When you're gutting a room and starting over from scratch, there are a lot of decisions that need to be made. It's not just paint colors and cabinet door styles - there are functional considerations in everything you put in a room. For example, take flooring. Most people have tile in their kitchens, which makes sense. It's durable, it's waterproof, and it's relatively inexpensive. What's not to love?
Well, my kitchen is now visually connected to the rest of my house, and I wasn't keen on having such an abrupt flooring. But I also didn't want to put hardwoods in a room that would likely see spills and mops on a regular basis. So after a little research (and a lot of HGTV watching), I settled on cork floors, from Lumber Liquidators. The color is very close to the oak hardwood in the rest of the house, but the texture is different enough that it doesn't look like I tried (and failed) to match the floors.
Plus it was pretty easily to install. Just roll out the underlayment, and click down the tongue-n-groove planks. See how easy my big brother, Monty, makes it look?
Once it's all in, the seams practically disappear into the pattern.
Cork is also supposed to be easier on the feet, and naturally water resistant. Martin was curious, and soaked a piece in a bucket of water to see how it would hold up. It was about 12 hrs before the particle board backing started to swell, but the cork didn't change at all - not too shabby!
My dad has also completed the relocation and installation of the new lighting. I actually bought one of these lamps way back when I lived in the Meganplex, to put in my kitchen there, but the wiring was so decrepit that my dad didn't want to risk shorting anything out by replacing the fixtures. So this sat in a box until it was safely in its new home, and accompanied by a new twin (from Ikea, around $60 for the pair!).
Flooring, lighting, cabinets, all done! Up next, we have a whole lotta tiling to do! Time to get grouty!
