Ot about colors

I have ceramic tile too, 12" squares in my kitchen, dining room and den -- and I absolutely hate it.

For me, it's very hard to keep clean, and even when it's been vacuumed, swiffered and wet mopped, it still doesn't look clean.

It's also very hard on the back and knees.

I would dearly love to replace it with Pergo.

-- Jere

And the only thing that doesn't break or dent is that same cooked noodle!! In winter it's cold - you HAVE to wear shoes on tile, unless you have under-floor heating.

Catherine

Ericka - You mention swiffering and having pets. I heard (can't remember source, sorry) that the wet-jet type swiffers should be used when there are pets about as the solution isn't pet-friendly. I haven't researched this yet as we're in a carpeted apt. Figured I'd wait til the need arose and then make the decision.

I've lived with wood, linoleum, and carpet. I'll take wood any day (though vinyl will go in the kitchen and baths, and carpet in the someday attic and basement bed-suites).

I am thinking (dreaming, really) about putting pipes in the ceiling of the basement, thus giving us radiant heat in the floors of the main level of the house. That would certainly solve the frozen tootsies inherent (for me, at least) in living in a damp area.

Helen

Friends with an ancient house in Harrisburg have a vinyl that looks like stone. I love it and plan to use that in the kitchen. Perfect for an old house!

Helen

Why not lay the Pergo over the tile? I had originally intended to restore the floors of the house - tongue and groove oak flooring - but realized the cost would be prohibitive because of the asbestos-based linoleum (ca. 1960s based on the lovely turquoise color). So I'm going to just do wood over the lino.

Helen

Go for it! It's your house, decorate the way you want to!

My parents bought a 1971 sprawling ranch in the early 80's (and they still live in it). I remember when we moved in it was wall to wall shag carpeting, usually in bizarre combinations of multi-hues. My room had orange, red, purple and gold shag carpeting that had thousands and thousands of shirt pins trapped in the carpet. Why? We have NO idea. My Mom spent weeks trying to get all those pins out and finally gave up. My room was the first to get new carpeting, a nice plush rose color, not me, but definitely nice for a little girl. The main bathroom still has avocado-green fixtures. Priceless for anyone who loves the retro look :)

Depending on the stain on the floors, they seem to hide the abuse well too. My hardwoods in this house are VERY beat up so I just pretend like they are original to the house (they are really from about 1985) and consider part of my country/primitive charm.

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Think no more - it's Urban Legend

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Oops sorry, wrong link!

Gillian

My house was built in 1957 and had orange and yellow shag when we moved in. I just finished pulling up the beige we replaced it with 20 some years ago. I am in the process of trying to determine what the finish is on the beautiful hardwood we discovered. I'll have to do some refinishing but 95% of the floor is in excellent shape.

I replaced the brown/copper colored cooktop years ago. When I called the city for a pick up of the old cooktop and had to describe it to the young girls on the other end of the line, she exclaimed, "Oh, it's like on the Brady Bunch."

We also had a star burst type ceiling light over the dining room table.

Jane

sunflower wrote:

Ah, the line and flecks definitely sound like linoleum. There are some companies making it now and the newer linoleum is truly beautiful. Maybe you can go right over it with new linoleum. It's ten times better than vinyl.

Sounds like a house I would love. When we moved to this area I wanted an old house, but all of them were in the city and I wanted property. I couldn't imagine moving into a city again, not ever. So, we have bland new house. A little at a time I am adding wood moulding, wainscott, and it looks better and better. All will go on hold now for at least a year. :(

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Ever the cynic! A funny though was the petition I received yesterday from a dear friend. It was to stop them making a movie about a murder involving two poor teenaged girls and a nasty murdering couple. She had duly signed it of course.

The movie is already in the theatres.

Laminate hardwoods aren't nearly that much work. Basically I just vaccuum once a week and run a swiffer dry mop over them. You are supposed to wet mop them once every six months, but I don't get around to doing it that much. I stay away from commercial "shine" products because they just make your wood look a bit too glossy, and then you have to worry about constantly reapplying the shine.

Does it really look like brick? I always wanted a brick floor for the kitchen, but it's not terribly practical to have the real thing. A lot of vinyl "brick" floors never look right to me either...

When they were poking around installing the heating ducts, they informed me that I still had pipes for gas lighting in the walls, confirming that this house was built pre-electric.

We have Pergo in our home office. We decided to go with it instead of hardwood because this floor takes a beating from office chairs. It is pretty impossible to hurt, and does look like wood, but I can tell the difference. My interior decorator friend came over and saw it just sort of had this look of disdain on her face :( Somehow I feel like I've cheated my 100 year old house now...

Well, if you really want to be authentic (as our local Historic Preservation Wackos would encourage), you'd take down the phone lines, the electric hookup wires, the cable cable and the TV antenna, then remove the computer, the A/C, the heat, the dishwasher, the bathtub (unless you have a clawfoot tub), the window screens, the environmentally-correct double-pane windows, the garage......

The HPW have tried demanding that in order to get any sort of building permit (required for any project over $1000), you should be required to undo any prior renovations (e.g., some prior owner had installed a sliding glass door to the front porch across the street; if they want a new furnace installed, the HPW want to force them to take that door out and replace it with a historic wood-framed window that leaks and lets lots of cold air in.)