Calling any home decorating/remodeling peeps....

[lizzyann]

Ksinger, I hear you! I have ruled out the sanding of the prefinished wood because I truly don't know what it is. I found this tile and it is really cool! Looks like wood doesn't it?

http://www.cortinatile.com/ceramic_tile.html third picture

Rubybeth, thanks for posting! I wonder how much a heated floor goes?

 

[lizzyann]

Ok so I finally took some pics of my kitchen/dining/family room and shots where you can see the transitioning between my current flooring and hard wood. Sorry for the mess, I have a 4 year old and an 8 month old!!! Keep the ideas coming!!!

 

[lizzyann]

few more...

 

[Octavia]

Lizzyann, now that you posted pictures, I'd say that hardwood throughout would probably look better. The doorway transition isnt that big, but the fact that the kitchen and living areas are so open to each other makes me lean away from doing two different surfaces in those rooms. The space will look bigger without that visual break between the areas. Also, if you do a lot of standing in the kitchen (prep work, cooking, etc), tile is really rough on your back after awhile. Wood can be too, but it's a little more forgiving. My parents have tile in their kitchen and I have about 30 minutes of standing, tops, before I start to hurt; I have oak and find that up to an hour is tolerable. Either way, those gel kitchen mats are worth their weight in gold and I highly recommend getting one for your workspace regardless of which surface you choose.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Hey Lizzy, you've gotten great advice on here, but I thought I would throw in my two cents anyway. We are currently in the process of looking for a new house, and in my opinion the houses with open floor plans or semi-open floor plans look so much better when one flooring is used throughout the main level. Anytime I see a house where three different floorings are visible at the same time, it seems so choppy to me. I personally, would go with a new wood or bamboo flooring throughout.

In our current house, we have a lovely light maple wood floor in the entry, living room and master bed. We wanted to take out our outdated white tile in the kitchen and replace it with wood when we redid it last year, but we couldn't find quite the right match, so we stuck with tile. I kind of regret it though.

Have fun with the remodel and come back with pictures!

 

[lizzyann]

Thanks Octavia! I'd really like to make the hard wood match work, instead of having to do all new flooring. I just have to get down to the flooring place that carries Columbia and see what they have. I am definitely going to price out bamboo for the entire first floor too. The thing is that I actually like the "look" of tile that the linoleum has with my cabinets. I don't like the linoleum aspect but the tile look is nice. But it is a tough transition into the berber.

 

[lizzyann]

Hey Lizzy, you've gotten great advice on here, but I thought I would throw in my two cents anyway. We are currently in the process of looking for a new house, and in my opinion the houses with open floor plans or semi-open floor plans look so much better when one flooring is used throughout the main level. Anytime I see a house where three different floorings are visible at the same time, it seems so choppy to me. I personally, would go with a new wood or bamboo flooring throughout.

In our current house, we have a lovely light maple wood floor in the entry, living room and master bed. We wanted to take out our outdated white tile in the kitchen and replace it with wood when we redid it last year, but we couldn't find quite the right match, so we stuck with tile. I kind of regret it though.

Have fun with the remodel and come back with pictures!

Just saw your note MP and hope that you are enjoying your little one! Long time no talk! The more I think about it I think you are right that one flooring would be best. I can see how it would make it look bigger too. I think I'll price out for all new hardwood too because honestly I don't love the quality of the one we have.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Thanks Lizzy, I hope you are enjoying your little guy too! You'll have to come and update us in the mommy thread with how all of you are doing and what it's like with two little guys.

I'm sure whatever you end up doing with your home will be lovely. I agree with whoever suggested doing a darker border if you go the route of trying to match your current flooring. If done well, that looks really classy.

 

[megumic]

I agree with others that one type of flooring creates continuity and makes it look bigger.

Another thing to consider is maintenance. Tile is practically maintenance free -- sweep or vaccuum and mop. Wood floors tend to need refinishing and can suffer permanent scratches and dings. Not sure of the maintenance on bamboo...but all things worth considering!

 

[ksinger]

Lizzyann - for a real 'wood-look' tile, check out this one by Emser. A couple of them look promising...

http://www.emser.com/index.php?name=ALPINE(TM)&id0=ceramic_porcelain&id1=collectionDetailsIntro&index=33&scrollMenuporcelain=0

ETA - the link isn't rendering properly. So just pick it up and drop the whole thing in the URL. That works at least.

Weird.

 

[lizzyann]

MP, life is crazy with two kiddos! I love my little men though!! I am looking forward to warmer weather so we can spend more time outside though! Definitely going to look into the border!

Meg, I am going to investigate all options this weekend! Thanks for all your help!

Ksinger, wow that is really cool! That totally looks like hard wood!