Now tell me . . . what's NOT to love about this floor? I mean, really there's the great looking seam between each tile; the deep gouges and stains; and let's not overlook the beautiful design, pink and blue flowers . . . well I could go on forever. But instead, I'll share with you this part of my under 500.00 renovation of my kitchen (you can read the whole post here) using peel and stick vinyl floor tiles. Since I was going with a retro design I wanted black and white which I found at Menard's. I purchased two boxes of each (48/box) and ended up having just about 15 tiles of each left over.
If I have any advice about this project, it would be first of all about the tools and second of all the layout. As far as tools go -- it's pretty simple: A rolling pin, a large cutting board, quilting ruler and rotary cutter. The rotary cutter cuts clean lines AND curves. The ruler helps in measuring and giving straight cuts. The rolling pin helps press the tile (especially the points) down for good adhesion.
The second piece of advice is to lay out your tiles before you peel and stick, especially if you are doing any type of pattern like I did on the diagonal. You want to make sure that the edges that will be seen the most do not have tiny, little pieces but nice, large pieces on the edges.
Once I knew where I wanted them to end in either direction and was satisfied with the edges, I THEN found my center tile. The center tile was NOT in the "center" of the kitchen floor. That didn't matter -- what was important was that the edges had nice, big pieces.
Cleaning the old floor is essential for good adhesion so be sure you scrub, scrub, scrub and let dry. We also removed the small piece of molding around the edge of the floor and replaced that with new when we were finished.
I had a little "problem" under the refrigerator where at one time water must have leaked and rotted the flooring. Dear husband cut out the rotten wood and laid a new piece of wood down. So that the tiles were level, I had to lay tiles down on the wood FIRST and THEN the new tiles. Guess what? We STILL had a box of those lovely floral tiles in the basement (pointing out here that WE didn't choose this flooring -- it was in here when we moved in!). Funny thing, even brand new and shiny -- they were still ugly -- haha!
Ava made sure that no new tiles were damaged by the appliances. We simply moved them gently onto old rugs and slid them over the new tiles so we could work.
Ava also gave her approval even before I was finished. We both definitely prefer the new floor! The whole project took me about 10 hours split between two days.
What a difference! The floor has been down for a month now and nothing has come loose, cracked, etc. I'm SO pleased with how this turned out -- I highly recommend peel and stick if you are on a tight budget but want a new floor.
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Wow, wow, WOW! Your floor looks amazing, my friend! It looks like real tile :)
ReplyDeleteHave a joyous week, sweet Lauren. Hugs to you!
It looks fabulous! You'll really enjoy the room so much more now! Hugs!
ReplyDeleteLOVE LOVE!! That new floor really shines...literally! You did an amazing job and proved you don't have to break the bank to get the look you want...CONGRATS!!
ReplyDeleteGreat job. I love peel and stick flooring also. I took up carpet about 10 yrs ago and laid it in the hall, then decided to pull it into the bathroom at the end of one hall. Did the kitchen and the bathroom upstairs also. Now I am in the process of laying floor (wood look) that snap together and have the laminate on the back already...its pretty easy also.
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