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Texasfirewheel I never interpreted the rain situation the way you have. LOL With my puppies it seemed to me that they simply were not willing to go outside in a driving rain no matter how much they needed to go. The way I corrected this perception was to physically take them outside and subject them to the rain, so they would know they could survive it. It was usually a one time incident...just a matter of teaching them they wouldn't melt.
My dogs will only go into the rain if we go with them!
No doggie door here. They hold it until we get home. They have proven that they can hold it for eternity.
I had hardwood in my kitchen for 20 years and it worked out perfectly fine. We are not super picky about every little dent or scape, however. IF you have a big leak, such as your icemaker running or your dishwasher dumping a lot of water onto the floor, you WILL probably need to replace some of it. What happens is that the water runs underneath the boards and it is almost impossible to get it dried out, so you'll get mold or warping.
If a house has mostly hardwood flooring on the main floor (except for downstairs bedroom and bath), do you prefer or expect the kitchen and breakfast area to have the same hardwood flooring for a "unified" look or have tiles for more practical/easy cleaning of spills and splatters?
I'd like to get people's opinion specially from the realtors and recent or "will be" buyers.
Thanks.
I love my wood but it is laminated so is easy to clean. I found tile really hard to keep clean, maybe it was just me. For the bathroom I think either works well. Remember it is hard to decide what will be best if you are going to selll, unless you plan on selling in the very near future. We are going through the same thing right now: we want to upgrade a few things, do not plan on selling for about 10 years but don't want to update now and then again in 10 years. I remember when styles stayed in for 20 or more years, not anymore.
I have had seen hundreds of homes with hardwood floors in their kitchens. Never seen wood floors that were stained from water.
I have...right next door. Not sure exactly what happened, but there must have been some kind of water leak from my next door neighbor's dishwasher. You could definitely see the effect it had on the wood floor directly in front of the appliance.
I don't have the problem deciding on wood versus tile, but I do have a problem with what to do about carpet versus new flooring. Our wood goes from the kitchen, into the dining room and all three bathrooms plus the entry hall. We have carpet in the bedrooms and living room plus the main hall. I would love to have wood in the hallway as well as the living room, but don't know think I can match what we have and the hall would but up to the entry and dining room. Any suggestions?
I don't have the problem deciding on wood versus tile, but I do have a problem with what to do about carpet versus new flooring. Our wood goes from the kitchen, into the dining room and all three bathrooms plus the entry hall. We have carpet in the bedrooms and living room plus the main hall. I would love to have wood in the hallway as well as the living room, but don't know think I can match what we have and the hall would but up to the entry and dining room. Any suggestions?
Is your house a more traditional style or modern style? Whatever it is, consider a floor using multiple stain colors to create a design. That way it will have a clear border between the different floors, and the similar colors will be farther enough apart that you won't be able to tell they don't match exactly.
This google image search might give you some ideas:
There are traditional and modern design ideas there. I assure you that this is the way to go.
My girlfriend has an 100 year old house with the super dark old hardwood floors throughout her house except for the kitchen and master bedroom. These "newer" floors were probably installed over 50 or 60 years ago. Maybe to repair them. Maybe for style.
The master bedroom floor is a lighter wood with a dark border going around the room. At the door threshold entering the room, there is a distinctly different floor with the light floor meeting the old dark floor. The dark border runs approximately 8" from the bedroom walls around the room, with some small decorative twist at the corners of the room. The dark wood in the bedroom doesn't perfectly match the dark wood in the hallway but it's not noticable since they are 8" apart at the doorway enterance.
The kitchen is a beautiful painted floor.
I think you're lucky. You can be very creative and give your home some special character that looks like it was intended to be that way.
If the hardwood has a good acrylic or polyurethane coating, it should be fine in the kitchen and eating area.
If the hardwood is old fashioned, needing a petroleum distillate applied to it to polish it, then it won't be fine. If you are thinking of putting in new material, the wood you consider should be the former.
If the tile you are thinking of is ceramic or porcelain, I vote no. Its not the best to stand on, and every thing you drop on it will break. Also, with tile you have to think of texture. Slick tile on the floor is a no no. Mopping texture is not fun. Use tile on the backsplash.
The hardwood floors you install will improve the marketability of your house.
Is your house a more traditional style or modern style? Whatever it is, consider a floor using multiple stain colors to create a design. That way it will have a clear border between the different floors, and the similar colors will be farther enough apart that you won't be able to tell they don't match exactly.
This google image search might give you some ideas:
There are traditional and modern design ideas there. I assure you that this is the way to go.
My girlfriend has an 100 year old house with the super dark old hardwood floors throughout her house except for the kitchen and master bedroom. These "newer" floors were probably installed over 50 or 60 years ago. Maybe to repair them. Maybe for style.
The master bedroom floor is a lighter wood with a dark border going around the room. At the door threshold entering the room, there is a distinctly different floor with the light floor meeting the old dark floor. The dark border runs approximately 8" from the bedroom walls around the room, with some small decorative twist at the corners of the room. The dark wood in the bedroom doesn't perfectly match the dark wood in the hallway but it's not noticable since they are 8" apart at the doorway enterance.
The kitchen is a beautiful painted floor.
I think you're lucky. You can be very creative and give your home some special character that looks like it was intended to be that way.
My daughter who is very good at decorating, infact her degree was in Home Ec with interior design her specialty though she never used it careerwise, said the same. She has been looking and there are ways I can use different woods next to each other if I do a design and also very contrasting. She said, I just don't want to make it look like I tried to match them. Thank goodness she only lives about 10 minutes away and will be able to help when we redo everything next spring.
I had tile in my kitchen but replaced it with wood when we opened up the wall to the dining room. It looked great when the floor was brand new, but kitchen floors take a beating. Now, just 2.5 years later my kitchen floor is all scratched up (even with felt pads on the legs of my counter stools). The issue is, in a dining and living room you usually have a large rug in the center with your furniture on it. In the kitchen, your chairs and particularly your stools, are on the bare floor. They get moved in and out all day long. One piece of uncooked rice or a piece of gritty dirt under the felt pad and your floor scratches. The felt pads also fall off or wear down and SCRATCH. IMO, a nice tile floor in a natural stone with a matching grout color is best in the kitchen.
I had wood on my last home and what a mistake. All liquid spilling on the floor destroyed it. We just bought a home and are going to put tile on the floor. We're not sure what type of tile, but definitely a tile.
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