Like with any other style, you need a proper floor in order to accentuate the rest of the items in the room. When dealing with a country kitchen, wood is going to be the favorite material of choice. But, you don’t just have to lay down some hardwood and hope for the best. Here are a few other more intricate options to consider for your charming country kitchen.
Barn Board Planks
Aged barn board planks have style, they have class, and they have a history behind them. This isn’t just some manufactured wood you get installed. This is a recycled material made from real barn doors. It has character; notches in the wood, patina from generations ago. One of the best things though, about this wood, is that it’s inexpensive and it can be limited only by your imagination. You can keep it as is and just seal it, or you can paint it, stencil it, stain it or even finish it however you want.
Old Time Factory Beams
Old factories still exist across the country, especially in the midwest and northern parts of the USA. As these factories and mills are shut down and demo’s, they take the wood and save it. The wood is then taken to mills where its cut down to thin planks. These wood beams are made from all sorts of wood, but one of the most common is pine. Pine has a very country look to it, it’s a soft wood though. Pine can easily be dented or scratched, but for some people, that just adds to the never ending character of this type of wood.
Painted Wood Floors
If you have a wood floor that you simply adore, but you want a different look, why not try to paint it? You have two options. If the floor is really bad – full of scratches and dents, you can paint the entire thing. If not, and it still looks pretty good, you can actually create a checkerboard pattern – that is a stencil that can be placed on the floor. Every other checker is painted so you still have your floor but you have that extra design step.
Brick Flooring
Brick Is not the same old same old wood material, but it still has a very country feel to it. Its both welcoming and warm, as well as charming and rustic. Although this is a hard material, it is porous and it will need to be sealed every few years to keep it from getting stained and worn out. Another very popular design option is herringbone, and the brick goes really well with that pattern, especially in a country kitchen. You can also play around with several other layouts. Brick comes in a few dozen different colors. Not quite as many as porcelain tile, but you still have some options available.
Cork Flooring
Cork might not be something you automatically think of when it comes to a country kitchen, but it is in fact, very country. This is a type of wood. It’s created by stripping the bark of a cork oak tree. Cork oak trees grow very quickly, which makes them a renewable resource and very green friendly. Cork comes in an array of “colors” such as Orange, to gold, to a more natural state. It can add a warmth to your kitchen like nothing else and it’s quite soft underfoot, which makes it ideal for a kitchen.
Porcelain Tile
Ceramic tile used to be all the rage, but porcelain tile is actually significantly more durable. For options, take a look at www.tilemarkets.com. It’s cooked at higher temperatures for longer periods of time. Porcelain tiles comes in all sorts of colors and styles, from solid colors to patterns, to designs and more. It is also pretty easy to install as well. Porcelain is a material that can take a lot of foot traffic. In fact, out of all of these floors, porcelain tile flooring is the most durable. It also requires minimal care and easy incredibly easy to clean. Just make sure that if you are placing this in the kitchen that you choose a finish that is not glossy. The glossy finishes get really slippery when they are even just a little damp. Also, make sure that you have the grout lines of your porcelain tiles are sealed every few years so that if you drop something like cranberry juice, pomegranate or even wine – it won’t stain the grout.
Marmoleum
This is a spin off version of linoleum. It’s got a softer feel to it, and it comes in sheets rather than tiles. You won’t get as many color variations from this that you would from something like porcelain tiles, but it is insanely durable, comfortable underfoot, and it has a very vintage feel to it. Perfect for your country kitchen. Marmoleum is also non-toxic like its counterpart and it’s a more “green friendly” product than linoleum.
Hi, I’m Anna the Editor of Beauty and Lace.