A reader recently wrote to ask, “What color stain would be most appropriate or authentic for a mid-century oak floor?” Drats, I cannot find the email. And, I am not academically sure what the correct answer is. I would guess… a “natural” stain.

Natural meaning – virtually no color. Matte or gloss finish. Gloss, though, would show more scratches. When we refinished the oak parquet floor in our dining room, above, the floor guy said, “All the old floors were done with a natural finish.” We chose matte finish and have been very happy with it. Our oak is getting a nice golden hue as time goes on. Under all the carpets, it’s a lighter color — the sunlight is affecting the color.

I think I may consult with some mid-century historic homes to discern the proper academic answer. But meanwhile: Readers — what do you think? What are you finding in your homes, with original wood floors, including what may have been hidden underneath carpet that’s been there for ages? What is the “authentic” color for mid-century oak flooring?

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OCTAGON FLOOR TILES are great for pre-war homes — 1920s, 1930s, 1940s — and then some colorways came around again in the 1970s. This tile style can work, I think, for either a vintage style bathroom or kitchen floor, and that dot gives you a nice flourish of color to play with.

Nemo Tile has the largest selection that I’ve seen yet of colors for the main tile and the dot. Looks like they have a glossy and satin white, a glossy and satin black, and for that 70s house, shades of beige and shades of gray. What a hoot, I love ‘em. For dots: white, black, navy, cobalt, red, burgundy, green and the 70s beige and gray. Nemo Tile octagon ceramic floor tile.

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With so much focus these days on hardwood, tile, cork and here, of course – VCT – flooring, it’s easy to forget that in postwar homes, carpet was very desirable.

In our 1951 colonial-ranch, the long step-down living room had (1975-era) carpet, with plywood underneath. Okay, we tore it out and replaced it with beautiful Berkshires oak. But honestly, my husband and daughter really wanted carpet. I was stymied by the fact that the room is more then 15′ wide and we would have seen a seam in a design like the one in the 1954 image above.

Note – we absolutely have carpet in the basement, where it is colder and we plop on the floor in front of the TV each and every day, thank you very much! It’s a medium-pile gold, as close to harvest gold as I could find. Someday I’ll try and get a good photo of my cherry paneled rumpus room, it is so cool!

Anyway….If you prefer to go with carpeting, I’ve seen a lot of current styles not too different to that above. UPDATE: Be sure to read Stephan’s comment about Stainmaster carpets as a great solution. You can take your Sherwin Williams Suburban Modern or Sears Harmony House color cards along to shop.

This post was first published Jan. 12, 2008

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I have two of these braided Capel rugs, and I love them. They are very durable, versatile and affordable — and fit my 1951 colonial ranch home’s decor just fine. Remember, in the 1940s 50s and 60s homes were a mix and match…inside and out…of ranch, Cape and colonial style.  If your house is not all high-style Eichler modern – it could probably do will well with a warm dose of colonial underfoot.  These rugs come in all wool, which is really nice… chenille styles that last forever… and fiber mixes that may be better for your damp basement. As I said, I have two Capel braided rugs and at different points have had them in the dining room, living room, bedrooms, the basement — they really are  extremely versatile. And, there are zillions of style/color choices at Capel’s website.

This post originally ran Nov. 17, 2007

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This is a hot topic: Readers are hearing from floor sales people that they need to polish and buff their newly installed vinyl composite floor tiles like the professionals do in office buildings.

Dotty from Columbus writes:

Dear Pam, as I have come to terms with the sad new about the Fritztile I wanted…and as I have come to the end of the flooring road… I thought I would settle with sheet vinyl.  I was checking out the day on RetroRenovation, I clicked on your kitchen.  I have looked at it hundreds of times and yet failed to look at your flooring.  Okay, around to my question.  I have always wanted Armstrong/Congoleum tile but have been talked out of it by flooring salesmen. It all seems to swarm around the buffing and polishing.  They have recommended buffing 3 times per year by a professional to keep the dirt out of the surface to prevent staining, including stripping?  How do you maintain your flooring and does any of this sound familiar?  Oh, any exactly which product did you decide on? Commercial/Residential?  Thanks from Columbus.  Dotty

And reader Dee writes:

was wondering – can a vct floor be put in kitchen – high traffic – does it have to be buffed and waxed like they are telling me or can I just mop?  what  are the consequences to that?

My experience:

• My floor is Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze -12″ tiles – installed at 90-degrees to each other (important detail!). It is commercial tile, I believe – as are most other brands like this including Armstrong’s Imperial Excelon, the Congoleum tile, etc. In fact, it’s often hard to find online because you must remember to go to the Commercial section.
• See my Fast & Easy Flooring Page for all current flooring recommendations.
• Reader Meredith - whose kitchen is in the lead photo — installed the same floor. She says that she brought in a pro, at least initially: “I’ve already installed the Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze into my kitchen and laundry room.  I absolutely love it!  I had someone come out and put about 5 coats of polish on them so they are really shiny.”
• I have had these kinds of floor twice now. Both times, I simply used an Armstrong floor polish from Home Depot. I cleaned the floor really well – then put on a few thin coats drying well between. In my last house, I had the floor 6 years, it never aged a bit. This floor is looking kind of scratchy – but I didn’t put the polish on for a year, and I really don’t have many coats on. It’s so neutral – gosh, I don’t notice the imperfections a bit.
• I do strip it occasionally — like once a year — which is a real pain — and repeat the process to get the virgin-ish shine again.
• I do not buff my floor. But, I’m kind of interested in doing that sometime, and I am on the lookout for a vintage, estate-sale buffer including the pads. Back in the 50s, they really pushed these on housewives, there seem to be a lot out there.
• As far as “high traffic” goes — these are Commercial floor tiles. Our kitchens do not come anywhere near the traffic levels these tiles are designed for.
• Perhaps the sales people are trying to talk you out of these – because they want you to buy a floor that will wear out and which costs more?

All that said – this is just my opinion. I know that other readers have put in these floors — some have indeed had pro’s come in to polish them up.

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With all the recent talk of shuffleboards, I did a little nosing around, and it turns out that you can still get a vinyl tile shuffleboard from Armstrong:

This definitely goes on my dream list! The back half of our basement is concrete… my husband David has been opposed to vinyl tiles even retro-sized ones… but when I show him this, it just might turn him around. He likes shuffleboard! … I think it would be pretty easy to work this very primary red-white-blue design into any number of color combos. I really particularly like the Armstrong Excelon black – it looks like it hasn’t  changed forever.

Thanks also to reader Kitschy Kimberly who just happened to see a house with a vintage basement shuffleboard and sent this image in.  Man, was life simpler then, or what. Thank you Kitschy Kim!

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Kitty Mommy Susan, and others, have asked how to clean terrazzo shower bases and walls. Here is a start: Some pages from a great book, Twentieth-Century Building Materials, done by the National Park Service, edited by Thomas C. Jester. It’s out of print and wicked expensive, so I just got a copy from my library a few weeks ago. I try not to show pages from books – but will make an exception for this conservation reason.

If I get a chance soon — or perhaps a reader can pursue this? — I think another route to get a good answer is to go to Crane. The two big makers of terrazzo bases seem to have been Crane and Fiat. And now, Crane owns Fiat. They still sell these today — and they are a BIG RECOMMENDATION of mine! — so they must have cleaning instructions. If anyone gets to them before I do… can you post the answer here? Many thanks, and good cleaning!

Double click for big, readable image:

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Pam,

Dotty from Columbus here.  I was wanted to let everyone know that the Fritztile Exotic Pearl  collection is discontinued.  We were all set to have is installed and my rep for Fritz called to say the shell used in the tile has been placed on the endangered species list. Good for the creature in the shell bad for our kitchen   There are other Fritztiles that contain shell that are still available and are not included on the endangered list.  There are some Exotic Pearls left on the market and will probably be seen as promotional items or seconds but the price will be almost triple from the $11.00 per sq foot.  The price of the Abalone shell has risen from $2 per pound to $13.  Thanks for passing this info on! Dotty

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Femme1 — aka Deb — is right on target with this complete post, that flooring seems to be one of our hottest topics right now. She’s found some great new solutions – and I didn’t have to change a word. I did, however, add some additional pics of more Fritztiles – including a Royal Pink that’s yum yum yummy! Thanks, Deb!

Hi Pam,

Because I’m STILL unable to decide which flooring to put in my kitchen (going on 2½ years now), I’ve been searching again all over the Web for possibilities. I saw a few that could work for a 50s/60s house and thought I’d pass them along because this is always such a hot topic on your blog.

Amtico is a UK company, but they do sell (and manufacture) here in the states. They have one resilient tile pattern (Linear) in several colors that I think might work. It has a little bit of a grasscloth look; it definitely is more modern in design than the striations of the Azrock Cortina, and therefore, perhaps not as “authentic.” See what you think. The U.S. toll-free number for Amtico is 800-370-7324, where you can get a list of U.S. dealers. Some Amtico flooring is available on the discount http://www.fastfloors.com/ site, but not the Linear pattern.

[note: Pam has updated Amtico link, below.]

And now, for my favorite! I recently added a comment about this resilient terrazzo floor tiles under one of the posts from a while back when we were discussing terrazzo. Fritztile (http://www.fritztile.com/ ) makes a commercial tile (also for residential use) that is 1/8” thick and not quite 12” square and can be applied just like VCT tiles (using other adhesives), and can be a DIY project. Their Classic CL 200 series, to me, matches the 50s look of terrazzo more than their other lines, especially those that have a white background matrix (the clear matrix seems too comtemporary to me). So it’s much more practical (and a lot less expensive) than having a real terrazzo floor poured and polished. And it has a 20-year guarantee. Here are the examples I think would go in a 50s house best:

http://www.fritztile.com/cl200/index.htm#

http://www.fritztile.com/cl200/index.htm#

http://www.fritztile.com/cl200/index.htm#

http://www.fritztile.com/cl200/index.htm#

There are more colors available in the other lines, but they have a more modern look to them and include larger pieces of granite in the matrix.

Although this stuff is not cheap, the best thing is that it’s available from http://www.fastfloors.com at a discount (@ $6.00 sq ft, about half the retail prices, although yesterday it was listed in the same place for $5.75!).

I think I’m going to go with the soft gray for my kitchen, that is, unless I change my mind again!

Deb (Femme1)

Update from Pam. Here is the link to the Amtico page in North America; as of Aug. 2009, there seem to be 11 colors of Stardust – go to the Innovations collection: http://regions.amtico.com/en-GB/Home/NorthAmerica/Home?psvsl=1&psvnv=11&fcpm=psv

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I am super excited at the new mosaic flooring I discovered at Daltile this weekend while poking around their website. These can be found in their Keystones collection.

These three new choices now to go to #1 among all possible flooring choices for 50s and 60s homes. Guys, the American Olean Chloe is nice, but not nearly as correct for the postwar period. (It’s a holdover from the 30s and early 40s.) Drats, 5 years too late for my 3 bathrooms. Oh well.

FYI, the very first design shown — “Random” — is by far my favorite. I cannot tell from the online material whether different variations of white are possible. I know we tend to think that all the whites must match – but I don’t think it’s a must, particularly when it comes to the floor.

Ring the bell, put out a press release, this is BIG wonderful news for the retro renovation community.

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