The Decision Game

Starting from scratch when rebuilding an entire room is much harder than I imagined.

In my head I believed I had this place designed from the floor to the ceiling. In reality, making a decision is much more difficult than the "point and click" approach I took to gathering ideas. The wonderful web world gives you nearly infinite resources to find practically anything you are seeking and them some, but when it finally comes time to pull the trigger... (insert confused face here).

Since there's nothing substantial on the progress report today, I thought I'd share some of my ideas for one of the more significant "wish list" items on the re-modern list, and see what you guys think. So go ahead, comment away.

Today's Item: FLOORING

The flooring will be shared between the living room, kitchen, and dining room areas, extending itself down the short hallway towards the two back bedrooms. With just around 600 sq. ft to work with I thought the best idea would be to stick with one flooring material and not disturb the flow from one area to the next. Each of the 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms are on their own for now since my goal is for each of these rooms to have their own identity.

1) Break the bank with Terrazzo floors.
While this would be my first choice if money were no object, the fact of the matter is that it is. Over the phone quotes have placed the price somewhere between $20 - $45 per sq. ft. which serves as no surprise to the fact that it's commonly seen in high end contemporary homes, designer hotel lobbies, and museums.


The draw for me is the cleanliness, durability, and wow factor it can bring to a space.
But does it really suit a single family home?
The draw back, besides the astronomical price, is that it's as hard as a rock, can be very cold, and yeah, that price thing again. My sensible side throws this idea out the window thinking that it's also an upgrade that will NEVER suit the price point for this home, bringing back less than 20% of the original investment. Did I mention that my sensible side is named Liz ?

2) Max out the budget with a custom Bamboo floor.
Who doesn't love bamboo? It seems to be one of the more popular "green" flooring options around, it's sturdy & durable, has an amazingly attractive grain pattern, and the price is very much right for this project, ranging anywhere from $2 - $10 per sq. ft. Just like hardwood, it's available in tons of different options and the installations are all pretty standard (meaning we wouldn't have to move out of the house for a week as I would with the Terrazzo).


My only problem, I fell in love with one of the most expensive options I have seen.


I'm just not easily satisfied with a typical "natural", "mocha" or "java" shades that can be found between $2-$4, not even the more exotic "marble" or "tiger" patterns in the $3-$5 range. I happened to stumble upon a color called "steel grey" that comes in a wide plank design and is more intended for commercial applications, although I think it would look amazing with the natural sunlight and shadow effects that these Cliff May homes provide. At $10 a sq. ft it definitely maxes out the budget, and again would not bring back a full return on the investment when it's time to sell, but even my sensible side lets this fall into the "well, i guess, if you really love it" category, leaving it a very strong possibility.

3) Play it safe with Cork, but mix in some random color here and there.

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm not really one to "play it safe", so the description above is a little misleading. While the price falls into the play it safe category, the installation and selection of styles and colors doesn't necessarily have to.



Cork has a lot of great benefits such as its warmth and soft feeling under your feet, and when installed properly it has a durability and ease of maintenance that rivals any of the previous options. Unfortunately it does have two negative traits that are leaving me undecided about this option.

The first is that it is more susceptible to fading under direct sunlight than other flooring materials. There are window films than can block UV and help protect the floors, but with the amount of glass through out these rooms this treatment needs to be added to the total cost of the job. The second is that being a softer material, installation can be a challenge for even seasoned professionals. You can't "float" cork over other flooring materials, and even with a cement slab base you must be sure that there is no unevenness or irregularities in the surface or these will translate through the flooring material.

The benefit for my creative side is that there are hundreds of colors and styles, and the installation process allows me to "mix it up" and infuse color splashes at random around the rooms. Overall it would be the least expensive option of the three and I can possibly be satisfied with the final fit and finish while also keep my sensible side smiling.



5 comments:

  1. if you go with the cork floors can you play lawn darts inside?

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  2. Gary, we're in this boat. Our maple floors, installed by the last owners, haven't held up well to our two big dogs (which will be the problem with any wood flooring, so keep that in mind if you have pets...even cats can scratch bamboo). We love Terrazzo, until we realized that it would be in the neighborhood of $35,000 to do our place. Not gonna happen. And I've seen some major fading of cork floors in the Ranchos--in particular, one Doug sold not too long ago.

    Have you considered VCT tile? It's a good option that recalls the materials original owners may have used. Also check out the tiles sold by Fritz Tile (www.fritztile.com)...I've seen an installation in Palm Springs and it looked fantastic, a nice alternative to terrazzo. Good luck!
    Steve Clifford

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  3. Edit to last comment: terrazzo would cost us $50,000+, not the $35k...

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  4. Hi Gary! My husband and I have been debating floors, as well. When we first moved in, we "temporarily" put down wall-to-wall carpeting. It's what was already in the house and we saw it as a "place holder." When the carpeting was installed, I got to see the original floors -- not salvalgeable, and I'm not sure I'd have wanted to. They were 9" asphalt tiles, mostly black with green and ivory striations running through them. I think of myself as being pretty conservative about preservation, but I'm not going back to THAT floor...

    The terrazzo's gorgeous, but "spendy," as you pointed out. It would work great with radiant heat installed underneath -- also spendy, but effecient. We're also looking at bamboo and cork. (Steve's comments on those two materials were helpful. Would love to hear from other homeowners, as well.) We've looked at harder surfaces, like ceramic tile, concrete, etc. One can achieve some fabulous "looks" with these materials. However, as we grow older, I wonder how much I'll like these extra hard surfaces. I'm already clumsy and drop things all the time. I worry about what happens when I trip and fall. Will the bone breaks be worse on concrete than on bamboo? (I guess I could always go back to wall-to-wall carpeting on my 75th birthday... )

    I came across the following website a few months ago. You may already be familiar with it. This other "Pam" has looked into mid-century floors. Maybe there's some inspiration there for you.
    http://retrorenovation.com/flooring/ Some of the "linoleum tile" from Armstrong looks amazing close to the original ashpalt tiles. Good luck! Enjoy your blog!

    Pam

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  5. Thanks for all the comments!

    I just don't know if I can wrap my head around any of the VCT, linoleum, or rubberlike tiles...and while the terrazzo and glass tiles look attractive in samples, I really need to see a finished room in person to decide if I like it. How well do the seams blend or does the grouting look on those? I just don't want it to look like a second rate attempt at what I really wanted.

    If I was doing a true restoration it's an easy choice. My attempt at modernizing without steeping too far away from the original feel is seeming difficult.

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