Kitchen Floor Decision

[Lily left the valley]

House_BuhBooLis, hope you are feeling better!

We have had some interesting temperature jumps the last few days and predicted for the next few as well. I love snow seasonally, but since we should be able to start moving any day week now, I'm glad to see it melting.

Love that golden color.

[phil]

it looks like you have enough off that it wont' plug the sandpaper. that would be my goal if you want to sand it, the rest will come off in no time. the cracks will remain dark. If you wish you can fill the cracks to hide that but if you fill every single crack and make the floor super tight you can have some upheval if it does get soaked or under extreme humidity. what I do is just fill the larger ones so crap doesnt' get in there when sweeping up. I leave the ones narrow than a credit card or so to still allow some room for expansion. Ive filled every one in my attic and it's been fine but in the kitchen it is more likely to have water issues. I filled most in my kitchen and in one area had water between my rubber mats and the floor so it was wet there a week or so and the floor got really soaked. it buckled slightly, and pushed a little of the filler out and good thing I used water based filler as it was then able to push out where it needed to. after it dried It flattened out again.

[House_BuhBooLis]

Did a bunch more scrapping and started sanding this weekend. The internet said a "big sander" is really only worth it if the room is over 120sqft, we're at 121sqft...with lots of edge and cabinet...so I've decided to just hand sand the whole thing...saves money...probably not time...

Things are going okay, but I think we have decided we are going to just paint the floors white, for a few reasons:

1. Even after hot scrapping, sanding and attempting to strip parts of the floor, they remain black (seems like something other than the glue stuff....), I don't know how this will ever look nice unless it's painted.
2. Lots of filling is needed...some quite large areas
3. The large nails: I bought the biggest punch at Home Depot, but it wasn't big enough and they weren't budging. I think we'll just get them down as flat as we can and leave them as "character"
4. I honestly do like the look of painted wood floors...it will also probably save time...

So, unless we want to replace a bunch of boards, I think our options are painting or getting new floor. I think it will look great!

Current state, we've first pass sanded the front half, about to where the middle black section is. That middle black section and the black section near stove are not coming off. The "smoothness" does not come through in photos! haha, also I test painted under the stove...hence white paint.



Finished scrapping the back half as well.



Close up of the huge nails.

[Willa]

I think painted floors can look great and are undoable if the next owner wanted.

Since you've got the mystery black stuff there, definitely use a Killz type primer so there won't be any stains from the goo working through to the topcoat.

[Lily left the valley]

Since you like the painted wood look anyway, I'm glad your floor you uncovered is good for that.

There have been some posts here on the forum with some absolutely lovely painted floors, and I've seen lots more in my own house idea searches as well.

I can't recall the exact post, but one kitchen (pretty sure it was a kitchen) had flowers painted on the floor that matched some plaster detailing on the walls. It was a nice touch, and if you and yours have any inclination to tying in the floor to anything else within the kitchen, that could be really neat too.

I second Willa's suggestion. Bleed through from anything is no fun at all.

*Shakes off a bad memory of a certain brand of theatrical stage blood that continued to splotch through any finish like an acidic toxic alien blood from some B horror movie no matter what was tried to seal it in. (Eventually the masonite flooring panels with the splotches had to be replaced.)*

[House_BuhBooLis]

Thanks! Just from my brief encounter painting under the stove, I agree a primer if definitely needed.

I did think about doing some sort of design or stencil or maybe just a border around the edge....I think we'll live with just solid paint and see how it goes.

Some inspiration:

[Lily left the valley]

Well, that's certainly bright and shiny! I definitely think a border of some type could help ease the starkness of that look.

Will you be leaning that way for the kitchen? The uber white and high gloss, I mean. I only ask because for me, we have a bathroom floor similar right now at the rental, and every last speck of anything shows up on it, so I wind up sweeping the floor almost daily because my brain can't ignore it--and that's more house work than I like to do. I'm just mentioning it in case you haven't thought of that yet.

[House_BuhBooLis]

Yeah those are a little to the extreme. My walls are orange, not white, so that will help with the starkness, and the floor paint comes in either "glossy" or "less-glossy" (I forget the exact term)...I'm going to go with the less glossy. Will also do some sort of border if the white becomes too much.

As far as cleaning goes, I did think of that, and people seem to either love or hate their white floors for that reason...I have light colored animals, so in that regard it will be better than a dark color. I'm also probably going to put a sisal rug or something in front of the sink area to help collect the majority of food dirt.

But thanks for the thoughts and we'll see what happens, i can always paint another color if I hate it! There just aren't a lot of options that go with the orange walls, and I love my orange walls!!! haha

[Lily left the valley]

But thanks for the thoughts and we'll see what happens, i can always paint another color if I hate it! There just aren't a lot of options that go with the orange walls, and I love my orange walls!!! haha

The color scheme we'll be going with in our kitchen will have key lime and tiger lily leanings. Orange can be a great color even if it can be tricky to work with sometimes.

The inspiration came from this image: When I saw that image, I thought about how he grew up near farms that grow key limes (and he loves "authentic" key lime pie), and how much I love the colors of tiger lilies. When we talked about it, he thought it would work too. Time will tell.

[House_BuhBooLis]

Yes! We are going with mint green accents! Next time I take a photo i will have to include the cool retro lamp we found in the basement...that i spray painted mint green