Willa, that is an amazing amount of knowledge you have. I will try to see if I can get that book at our library. Before we lost Beebe the first time, I had another of her books I was reading (one of the bungalow specific ones), but then abandoned reading it and returned it because I was sad we had lost a bungalow. [
Little did she know...]
Retro Renovation was where I first started learning about linoleum rugs. I sort of knew about lino because some houses in my wider family net still had some, although no one had anything that was fancy. I've also read her posts about what's still available or newly remade with lino and counter tops. I think Congoleum still too. Or at least they were when I last caught one of her posts about them. I know sometimes I don't go there for weeks, and then suddenly something isn't available anymore. Okies, I just checked, and they have VCT advertised on their site, so yes. It's made with 80% limestone! I would never have guessed that.
Speaking of, I do sort of recall the idea of the pigment staying true. There's a counter top type like that as well, if I recall. Something about how they layered the print paper in the hardened coating.
Yes, the melting makes sense to me, as it would have a more resilient edge so less concern that the quality would fail. With some of the plastics work I've done before, we did plastic welds, so I don't think the idea of doing something like that with these is much different (other than chemically). (Hopefully less of a headache generator, though! I don't miss that smell at all even through a respirator.)
Yes, most I've seen are high contrast--often complementary colors too. Sometimes they would do as is with ours where the gold pulls out marbling in that shade from the red.
Somehow I missed that the rugs were premade that way. I always thought they were pieced, and as with the first retro image, often took up a smaller area so they "looked" like a rug on the floor. Now, some rooms do have rugs that might as well be wall to wall, so I never thought to make the distinction. It does make sense, though, because I did wonder with the more delicate details how they stayed together long term and the edges didn't get frayed or caught on heel corners.
Before I found out about the lino/VCT that was already on our floor, I was thinking of going with cork from
Globus. It was to be my one kitchen splurge. I still want that, but feel odd covering the original wood floor with it at the same time. It might be that the mastic has seeped into the wood, especially where there was steam/boiling water overflow, but we won't know until I keep peeling back the layers. I do have to say, although I despise the fake wood vinyl for so many reasons, I have been a bit sad about ripping out something not even in the house a year (and no hope of preserving it because it's cheap and brittle and cracks at the slightest pressure when removed) and it's going straight to a dump.
I hate waste like that.
There could be more of a pattern, especially in the dining room, and we just haven't uncovered it yet. I know Sean really made an exception to let me lift the kitchen flooring, and I'll try Olsen's idea when I can to see what that effort yeilds. I have to be careful not to start too much over what is sane. Today was a blizzard I know I shouldn't make a habit, because it will lead to mistakes later. I also worried he would fuss about how bad the kitchen floor would look if that white was permanent. One day at a time with that, I guess.
Olson185 As I mentioned with Willa, I always thought lino rugs were a patch within a large sheet. Some I had seen examples of did have an outer border as well. Yet I understand your delineation and why. The trouble with older terms is when you try to search for them now, modern appropriation starts chipping away at what you've learned or fills blanks that aren't really there, and then the silly blanket terms start flying all too easily. (This reminds me of what EC said about vintage/antique.)
I've been struck with sort of parsing out what's accurate lately thanks to the older house books I've been reading (as in, written long ago, not just about older houses). The Handyman book from the 60s has been very illuminating both in making me think about how advertising might have driven some things even then, but also because of the gaps and what gets lost because it was considered too "everyday" to need to be remembered. When we rented our first studio (the old Mill office), I had bought a Home Despot 1-2-3 book that I still have, and it amazes me how differently things are approached now when I compare just those two books.
Thank you very much for the tip about the wax. I had read about waxing on several surfaces over time, but have never first hand waxed a floor, so it's a big hole in my experience base. (Also one of my concerns about getting a cork floor...I like the idea of waxing it, but also worry I'll be sorry later I went that route.)
You're another District folk who is really good at already knowing and also knowing where to find useful info. I am so grateful to be in such good company.
Is it possible that the original lino rugs were related to oilcloth rugs maybe? Not sure why my brain is making that connection right now, but it is. I had looked into oilcloths a bit when we though we'd be buying the Carpenter Gothic.
From what I've been able to glean so far, at least the red is in the hall, dining and kitchen. (Possibly the downstairs bath--but I honestly don't recall now from all the many layers I keep finding there.) If I can manage, I may do a nod to it in the kitchen, but if we do manage to restore the dining, we might not have enough leftover from patching repairs together. I say this because there are some spots that feel like they have "missing spots" in the dining room. I was wondering if perhaps before someone had tried to remove the lino in there and, as near the doorway I was working on, chipped away but never removed it all. It could just be air since the underlay for the fake wood vinyl has no glue, but only time will tell either way. One concern is the radiator in the dining room. Even if it doesn't overflow, the heat might still damage (if it hasn't already) the flooring there as happened in the kitchen. Things to ponder...
And now I am really past when I said I would be heading off to bed. Good thing Sean's already crashed out--he'd be scolding me.
, please.
turned on in my head.
