Plaster & Disaster

Hello! As you read this, I am in California, out in the middle of Joshua Tree National Park hopefully having a great time. I’ll let you know when I make it back to the internet next week.

In the meantime, I teed up this post to just share a quick update on how we’re liking our linoleum kitchen floors. I get asked about this by readers all the time who are considering Marmoleum, and originally planned to share it last week with my post about trim/thresholds, until that post became 2,800 words and I realized I should not cram in more. So today I’m back with that info for the many folks who have been asking!

First off, “Marmoleum” is a specific brand of linoleum, and the particular product we have is Marmoleum Click, by Forbo. These are floating tiles that click into place (rather than sheet or tile linoleum), which is what worked best for our uneven subfloor. For more about the saga of getting to these floors, how much we paid, and how we installed them, be sure to read this backstory.

At this point it’s only been about 8 months, so I think the true test will be seeing how they hold up years down the road. But so far, I’m really liking them. Here’s what I like most:

The color: I really love the light, neutral color without noticeable seams, which would have been hard to get with most other materials. The color makes it feel a little special, while at the same time being the perfect neutral backdrop. And Marmoleum (even Marmoleum Click) comes in so many amazing colors, you could also do something really bold or a cool pattern if you wanted to make the floor the focal point of your room.
Durability: They do get dirty (they are light-colored floors and we are plenty messy with cat hair, cooking spills, mud, etc), but everything wipes up so easily (even paint splatter). I never worry about spills not wiping up or sitting for too long.
Comfort: They are softer underfoot than tile would be, which I appreciate when we’re cooking (or when I’m sitting on the floor for days painting baseboards).

They aren’t perfect, though, so I wanted to share a few things I’ve liked less:

Difficulty of install: As you may remember, these were really hard to install — they say they’re a DIY product, but it just wasn’t happening for me so we ended up hiring someone. That was a challenge in and of itself since most flooring professionals won’t install a product you didn’t buy from them, but we found a family friend who saved the day and was willing to take the job. Still, with the added cost of install, the floor cost about $9 per square foot — and if I’d known that was what I would be spending all told, I might have considered other options that I originally ruled out because I was hoping to spend less. I’m not convinced, though — I may well have ended up with this same choice, because I really do love it.
Seams: There are occasional visible seams between pieces/rows, which can be minimized during install but I don’t think can be eliminated entirely because the way the tiles are laid (clicking in at an angle) means that around radiators and edges it can be hard to do perfectly. Still, the seams are pretty minimal and not very visible unless you’re really looking.
They can be scratched: These are pretty durable, but we’ve been doing construction in the kitchen so we have made a few scratches/scrapes. I think they’re more durable than wood floors, but they’re a bit more delicate than the seemingly indestructable (though ugly) tiles we had before. The scrapes are pretty unnoticeable in most light, though, which is why I wasn’t even able to really get a photo for you.
Color variation: This is totally avoidable if you don’t make the mistake I did, which was to order too little flooring. We ended up having to order another two boxes, but those came from a different dye lot apparently and the color is every so slightly different. It’s not major, but it’s definitely noticeable along the radiator to the left of the door in the sun room:

The top half of the floor is a bit lighter than the bottom half in this photo

With the credenza covering that spot now it’s even less noticeable, but just be sure you order enough the first time around. Also I really didn’t like how the vendor (Green Building Supply) treated me with regard to this issue. They were super helpful when we ran out and even waived shipping on the two extra boxes, but they didn’t mention that this could be an issue or suggest that we look for the dye lot information on the first set of boxes to try to find a match (which they did suggest months later, when we obviously no longer had the boxes).

When I first brought the color issue to their CEO’s attention (he had been helping me previously), he told me that Marmoleum is always slightly discolored when it arrives but it changes color in the sunlight (which I knew because I already had a bunch of it laid down, and I told them that upfront when I first emailed them about the issue, explicitly saying that this color variation was not like the ambering that happens naturally). The CEO told me to “relax” and wait 8 weeks for the color to change. Even though I knew he was wrong, I did wait 8 weeks, and then emailed him back to tell him it was still an issue. That’s when he said it could be the dye lots, and suggested I check my (now long-discarded) flooring boxes to see what dye lot the originals came from. When I told him I threw those away months ago and it would have been great for them to mention that then and asked that they send replacements, he went radio silent and never responded to any of my follow up inquiries.

That’s probably my biggest issue with the floors, and fortunately it hasn’t been too bad since I was mostly able to hide it. But I did not appreciate his attitude — given that the floors cost over $3,000, it seems reasonable to expect they’d all be one color (or if it’s possible they wouldn’t be, to mention that when I ordered two additional boxes). Also, never tell someone to relax — it is guaranteed to have the exact opposite effect.

But other than those few concerns, I really love the floors! I am looking forward to seeing how they hold up, and hope that I’ll be giving you another big thumbs up in 5, 10, and 15 years!

Remember a while back when I went to Brimfield with my work-friend Erin (and not Sage, it is a touchy subject) and promised that one day I would give you all the chance to see her awesome house? If so, then today is your lucky day! (And if not, then… surprise!)

Erin is fixing up an ugly, scary old home. Let this before picture stand as evidence of what she is dealing with:

Turning THAT into a nice place to live would be impressive enough, but the really impressive thing about Erin’s house makeover is how thrifty she is, and how she gets big style with very little expense. She describes it as “casual throwback with a healthy dose of free and cheap.” It is genius. While Sage and I happily throw money at our problems now and then, Erin and her husband Joel are made of stronger stuff and put in work to make the things they already have awesome. I’ve got a few of her rooms to share with you today, and then will share more down the line.

And yes, it includes a transformed half-bath for only $5. I don’t know how she does it.

The Upstairs Bathroom (not the $5 one):

When Erin first saw the house, the upstairs bathroom was terrifying, with neon pastel walls (apparently that is possible), dated cabinets, and, worst of all, a horrible built-in tub. Here it is in the listing photo:

But she saw the potential, especially with the wainscoting, and dove right in.

The most dramatic transformation was the bathtub. She found a beautiful old shape hiding behind that 1970s box! In her own words:

I could not wait to get my hands on the built in surround and free our precious tub and this was the exact first thing I did when we start doing anything in the bathroom. It was also one of the most gratifying things I’ve done since we moved in a year and a half ago because, well, that thing was nasty!

I bet, but it looks awesome now.

Can you believe that sweet thing was hiding in that room all along! And, yes, that is the iconic IKEA cart added for storage in place of the dated cabinet.

Also the pretty white floors (Lincoln Cottage, Valspar) seem like they could stay, but they are just a temporary solution.

We are looking to do more major floor work in the future so we opted to do just the bare minimum here for now. Sadly, the wood flooring was badly stained from the tar glue and felt that held the awful linoleum in place for so long. To keep it bright, we simply painted them white! Lesson learned from this: It’s really hard to keep white floors looking sparkling clean in a house with pets and small children. Thank goodness for small bathrooms.

She similarly worked with what she had (with selective supplemental purchases) in the rest of the room. The vanity was updated with paint (Indigo Blue, Sherwin Williams), new hardware and faucet, and a $15 rummage sale mirror.

Of course, this is Plaster & Disaster, so Erin wouldn’t try to sneak by without sharing a disaster story with us:

“Funny” story here. I swapped out a sink faucet for the first time ever with this one. I felt really proud – I used plumbers putty and everything! Then I turned the water back on and heard from below “Ah! There’s a waterfall in the kitchen!” Turns out I broke an old pipe will all of the jostling around. We brushed our teeth in the bathtub for a week while we figured out how to fix it.

She also did a personal and functional DIY: installing a picture ledge with thick trim beneath it where she attached mismatched hooks for towels. I think this is really clever and could work in a lot of different styles, so I am not sure why I haven’t seen more of these around Pinterest.

(I’m particularly pleased to share this because we shopped for those hooks together at Brimfield! Thus, I feel I can take credit for pretty much the whole room.)

She claims the room isn’t done (they have plans to tile the floor, put up a shower surround, etc.) but it is looking pretty good for now!

The Nursery:

Erin has a baby daughter, Ruby, and an awesome son, Abbott (for whom we bought the toy train accessories at Birmfield). She decorated Ruby’s bedroom spending very little money. Here it was in the listing:

It had a ton of potential with such great light, but it needed a lot of work. They quickly dispensed with the terrible wallpaper:

And then cheered it up with paint. She achieves whole-house cohesion and also saves a ton of money on paint by using the same colors throughout: Sea Salt on the walls and Bohemian Lace on the doors/trim, both by Sherwin Williams.

She then decorated with what she had:

Many things we already had were hand-me-downs from past homes and from Abbott’s nursery. Because we opted not to find out the gender of our first child, Abbott, we had a lot of gender-neutral items. Even though we knew well in advance this time that we were having a girl, it still just seemed right to keep the feel of this room consistent with the rest of the house. Items in here are a mix of old, family, crafty, free and gifts. The armoire and dresser/changing table is a pass-down from my grandparents, the crib was Abbott’s, the book holder was a gift from my sister, and the rug was free.

And what was the big splurge that made the room?

The small side table is a $5 table we painted (Indigo Blue by Sherwin Williams – the same as the vanity in the bathroom) and switched out the knob for one of those gemstone/gold foiled items I found on clearance at Home Goods.

The $5 Half-Bath:

Most of these old homes in need of a makeover have some “head scratching” moments, and Erin’s house certainly isn’t the exception. It is actually one of the more extreme cases. Take this room as proof, which is right off of the kitchen:

Confused? Erin was, too:

This room is so awkward. Is it a pantry with a toilet in it? Is it a bathroom with too many cabinets? When we first looked at the house, the room was dark, hard to move around in and was a reminder of how much work was needed… BUT IT WAS ON THE FIRST FLOOR. I knew that it may be a pantry with a toilet, but at least it was a pantry with a toilet that didn’t require going upstairs to use the bathroom.

Sold. They took down the cabinets, fixed and painted the walls, took up the linoleum floor, painted the wood underneath black (having learned the lesson on white floors), painted the old light fixture, and replaced the broken light bulb with a new one.

Joel did this room in it’s entirety (aside from the light that I spent 15 minutes painting and replacing the bulb) as a birthday request last year and honestly it was probably one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten. Once those cabinets were down, there was so much room! Light! A real wall!

It turned into a totally adorable and pretty little room:

The punchline:

Since we used the paint we already had for the rest of the house, all in all this room cost $5 for the light bulb.

Thanks for checking out Erin’s house! What do you think? Could you do makeovers with this little spending? Would you consider a whole house wall color (that wasn’t a white/neutral)? I love the idea, but I fear that I am too fickle to commit to one crazy wall color alone… I need them all.