Well, here’s a lead photo that breaks all the rules. But we made it to illustrate the benefits of working with an architect when you are planning a big renovation or key changes to your home. We recently looked at the final results of Diana’s kitchen project. Today, a spotlight on just the floor tile pattern options that her architect qkArchitecture put together for her. With these 10 linoleum floor tile designs in hand, Diana then worked with her contractor Pittsburgh Remodeling Company to tweak the original concepts and make the final selection. We love it!
Yes, I really grappled with the color and pattern of the kitchen floor! I had help from Quintin, the architect, preparing those electronic mockups. I think I settled on the colors first. And, it wasn’t easy to pick the colors; I also had a respectable interior designer recommend the black/white/gray color scheme and that was very tempting to me too. The interior designer felt that the black/white/gray floor would have provided a very neutral palette yet also have a retro feel. Ultimately, I felt the black/white/gray was a bit too 1940s for the overall style of the house (which was 1960s).
After I picked the colors, I still wasn’t keen on the mockups with respect to the pattern (those are the ones you see in your graphic). So, I asked the contractor (Pittsburgh Remodeling Company) to help me come up with a pattern and one of their internal designers came out to our kitchen, and made a hand drawn/colored mockup with three different patterns. Both my husband and I liked the plaid pattern. I think it was the combination of the large and small tiles on the diagonal that appealed to us most and it evoked something from the 1960s (but was also going to be unique).
We knew that whatever we went with; it had to mesh well with the hall and family room because after the walls were opened up those rooms would open up into each other (as opposed to before, when the kitchen was very well cut off from the adjacent space).
Stout Flooring installed the Marmoleum. As an aside, it isn’t easy finding a Marmoleum installer. There aren’t many of them around. The other big flooring company near us did not install Marmoleum.
Warm regards,
Diana
Individual designs of possible floor tile patterns from qkArchitecture, along with the Marmoleum colors:
Viewing tip: Click any image and it should double in size on your screen. Click anywhere outside the photo or hit Escape to return to the story.
Again: The benefits of working with an architect — especially if you are highly visual, are intent on having everything come out just so, and spending a lot of dough re mi.
Thanks again, Diana, qkArchitecture, Pittsburgh Remodeling Company and Stout Flooring for the great work — and to Diana and qkArchitecture for sharing this project with us!
Karin says
Well done, what an inspiration. Your final floor is perfect for the space. It was definitely the best choice, IMHO. I found the other options were interesting, but this looked like it SHOULD be there, and it matches the furniture and the dog’s scarf, too! Thank you for the great tips on the diagonals. I will remember your suggestions if and when I do Marmoleum for my kitchen.
Scott says
Like Tammy I think the clear winner was selected but there are some GREAT runners up too. Thanks for sharing your process and how you arrived there. It inspiring to know that if you are creative enough an authentic vintage floor design is obtainable using modern materials.
tammyCA says
Love the final floor the most…like stated above soft, light & airy & looks like art work. I’m going to refer back to this when we eventually get to redoing our kitchen..gads, hope there will be a talented installer when that time comes.
Laura H. says
Tough decision. The brown gingham really caught my eye for that space and I am not usually a big fan of brown!
Diana of Mt. Lebanon says
Laura H., I agree that the brown was very interesting. If all my friends/family loved the brown I may have gone with it but I was alone in my liking of the brown. Still, it’s fun to see what could have been!
Mary Elizabeth says
Diana definitely made the best choice as to color. Wonderful look in the end!
cellen says
I love your floors so much! You definitely made the right color and layout decisions.
I have found it extremely difficult to find installers for residential Marmoleum/linoleum. I have been pursuing this for a couple of years and haven’t found anyone yet that I trust. When you have to explain the difference between vinyl flooring and linoleum to a “professional” flooring company, you begin to wonder!
Sabrina says
Yes, the airiness of the pastel blues and greens works so well! The other patterns seemed to fight the space.
I’ve heard Marmoleum installers are not very common, maybe more so if you’re by a big city. The sheet stuff takes precise installation to do right but Marmoleum makes click together floor tiles called Marmoluem Click that make it a lot easier for a DIYer or contracter to install, and comes in many colors. GreenBuildingSupply.com sells a good range of it, reasonably priced, has helpful info.
Marta says
I love this floor! It’s so airy. It has a real summer day feel to it, and ties in wonderfully with the rest of the kitchen. Most of the other mock-ups seemed to be fighting with the cabinets.
Carol says
Reminds me of madras plaid shorts! Maybe that’s why I like the floor so much.
Diana of Mt. Lebanon says
I was surprised by how the diagonal floor was installed. The installers had to find a center location and align the first large tile on the diagonal. That was the hardest part. It took them a few hours to do that first step. The first tile laid was near the middle of the room at the point between the breakfast nook and the main kitchen area (it’s the tile between the two half walls).
Once that first diagonal large tile was laid, the other tiles were just laid adjacent to it along their straight lines, and so on until they reached the edges (at which point they had to cut around corners and transitions). It was fascinating to see that.
Kate says
Yes, finding the starting point and getting the first few tiles down is the hardest step of any tile job in my opinion. It took me something like three days to figure out how to lay out the walls in my pink bathroom (lots of corners and turns!), and probably at least 3 hours to make sure the floor was lined up the way I wanted… 🙂
Your installers did a fabulous job! Love your floor!
pam kueber says
Math. Argh!
Janet in ME says
That’s why it took us, or rather Phil, days to figure out the layout. He didn’t want to have little short pieces under the cabinets or along the walls or in the doorways. We arranged and rearranged the samples I had ordered multiple times to figure out how to start it without having a lot of waste, and yet we still had a considerable amount of waste. Once done, of the four colors, we had TWO tiles of two colors left, five tiles of the third color, and half a box of the one which we ordered two boxes of as the main color. We were really sweating it in the end. We also had trouble because Azrock moved the factory and the box of black that was back-ordered until the new production came through was just a tiny bit smaller and not as deep as the other three from the old factory so it was hard to put those in less obvious areas. Good thing I had decided on a random floor. That was one stressful week and if it had been up to me to lay it all out and do that figuring, I cringe to think how it would have looked in the end. No wonder there are so few installers. If you hire someone, make sure he/she has a lot of experience and good references because it is not a simple or quick job.
Janet in ME says
It looks just beautiful and I love the colors and diagonal installation. I can totally understand the difficulty finding an installer. We just put down an Azrock floor like Pam has by ourselves and it was unbelievably difficult. It wasn’t so much the installation, but the prep work and laying it out was very time consuming. Once that glue was on, it went down fast. We decided against the diagonal because we thought it would involve much more cutting and fitting, so I have to greatly admire your installer. This is not a DIY job or for the faint hearted, unless you really know what you are doing. Fortunately, my husband was able to put it down and we are very happy with the end result.
Mary Elizabeth says
Janet, glad your kitchen is coming along. Did you ever use that wallpaper, and how?
Janet in ME says
NOOO, I wanted that so bad but Phil didn’t want wallpaper and picked an orange paint which is the last thing boring me would have picked. Maybe next time!
midmichigan says
That’s cool. I like #2. #7 & #8 would make me feel like I’ve won the Indy 500 whenever I’m in the kitchen. Maybe not all bad though…