Hardwood Floors

Aunt Marg said:
One doesn't have to look very far when it comes to flooring found in old mansions. They were installed using 100% real wood, with many laid in a pattern, and so long as no extensive damage was sustained to the flooring through fire or water damage, once refinished and sealed, they look as grand as ever and rival anything available on the market today.
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Plus they last forever. If they start losing their shine or start yellowing too much with lighter woods or even are too scratched up, they can be sanded and resealed so they look like new. Nice hardwood floors never go out of style. They are classic.
 

Keesha said:
Cherry wood is nice. It could be. It’s hard to tell when you can’t really see the grain. Cherry wood is a softer hardwood and won’t last as long as hickory. What it’s stained with can be deceiving at times.

Here’s some other pictures. The grain pattern doesn’t look like cherry to me but I could be wrong.
View attachment 150061View attachment 150062
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Now that view does look like hickory. There's no areas of light/dark shading on the floor.
 
Aunt Marg said:
The flip-flop in styles is for fools with money. Yesteryear it was shag carpeting, in the late 90's it was Berber carpeting, yesterday it was hardwood and engineered flooring, today it's vinyl plank flooring, tomorrow it will be some other newfangled carpet type product, and so long as there are consumers who are willing to throw away their money, they'll be manufacturers that will continue to dream up product, just as there will be nonsensical articles promoting such products.

Myself, I like hardwood, as it never goes out of style and lasts forever under the right conditions. It's always looks clean and fresh, doesn't lock dust and airborne particulate and mites in it, and there's just something more stately and grand about hardwood.
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Yes...agree completely. Wait for it to start showing up on the TV renovation shows...cover up all that hardwood everyone wanted last year!
 

It just shows how different we all are. I personally love watching those renovation shows, especially of old houses where they start gutting the house only to discover that underneath layers of old carpet is beautiful hardwood that only needs a bit of TLC and in my opinion, always looks better. To each, their own.
 
Keesha said:
It just shows how different we all are. I personally love watching those renovation shows, especially of old houses where they start gutting the house only to discover that underneath layers of old carpet is beautiful hardwood that only needs a bit of TLC and in my opinion, always looks better. To each, their own.
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I actually LIKE these shows and watch quite a few of them. It is just that some are so predictable. Most people only want the latest trends, like hardwood this year, carpet next year or the latest type of countertop. I personally do not like it when they rip out the original details of an old house like molding but then I like old houses.
 
We were planning to refinish the hardwood that was underneath the tile in the kitchen and dining room, but we discovered that the tile had been clued directly to the hardwood which destroyed a lot of it. We agonized over whether or not to lay new hardwood down to match the hardwood in the living room and hallway (all of which was going to have to be refinished.) It's the really skinny planks that were popular in the 50's which are harder to find and more expensive. Finally decided that it was more economical and a lot less time consuming to just lay new flooring over the top of everything. It was done in a day.

Of course, then Ron decided that he just wanted to go ahead and do the two bedrooms off the hallway as well!! 🤦‍♀️ So that added another day lol! Compared to the laying, sanding, staining, finishing the hardwood, which would have taken about 2 weeks!!
 
Jeweltea said:
I actually LIKE these shows and watch quite a few of them. It is just that some are so predictable. Most people only want the latest trends, like hardwood this year, carpet next year or the latest type of countertop. I personally do not like it when they rip out the original details of an old house like molding but then I like old houses.
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Yes, I do also. Once you get used to watching the show they are very predictable. Love it ir list it always has a major turning point of drama where the house owners flip out and sway to moving to a new house and in the end are overwhelmed that their original house looks FAR better than they ever imagined.

Yes some of that old hardwood are mouldings look fabulous. I’ve seen some cool things done with some of the old stuff where they’ve made a high shelf under a bay window done with the original stuff.
 
Keesha said:
That is beautiful! We have ceramic tiles in our kitchen. We didn’t find hardwood too difficult to install. The main thing we learned is to start from an exterior wall. Interior walls aren’t often straight and you definitely need the first piece down to be perfectly straight.

Does anyone know what type of wood this is? It looks like hickory to me but I haven’t actually seen it in person yet.

View attachment 150054
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I don’t know what it is but it sure is beautiful🥰
 
Ronni said:
We were planning to refinish the hardwood that was underneath the tile in the kitchen and dining room, but we discovered that the tile had been clued directly to the hardwood which destroyed a lot of it. We agonized over whether or not to lay new hardwood down to match the hardwood in the living room and hallway (all of which was going to have to be refinished.) It's the really skinny planks that were popular in the 50's which are harder to find and more expensive. Finally decided that it was more economical and a lot less time consuming to just lay new flooring over the top of everything. It was done in a day.

Of course, then Ron decided that he just wanted to go ahead and do the two bedrooms off the hallway as well!! 🤦‍♀️ So that added another day lol! Compared to the laying, sanding, staining, finishing the hardwood, which would have taken about 2 weeks!!
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What kind of flooring did he install, Ronni?
 
Phoenix said:
For those who like to clean the house all the time, hardwood floors are beautiful. I like to be warm and cozy. I'd only have them if I lived where it's hot all the time and I had a maid.
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If not a maid, at least a Roomba!

I'm with you on not being a slave to housework. When we took our kitchen down to the studs and completely redid it a few years ago, white cabinets were all the rage.

I told my contractor I only wanted to see natural wood color cabinet samples. He asked why I didn't want white.

I told him, "I'm not that ambitious. Every spatter, fingerprint, and smudge shows up on white cabinets. Wood grain hides a multitudes of sins. I don't want to be washing down my cabinets every week."

Some of my friends now regret their white cabinets for exactly that reason.
 
So agree about white cabinets since one house we bought had them.

I find using a Dyson stick vac so much easier than pulling out the heavy vacuum for the carpeted areas.
 
Keesha said:
It just shows how different we all are. I personally love watching those renovation shows, especially of old houses where they start gutting the house only to discover that underneath layers of old carpet is beautiful hardwood that only needs a bit of TLC and in my opinion, always looks better. To each, their own.
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I love that, too, uncovering and revealing a gem, but what I don't love seeing is all of the waste, more often than not, good waste, as in nice cabinets and flooring and things ending up in dumpsters.
 
Aunt Marg said:
I love that, too, uncovering and revealing a gem, but what I don't love seeing is all of the waste, more often than not, good waste, as in nice cabinets and flooring and things ending up in dumpsters.
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I watched a few of those shows and found that they seemed to be doing nearly identical remodels in every house. Same open floor plan - kitchen to family or great room, island or peninsula breakfast seating, pendulum lights, stone counter tops, subway tile backsplashes, engineered wood flooring, etc.

Nobody even considers a linoleum floor (perish the thought), a little glass block for accent (too 80s), tile countertops (heaven forbid), track lighting (no longer hip), a wall blocking the working area of the kitchen from the rest of the house, or painting most of the house in something other thana shade of pale grey.

Heaven help anyone with brass or gold tone bathroom fixtures if they need to replace some pieces and need to match the color. What's outré is unavailable.

It's so easy to date when a home was built and when it was remodeled because everyone does the same blasted thing - partly because of what's available at the time.
 
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I find it interesting how styles change and everyone has to do what's in, even at this age. In the early 70s the rage was to cover up the hardwood floors with wall to wall carpet. Everyone just had to do it. It was warm and homey. Now hardwood is back. White cabinets, white everything in a house is boring. No personality. I'm all for individuality. What do I like? What do you like? What do each of us really like? We are old enough to decide without style dictating what we do.
 
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StarSong said:
I watched a few of those shows and found that they seemed to be doing nearly identical remodels in every house. Same open floor plan - kitchen to family or great room, island or peninsula breakfast seating, pendulum lights, stone counter tops, subway tile backsplashes, engineered wood flooring, etc.

Nobody even considers a linoleum floor (perish the thought), a little glass block for accent (too 80s), tile countertops (heaven forbid), track lighting (no longer hip), a wall blocking the working area of the kitchen from the rest of the house, or painting most of the house a shade of pale grey.

Heaven help anyone with brass or gold tone bathroom fixtures if they need to replace some pieces and need to match the color. What's outré is unavailable.

It's so easy to date when a home was built and when it was remodeled because everyone does the same blasted thing - partly because of what's available at the time.
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Bingo!

Yes, absolutely right, episode after episode, much the same as the last, and as for dating homes by the interior fashions and designs, right again.
 
StarSong said:
Nobody even considers a linoleum floor (perish the thought), a little glass block for accent (too 80s), tile countertops (heaven forbid), track lighting (no longer hip), a wall blocking the working area of the kitchen from the rest of the house, or painting most of the house in something other thana shade of pale grey.
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We used the same overpriced linoleum in the entries and washrooms. That’s 15 years ago and it’s still like new. It has no pattern. Money well spent. I didn’t put it in the kitchen and sure wish I had.

My galley kitchen is tiny and opens onto the living room. There’s a half wall to block the view. There was finally a show the other day that the buyers said they didn’t want the kitchen counter visible from the from door.
 
Jules said:
We used the same overpriced linoleum in the entries and washrooms. That’s 15 years ago and it’s still like new. It has no pattern. Money well spent. I didn’t put it in the kitchen and sure wish I had.

My galley kitchen is tiny and opens onto the living room. There’s a half wall to block the view. There was finally a show the other day that the buyers said they didn’t want the kitchen counter visible from the from door.
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Easy wipe, easy clean, no-fuss care.

What more could any homeowner ask for.
 
Jules said:
We used the same overpriced linoleum in the entries and washrooms. That’s 15 years ago and it’s still like new. It has no pattern. Money well spent. I didn’t put it in the kitchen and sure wish I had.

My galley kitchen is tiny and opens onto the living room. There’s a half wall to block the view. There was finally a show the other day that the buyers said they didn’t want the kitchen counter visible from the from door.
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We did a large remodel (adding 1000 SF including a master suite) in the late 1980s, when our children were still quite young. Among the work was an expansion of our kitchen into what had been a dining room area, and put on a big dining room/office addition. We had a half wall added to the newly annexed kitchen area, overruling the aesthetic dismay of our architect and contractor. Have never regretted the decision.

13 years ago we remodeled a bathroom and had the linoleum squares replaced with an upscale rolled linoleum. Like your lino experience, Jules, ours still looks like new, though it does have a very nice pattern.
 
StarSong said:
If not a maid, at least a Roomba!

I'm with you on not being a slave to housework. When we took our kitchen down to the studs and completely redid it a few years ago, white cabinets were all the rage.

I told my contractor I only wanted to see natural wood color cabinet samples. He asked why I didn't want white.

I told him, "I'm not that ambitious. Every spatter, fingerprint, and smudge shows up on white cabinets. Wood grain hides a multitudes of sins. I don't want to be washing down my cabinets every week."

Some of my friends now regret their white cabinets for exactly that reason.
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Every spatter, fingerprint and smudge shows up
on white cabinets.
Oh goodness YES they do. Especially depending on what material your white cabinets are made from.
When we first got our house we picked a nice size lot and had a house built. Of course everything in it came in builders grade which is something I knew nothing about back then. At first I thought out bleached oak cabinets looked fabulous but after a few years of cleaning them, the finish came off and I realized how cheaply they were made so I had this incredible idea that I’d paint them all white. 😅 BAD idea.
First of all I didn’t allow enough time between coats of paint and then my husband came in after tending to the fire our back without washing his hands. Well I’m sure most of you can imagine the mess that entailed. They looked horrible but we just couldn’t afford new cabinets. All the ones we were checking out were way out of our price range. Then we discovered IKEA kitchen cabinets. I’ve always assumed IKEA made cheap ugly stuff but our kitchen cabinets look so nice. Far nicer than the builders grade bleached oak and WAY nicer than my botched attempt at white cabinets.

Due to the lack of finish on them, every finger print , smudge and splatter showed up. Ultimately they were horrendous. The IKEA grey cabinets have the nicest finish to them. Nothing sticks. They always look good at a fraction of the price. I certainly don’t regret getting them.
 

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