if you go with an installer, check to see if they charge to do that or if they just consider it part of the install.

Just noticing that the flooring in the kitchen runs parrallel with the sink which, if I'm seeing correctly would run the width of the tv room if you tried to place similar in there. I think if you laid flooring in the tv room parrallel to the length of the room, the kitchen and tv room floors would meet at the threshold at 90 degree angles and I think this is less problematic and imo would not be jarring to the eyes, and I think you could even get away with a less than perfect match.

Hey y'all, this is super, super helpful and giving me lots to think about.

Lisa, I see what you're saying about the attempt to match and subsequent failure looking really bad. So, yes, maybe we should try not to match at all.

But, not tile or anything kitchen-y... We will probably have an area rug in there eventually... It will have a sofa, a big plush chair, coffee table probably... and TV, shelves and house plants. So den, family room, sitting room, living room style. The front room (the real living room) will have some of these objects as well, but be the piano room.

Also, although there's that half wall between the tv room and kitchen, the actual space where the two floors meet is only the width of a standard doorway.... as is the space where the piano room meets the tv room...

WTG, the tv room *could* wait, but it's not ideal. OTOH it might be better to wait at least a little bit just so we have time to get to know the house better!

Bernard, re the directional thing.... yes the kitchen flooring is parallel to the sink, so if we did the tv room parallel to the kitchen flooring, it would be perpendicular to the piano room hardwood.

Or, as you say, if we run the tv room flooring parallel to the length of the room, it would be perpendicular to the kitchen flooring but parallel to the piano room flooring...

What about a lighter color wood-look in the vinyl planks? The piano room is a deep rich color, and the kitchen is that gray-brown... so what about a honey colored? That would be something that *clearly* wasn't intended to match....

BTW WTG, thanks for that link, I'm checking out those photos! I don't think I want anything that is a totally flat surface with no pattern (i.e. that looks, color-wise, like carpet)....

Oh and re deals, Lowes has a deal through April where installation is cheap and includes removal of whatever is on the floor right now. We're going to HD first thing tomorrow morning!

When I go over to the house after I finish teaching today I'll take more photos!

Please keep the comments coming, this is sooo helpful!!!

SK, those Interwoven floors have texture (they are not smooth). They have a woven look and feel kind of like burlap. Some patterns are fine and others are much coarser/rougher. And some have contrasting colors, while others are more uniform.

I'd be careful about getting too much pattern. You would have two different wood grains in different widths (the real wood in the LR and the kitchen floor), with the new floor sandwiched in between.

Would you consider removing the kitchen floor and choosing something you like for the kitchen and TV room?

I guess I'm just prejudiced. I really like a uniform rather than a chopped up look, which is why I'm a fan of minimizing the different types of flooring and of avoiding thresholds. We kept trying to avoid re-doing all the flooring in our foyer, powder room and kitchen and ended up with a mish-mash. We finally bit the bullet and did it all and have been much happier with the results. That's why I was suggesting holding off on the TV room. Instead of doing something on the quick and cheap, waiting and doing a more integrated solution might be more satisfying in the long run.

edit: Now that I went back re-read the thread, it seems Bernard said this a while back....

quote:

too much pattern

I definitely don't want "too much" pattern, but I don't want a totally flat look. Wood, or wood-look plank flooring, has a "pattern" but you don't react to it as "patterned" in the way tiling is.... And it's not flat in the way carpeting is (esp the ugly carpeting that's in there right now). If that makes sense?

quote:

Would you consider removing the kitchen floor and choosing something you like for the kitchen and TV room?

No, because the kitchen and dining room match, and if we rip up the kitchen, we have to also to do the dining room. And that's just too much. Too much expense and too much time.

quote:

I really like a uniform rather than a chopped up look

Yes, and that's the problem. In theory, I prefer a uniform look as well....

We need something we can live with for at least 5 or 10 years... But I *cannot* live with that carpeting!!!

Photo from Google:



The lighter one here is too light, but what about something like this??

Yea, I had forgotten about the dining room. Point well taken.

The floor in the kitchen is a rustic, weathered wide plank synthetic oak product (vinyl?) with big knots, and the living room is a dark period (1960s) narrow oak (real wood). I just don't know what kind of wood-look floor could look good with both of the existing floors. For me, the woods would always clash.

But I admittedly have very limited design skills and *no* ability to imagine things I can't see in front of me.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Photo from Google:



The lighter one here is too light, but what about something like this??

In that case, I wouldn't do oak for the lighter wood, I would do something like maple that doesn't have much of a grain.

I guess I'm stuck on "no pattern".

quote:

The floor in the kitchen is a rustic, weathered wide plank oak with big knots, and the living room is a dark period (1960s)narrow oak. I just don't know what kind of wood-look floor could look good with both of the existing floors.

Exactly! That's why this is sooo hard!!

I will have more photos later today if I didn't have a meeting soon I would just leave work now, it's not like I'm getting anything done!

(we're simul-posting!!)
re your other comment about maple instead of oak:

Agreed. I don't know the names of these different options, I pulled that one because it was the best contrast photo I could find. But yes, I don't need all that patterning...