Flooring suggestions? Hardwood, tile or other?

10 years ago

Hi everyone! Hoping to get some opinions on this one.....

We are part way through a remodel of a second home. Cabinets, counters, and most appliances in. Haven't selected backsplash or paint yet. The floor is my current dilemma.

This house is a mid-century modernish house in No Cal (I've been told it's prairie style...). We have great views from the back of the house, and intend to make much of the back of the house glass. The first two pictures below show the current state of the remodel. The wood floors are in really bad shape, and need to be refinished. They are nice wide oak planks (which is fine), but what I don't love is that they are grooved on the sides. I could probably learn to live with the grooves if we refinish them but, before we make a decision I'd like your opinions on some options.

The third picture shows what we are planning to do with our south-facing wall. We want to put in the floor to ceiling window doors that stack off to the side when you open them, enabling you to essentially have the deck as part of the kitchen. Although this picture shows a different surface for the deck versus the kitchen, I've seen other pics with both the inside and outside floor areas made of the same material that looked really cool.

What I've come up with are the following options:

1) Refinish the wood in the kitchen and dining room and choose a different material for the patio (tile, Ipe wood, etc)

2) Replace the kitchen floor (which goes into the dining room (partially visible in the picture) and the foyer with a tile (wood look tile or other tile), slate/stone, or ipe wood--and continue that material out onto the deck.

Reactions? Ideas?? Thanks-I always love reading everyone's opinions and ideas on this forum!

Comments (10)

ck_squared
10 years ago
What a cool home you have. Love your kitchen and am envious of those who live in CA where you can open up whole walls to the outside.

I have seen photos where the floor runs the same inside and out and that is what I would do. Love that third photo, but imagine how much grander that space would look with the same flooring inside and out (though that space is already quite grand!).

With that said, I'd find some large field tile that would work in both spaces; something on the lighter side.

Your wood floors are gorgeous, though... Sorry, I'm no help, am I?

Either way, you can't go wrong! :)
Catherine Roddick
10 years ago
If you tear out those floors, do it very gently. Then call me- I'll come get them. :)
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remodelfla
10 years ago
Your home is fabulous. I adore those window wall systems and wished we could have done them in our home! My first instinct was to say go with the same floor throughout into the outside. Then I saw your floors. I'd be hard pressed to tear those out. I'd refinish and then do a tile or stained concrete that matched in color.
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
10 years ago
If I were lucky enough to have a midcentury prairie style, I would want to keep as many of the original features as practical... I think that the original floors are lovely and I would definitely keep them, even though your idea of running the same flooring inside & out.

If you decide that you cant live with them, though, you might consider cork. I think that could compliment those beautiful cabinets (it comes in many colors and patterns so you surely could find something you like)
Anne Harris
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you for the feedback!

CK--to your point, what I am hoping to do is have the space feel like a unified space when the glass doors are all open. I do think that will make the space feel more like one large room! (I am a native Atantan who is accustomed to looking at the beautiful outdoors from inside my air conditioned house during the summer because I can't stand the heat, humidity, and bugs! It's a treat to go to No California where it drops to the low 50s at night, even in July/Aug and you can open your doors and windows and there's a BREEZE!!! LOL

Norcal--I hear ya! These floors are in really bad shape (camera doesn't show it). But the refinisher I've had look at them promises they will look brand new. He will need to replace about 10% of the planks that beyond hope (water leaks, etc). He sanded a patch and put down some test colors. It is amazing how different that little area looks. I really don't like ripping out good hardwood...

Remodelfla--Thank you for your comments! I think your suggestion is a good one--to find a matching wood tile (not sure we can do concrete since the deck is slighlty elevated off the ground??(But it would be less expensive!)

Raee-- we bought this house two years ago, and I have really fallen in love with its mid-century style. We are trying to update the house and honor it's original design, while at the same time bringing electrical, plumbing, etc. up to current standards.

Thanks again for your help!
fumet
10 years ago
Hi,

Keep them! We just re-sanded and lacquered our old pine boards that are over a hundred years old and they do come up amazingly well. Some replacements had to be made because of damage (mainly bad tradesmen, probably).

IMHO, old boards brought back to life are more beautiful than new perfect boards or any other flooring for that matter. Just make sure that the sanding man goes through all grades thoroughly and applies a good few layers of lacquer.. We went for 4 layers of satin lacquer.
ellendi
10 years ago
Wood look tiles?
remodelfla
10 years ago
I actually didn't mean wood look tile (which I love and have myself). Just a tile in a similar color to what the floor looks like once refinished.
plumberry
10 years ago
have you seen this tile linked here. We really wanted to use it for our mcm home but we have white kitchen and it wasn't enough contrast.

Here is a link that might be useful: everstone durastone
Anne Harris
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Ellendi--I need to look at the wood tiles--see if there is something that will look good with real wood next (I could see it being perfect or a diasaster is it's "off"!)

Plumberry--those everstone tiles look very pretty. I'm a total novice about tile, so I really appreciate the link. I'm quite sure I wouldn't have found them on my own!