Do you want retro-style, resilient flooring for your kitchen, bathroom, basement — maybe even your entire house? We tend to write about new designs one at time — when we, or readers, spot them. And we’ll continue doing that. But realistically, if you are in the market for new resilient flooring, I recommend that you prepare your eyeballs and start looking through all the styles available from every manufacturer. “Every manufacturer?” Yes — and to help, I’ve begun the following list.
“Resilient”: meaning not tile or concrete, but cushioned flooring stuff that kind of bounces back underfoot.
Shown above: Dave and Frances’ Marmoleum-brand linoleum floor.
Where to look for linoleum flooring — available in sheets or in tiles:
I know of two companies in the U.S. that make old-style linoleum:
- Marmoleum
- Tarkett
Where to look for vinyl, luxury vinyl and vinyl composite flooring — sheet and tile:
In alphabetical order:
- American Bilt-Rite
- Armstrong
- Azrock
- Congoleum
- IVC
- Johnsonite
- Karndean
- Lonseal
- Mannington
- Olympia Tile
- Tandus-Centiva
- Tarkett (seems to have bought Amtico)
Important research tip: When searching these companies’ websites, look at the Residential/Homeowner sections of these companies’ websites, of course. BUT, you may be most likely to find flooring that suits our midcentury sensibilities in the Commercial/Contract sections.
I started to try and bucket and sort particular lines by size and type… but immediately became frustrated because there are so many options. Perhaps I will do this someday — but it will need to be an X-Y chart. There IS a lot of cool stuff available.
Meanwhile, check out this IVC basic sheet vinyl collection — these sheets are 13’2″ wide — you could get this in most midcentury kitchens, I bet, with no seams.
Where to find glue-down cork flooring:
Re cork flooring, I don’t know anything about the new floating floor technologies, so for this list, I focused on companies that sell original style glue ’em down cork flooring, just like I have in my 1951 bedrooms and foyer. When and if I ever redo these floors (the foyer in particular has seen better days), I will likely be using glue-down tiles from companies such as these:
- Duro Design Cork Flooring
- Expanko
- Evora Cork
- Forna Cork Flooring
- Globus Cork Flooring
- Jelinek Cork Flooring
- Lisbon Cork Flooring
- Nova Cork Flooring
- U.S. Floors
- Wicanders
Note: I have no idea how to vet the quality of one manufacturer’s cork floor tile vs. another’s.
Note, Precautionary Pam reminds: Be sure you know what’s in the vintage layers of your house — they could contain vintage nastiness such as lead and asbestos …. consult with a professional to assess what you have so that you can make informed decisions. For more info and links see our Be Safe / Renovate Safe page here.
All of our flooring research
is filed in the category Kitchen Help / Flooring
Thank you, dear readers: I was turned on to a number of these companies — likely, most — by readers. Thank you a million times over!
We put red Armstrong linoleum in our kitchen – love it! But it was hard to convince our contractor that we really wanted linoleum and not vinyl. And then he had to subcontract out to a couple of older guys to actually lay down the linoleum, as he was in his 30s and didn’t know anything about it!
Very timely! We’re going to be renovating the kitchen in our midcentury modern cabin this spring. The current floor is an aqua tile that I love but is disintegrating all over the place. I’m hoping to find a very similar replacement.
We had marmoleum installed in a mud room and in a bedroom (about 8 years ago, I think). I love it.
I bought a 1955-1965 home (addition in 1965) three years ago with very old wall-to-wall carpeting in the main floor and cheap laminate in the addition. We opted to replace that entire main floor with cork planks–similar to hardwood planks, but not quite. It’s a floating floor, brand name USFloors Natural Cork, in a light gray color that’s not the cork board look, but doesn’t look quite like wood, either. It runs through our family room, bar, dining room, and kitchen. (We use FLOR tiles in the kitchen to protect the floor from spills.)
I can’t recommend cork enough. My feet are rarely cold, the shock absorption is a dream, and nearly everyone who visits the house remarks on how comfortable the floor feels underfoot. Maintenance is similar to hardwood. Best of all, it’s sustainable. Even though the style we picked may not be 100% true to midcentury, we’re very happy with the results and I’d recommend the material to anyone.
Here’s a blog post where you can see the flooring:
http://rocketcitydigs.com/2013/01/16/my-new-favorite-place-in-the-whole-wide-world-the-restore/
The glue-down cork tile I used in my kitchen/dining area/family room was purchased from Lumber Liquidators. It’s not the thickest tile, but it worked perfectly in my house, keeping the floors in those areas from being raised too high over the neighboring rooms. I laid it in a herringbone pattern inspired by one of the Time Capsule houses featured here.
This flooring article came at just the right time. I was lucky enough to find Elgin steel cabinets in the right size and format, with an intact countertop (the sink needs replaced). I’ve got the vintage stove to go with it…but the cabinets sit in my mudroom (with original blue and white asphalt tile!) until we can decide on flooring. It’s turning out to be a far more monumental undertaking than I originally thought it would be!
Oh, and for icing on the cake, the owner is not only saving the doors of the house for me…all of this stuff was found only twenty minutes from me!
I can’t wait to get to the point where we’re actually putting things into place!
I know that Pam’s not a fan of chevrons, but I’ve come across several for the mid-century time period over the years (I’ve loved and used chevrons for years…long before 2010!). There’s an ad currently on ebay for 1968 tile: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-Kentile-Vinyl-Asbestos-Floor-Tile-bakery-photo-vintage-print-Ad-/141559700679?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f59d9cc7
Just finished installing my VCT Imperial texture floor and couldn’t be happier. Colors we Colorado Stone, Blue Cloud and Teal
Great!!!
Through the Mannington website, I found Burke Floors (a subsidiary?) where I immediately gravitated to their SpectraFlecks colors page. Oh my! http://www.burkeflooring.com/samples-SpectraFlecks.php
Well, those are very interesting. But at a minimum order of 1500 square feet–basically I’d have to do my whole house in it–I’d have to pass.
I need help with a big decision. I’m considering installing 1200 sq ft of Natural Acacia hardwood flooring in my newly purchased 1965 mid century home. My kitchen has orange peachy and wood grained Geneva kitchen cabinets. All in an open concept with HUGE windows facing woods and creek! Counter tops are creamy white formica and I’m going to paint the walls with a neutral color..I think. Anyway, what does everyone think about hardwood…Natural stain…lots of variation and random length boards for my mid century?
If you want wood floors with authentic midcentury style, I think the answer is: Oak tongue-in-groove, natural stain.
I don’t know about Natural Acacia….