Laminates and Other Modern Miracles

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
As you all know, I have white linoleum in the kitchen and bathrooms here at the Big Yellow House. And I hate it with the heat of a thousand burning suns.

Originally, we were going to replace the evil white linoleum with tiles of some sort. We made arrangements for an installer to come out and measure and give us an estimate. Then I received it:

Yeah. Installation costs for tile are REALLY EXPENSIVE. Like, five times the cost of the materials. And they wouldn't even seal it when they were done, which meant the Smart Man and I would be stuck with that task. Additionally, the logistics involved in keeping the Boogie Dog off the tile while the adhesive and grout set were formidable.

So we looked for alternatives.

And what we decided on was a laminate. We were really surprised at how far the material has come. It has some advantages tile lacks (like not breaking when I inadvertantly drop something heavy on it. You know I will.), and it's really attractive. So tomorrow (tomorrow!) the installers will be here to lay it down.* Here's what we chose for the kitchen and downstairs bath:


And here's what we chose for the upstairs bathrooms:


Today the handyman is coming to disconnect the appliances (the installers will move the appliances, but not disconnect them). The entire project is going to cost a bit more than we had budgeted, but we're still paying cash. Hopefully the project will go well. I really don't want to have to break out the Shovel of Doom™ on the company we've hired. It's a handy tool, but wielding it stresses me out and makes me tired.

In other news, Boogie the Giant Schnauzer appears to be feeling better, thanks to the modern miracle of antibiotics. Yay! I love science...

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*I said "lay it down." He. Hehe.

5 comments:

Anne C. said...

Yay for healthy puppy dogs!

And good choice on the flooring. Makes me glad my mum and I installed my tile.

Tom said...

I love my ceramic tile (actually porcelin tile), but the installer didn't quite get it right. It's not quite level across the entire kitchen. Then he scooped the grout between the tiles, instead of leaving it flat (I think flat emphasized the non-levelness), which left an edge on every tile.

So even though I love my tile, you might be doing the smarter thing. Go, Hot Chick!

WendyB_09 said...

I have a neutral grey granitey version of your kitchen choice in my entry and bathrooms. It came with the refurbed apartment.

Kitchen is a variation of the white universal apartment crap. The grey tile would have been better and wouldn't show so many stains. Cranberry always sticks out so...

nzforme said...

Spiffy!

Ages ago, when I was redoing my kitchen in the old place, the flooring I found which best met my image of the pattern I wanted -- a black/white marbelized thing -- turned out to be an industrial grade vinyl tile. Inexpensive, and took any sort of abuse the cat and I could dish out.

So, yeah, I'm all for the artificial stuff.

neurondoc said...

Neat! And if that cat isn't shrieking "EEEK!" at the top of its lungs, I don't know what's happening.