After looking at a subfloor for over a month it was a welcome project to lay down flooring. We had purchased this flooring when we first moved into the house. We chose a laminate option in a pecan color. We didn't want to try and match the original 100-year-old hardwood because we knew it would never look right and knowing that the kitchen was already going to be a style changer in the house, we didn't mind such a difference.
We got our flooring at Home Depot at a great price. We chose a floating floor system for the simple install and for the fact that it can be easily removed if someone after us were to want a change. We chose a much thicker plank than what we have in the rest of the house. The original hardwood is just over 2" and runs front to back in the house. As another precaution to avoid the potential "matching" issue, we ran the kitchen floors opposite in a right-to-left direction.
Because nothing about this house has been simple, we had to deal with a leveling issue before laying the floor. When the subfloor was originally laid it overlapped the old floor where the kitchen addition and the original house meet. Under the walkway in the photo below was the very obvious lump. With help from my Dad, the plywood subfloor was cut in place and a self-leveling cement was poured to fill the gap removing the original lump. In the picture on the left below, you can see the seam between the subfloor and cement.
We thought it would be fun to leave a note hidden somewhere in the house. What better place than under a floor we hope will be there for years to come!
We started along the sink wall. We made sure to put flooring under our appliances so they could easily be pulled out. We learned that was necessary when we first moved in and had to pull the dishwasher out. The original flooring was laid up to the dishwasher and it was miserably hard to get the appliance out of its cubby. We didn't want to run into that issue again, so we made sure to complete the flooring under both the dishwasher and refrigerator.
We started with a full length of flooring and from there decided on a system. We didn't want it to be an every other row pattern so we did a three row pattern instead. It's still a bit more perfect and planned looking than I prefer but overall we had very little waste and it's very clean looking.
You can see in one of the pictures above what the view was from standing in front of the sink through to the front of house at this point in the project. We feel we made the right decision on floor color and layout when looking through the house as a whole. As we move forward we are working on updating the entire feeling of the house. We are going from lots of warm colors and flat paint to cooler colors and a mixture of texture!
We are happy with the outcome! It makes me say "Ooooo lala, look at that pretty, hide-all-the-doggy-dirt, flooring" whenever I walk in the room!
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More to come, as always! Check back in again soon!
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