We bought our current home in 2002. It is 1,000 square feet, with a full basement. I loved it from the moment I first saw its dog-hair-coated, scratched, forlorn, dead-yard, red brick inner beauty.
We proceeded to repaint, re-tile, install new baseboard, new counter-top, add a shower to the powder room, and basically hose out and disinfect the entire thing.
It was very rewarding, but time-consuming and exhausting. That was 12 years ago.
We've been needing to re-do the kitchen, and many other things, for a few years now, but have been putting it off. Because, you know, read above.
But when the girls went back to school we decided it was time. And it was going to be my job.
Not one to shy away from a little work, or a lot of work, I jumped right in. Mostly to ensure that there was really no going back. I needed commitment.
Beginning Status:
-Worn out glue-down cork tile flooring: best floor we've ever done, warm, non-breaking, but with three small kids I never re-coated it like you should wood-type floors.
-Original cabinet doors and hinges: built in 1963 it was about dang time. slab doors, with ball knobs, and annoying knife hinges.
-No doors under the sink over the garbage. They were dog-scratched to smithereens and we never put them back on.
-No doors over the long dish bank of cabinets. At the time, I didn't have much to put in them so it became an aesthetic idea to leave them open. Not so great with three big kids and 12 years...
-Original drawer faces: again, time. slabs with a single ball knob for a long 19-23" drawer face. no leverage for opening.
-No dishwasher. Just me. didn't want to sacrifice drawer or cabinet space for a washer to fit.
-Great double sink, perfect for washing dishes.
-Single lighting fixtures. All in the right places, double bulb (75 watt or higher) but old fashioned looking.
Update Plan:
-New cork glue-down tile flooring, darker this time for a change. It really is that good.
-New cabinet doors, shaker style, with new hinges. Lime Green. Long satin nickel pulls.
-Especially doors under the sink and to cover the dish bank.
-Dark stained drawer faces, cabinet side faces, & corner shelf stack, with long satin nickel handles to update look, and add leverage.
-Still no dishwasher. Shucks.
-New light fixtures. More light above sink, updated look. Chandelier above kitchen table. Unknown in cooking area.
-New baseboard and cabinet base trim. Bye-bye original yellow linoleum yuckiness.
And that's it.
At the time of the before photo, in the right picture I had painted over the old cork to see if I liked it chocolate color. I didn't. I'm so glad I tested it first. I also had a tactic: as soon as I got the thumbs-up from Mr. I went to town painting and demolishing so that there was absolutely no chance of a change of heart. Pretty thorough, eh?
The first order of business was to remove the old cork flooring. The theory was that it would just peel up. Yep. I said theory. After trying 4 different methods I settled on the air hammer. It was slow and it made me feel like I had arthritis in every finger, hand, and upper body joint. Thanks to the help of my great friend Brooke, it took only 5 days to remove 123 square feet of cork. The last day we rented a sander and ground off the remaining glue, down to the leveling cement we had poured 12 years ago.
I have no picture of the massive amounts of cement patching we did to undo a couple of ill-timed footprints in the original leveling cement pour. That took another two days.
While I was killing myself in the removal process, I got a boost when the cork flooring came. Yay! We bought
Silver Birch glue-down cork tiles.
12" x 24" size
$2.99/square foot
from icorkfloor.com
We bought Wakol D adhesive from them as well
because it was recommended by the manufacture, and the last thing that needed to happen was
ruined tiles. You know that buying online is always cheaper. Don't be afraid to explore flooring options from a wide variety of sources. Read reviews and product information. It helps when you are married to the research man.
The process is rather simple. Roll contact cement down on back of tile and floor section. Allow to dry clear. Lay tile and roll down to get full contact. The cork tiles are easily cut with a straight edge and razor knife. The trickiest part is marking the first center tile parallel to the walls, so that the rest of the tiles are straight. I removed myself from the room while this process was happening. I want no guilt by association if it turns out crooked.
Thanks to husband & his brothers & dad, we got 123 sf laid in about 8 hours.
It turned out perfectly. The glue needs to cure for 48 hours. Then it needs varnish.
We used water-based Bona Mega HD Clear Satin purchased from Amazon. It took about 1/2 gallon for two coats. Application took about 15 minutes, with a wait of 1 hour between coats.
The finish is super easy to use, even being a two-part formula, and it is extremely highly rated for durability, ease of application, and low odor.
We are thrilled with the results. I'm so glad we went with the bamboo-color and look. It warms up the space and lengthens it by having the grain run length-wise. You can see the finished cabinet stain pairs nicely with the dark accents in the cork. (more on the cabinets soon)
It was a huge project, and I didn't even mention the fact that the fridge and the oven were in the living room for 7 days, or that we cooked microwave dinners on the living room floor. It gets old quickly, as any DIY-er can attest to. But it was worth every minute of back breaking work to have a finished product like this.
The benefits of cork are that it is really warm and soft feeling for walking, & when you drop things, they rarely break. The cork will ding if you drop a sharp edge on it, but the pattern and texture are really good at camouflaging it.
I will say that since we put in the new floor I've developed spidey-hands.
Nothing. Lands. On. This. Floor.
Saving money by DIY is oh, so clever! How will you improve your living space?
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