It’s been many months (okay, years!) in the making, but my kitchen makeover is almost complete. I’ve spray painted the units, I’ve tiled the splashback and I’ve added a sparkly new worktop. I’ve even fitted the kitchen sink! But the only thing we haven’t yet tackled is the flooring so that’s the next project on my list…
The thing is, the existing flooring isn’t too bad. It’s level, easy to clean and hasn’t shown any signs of wear and tear since it was fitted decades ago. But it’s not exactly the flooring I would choose if I were installing a new kitchen. Nonetheless, I certainly don’t want to spend money on a new floor because eventually the whole room will be revamped (once we’ve saved up for it) and the flooring will probably get damaged or be taken out during that process.
So any updates I do to the kitchen floor now will need to be low cost, easy and hopefully reusable so that it isn’t wasted if we do have a new kitchen installed in the future. With that criteria in mind, I did my research and a few ideas options popped up.
An obvious choice is to put down a rug on the kitchen floor. That’ll help to add a splash of colour and could even tie in the old flooring with the newly painted kitchen cabinets. BUT, when I added a rug to the floor of my previous kitchen, it didn’t turn out well.
I’m not the neatest cook and many a sauce splash ended up on the floor. I was forever spot-cleaning the rug and, in the end, I just gave up on cleaning it altogether so it ended up looking rather stained. Plus, it was in a high-traffic area so it wore out over years of use. I also find it a bit annoying when chairs don’t slide easily over the textured surface of a rug, so I’ve come to the conclusion that a conventional rug isn’t for me.
All flooring images credited to Tenstickers.co.uk
That said, I like the reusable, temporary nature of a rug, and it’s a great way to add colour and pattern to a room without committing to wallpaper or a bold feature colour on the walls. During my search I discovered the idea of vinyl rugs – something I hadn’t ever come across before. They’re just as colourful as regular rugs, with plenty of different patterns available so this could be the temporary solution I need for my kitchen floor. I particularly like the turquoise diamond pattern above, it would look fab with my colourful cabinets.
Vinyl rugs non-slip and don’t attract dust like a regular rug so are better for people with allergies. They are easy to maintain as they can be mopped, vacuumed or swept just like a regular kitchen floor. I even found some vinyl mats in a tiled design from a company that makes personalised stickers, which could completely cover up the old flooring and will help to protect it from stains, spills and scratches. Okay, this black and white checkerboard finish isn’t that different from the old floor tiles that are already in my kitchen, but it just looks so much cleaner and has that ’50s diner vibe I love.
I’ve also looked at those woven outdoor rugs to see if they would be suitable for the kitchen too. They’re waterproof (obviously, because they can be used outside!) and can be wiped clean. But I think the woven finish would be a bit of a problem if we had any spillages in the kitchen as I can imagine sauces seeping through the rug onto the floor below and stains being difficult to scrub out from between the weave.
That said, they are available in lots of bright colours and jazzy patterns and, once we’ve updated the kitchen, it could be removed and used outdoors. Likewise, the vinyl rugs would be ideal flooring in my caravan, which I’m still using as a garden room, so the vinyl mats won’t go to waste in the future either.
I think I prefer the vibrant colours, massive variety of patterns and crisp lines you find on vinyl rugs over the outdoor rugs so it’s just a case of choosing the right design for our kitchen and measuring up. I’m excited to try something new and refresh the tired old flooring soon. Let me know if you have any experience of using any of these types of rugs in your kitchen in the comments below – I’d love to hear how you’ve got on with them and if you would recommend them?
This article is a sponsored collaboration. The pink links in the content indicate a sponsored link or information source. The blog post reflects my own experience and the sponsor hasn’t had any control over my content 🙂
