Creative ways to spruce up an apartment kitchen floor

December 4, 2013 4:56 PM

I rent an apartment with a water-damaged kitchen floor. The flooring has permanent stains on it that I want to hide. The landlord won't pay for the full-scale subfloor repair that would be necessary to renovate it nicely. I thought we could just paper it over with a new layer of vinyl flooring but a workman took one look at it and said he couldn't work with such a damaged floor, without a major renovation. I wonder what the best cheap way would be to just hide the stains and make the kitchen look civilized?

Ideas we have had: Some kind of mat? Rug? Painting the tiles?

It seems like vinyl flooring is out of the question because of the poor, lumpy condition of the floor but would also consider just trying to put it in anyway.

Any help much appreciated.

posted by steinsaltz to Home & Garden (25 answers total)

Can we see photos of the floor and kitchen?

(The solution may end up being "paint it" but it would help to see it.)
posted by DarlingBri at 4:58 PM on December 4, 2013

Not sure this is a fantastic option in your case, so simply put here as a suggestion of something to look into, but Flor carpet tiles?
posted by brainmouse at 4:58 PM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

paint yourself a canvas carpet. They're cheap, washable, durable, and you can cut it to fit your kitchen exactly. Just be careful that after any big spills you make sure liquid isn't trapped under the carpet where it can't dry, because that will further contribute to your floor rot.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:02 PM on December 4, 2013

Ikea makes great snap-together wood floors for not a lot of money. As long as you trust yourself to measure and cut to fit, they're a greet solution.

Home depot has 12" stick-on vinyl tiles that cost about 33 cents per square foot and which can be installed using only scissors or an exacto.
posted by MeanwhileBackAtTheRanch at 5:05 PM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

A lot of rag rugs strewn colorfully around.
posted by tilde at 5:10 PM on December 4, 2013

How large is the kitchen?

If this is the typical small apartment kitchen I would get a rug or two. Ideally something easy to clean.

I would not spend the money for a wood floor in a rental (unless it's one of those rent controlled NYC deals where you'll be there till you die), and nor would I take it upon myself to do stick-on vinyl flooring. Which inevitably looks bad anyway.
posted by Sara C. at 5:15 PM on December 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

I would also do rugs. I had a low-pile synthetic one in my kitchen (similar to this), and I was initially nervous about it getting full of crumbs and drenched in milk and other possible kitchen disasters, but with some regular (okay, semi-regular) vacuuming it was totally fine.
posted by purpleclover at 5:20 PM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

I 2nd rag rugs. That's what I did to cover the drab carpeting in this little part of my apartment:

http://instagram.com/p/gv3KTiyz6j/

But in a kitchen you probably wouldn't need (or want) to cover the whole floor, just the stained parts.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 5:26 PM on December 4, 2013

Response by poster: Here's a photo. I just mopped the floor, too, but it still looks like this:

http://imgur.com/rdsVWT5
posted by steinsaltz at 5:29 PM on December 4, 2013

For a kitchen, I'd suggest an anti-fatigue floor mat. You can get them cheap at restaurant supply places. It won't cover the stains entirely (which is good; spills won't be trapped), but it will hide them significantly unless you're looking directly down on them from above.
posted by supercres at 5:29 PM on December 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

Paper bag floors You can buy a big roll of brown paper at a craft store. If you use bags from the store they may be different shades and thicknesses which could be problematic. I did something similar and it held up very well. I used Benjamin Moore Stays Clear, which is a water based polyurethane, as both the glue and the clear coat. Tear the bags into random shapes and crumple it first, some with a lot of crumples, some with just a few, random is your friend here. Leave some straight edges for where it butts up against the walls. Use the matte finish polyurethane, you have to stir it really well to bring up the particles that make it matte but don't shake it or stir so hard that you create bubbles. Or you can paint them.
posted by BoscosMom at 5:30 PM on December 4, 2013 [4 favorites]

If you do end up going for some kind of mat or rug, and you have a little money to throw at it, these gel-pro anti fatigue mats would be a great option. Totally washable and no risk of seepage if you spill something. Great underfoot. Available in more homey traditional styles if that's your aesthetic.
posted by Sara C. at 5:30 PM on December 4, 2013

Oh yeah, totally an anti-fatigue floor mat. I bet you wouldn't even notice the stains looking directly down on them.

Downside: need to lift them up to mop.
posted by supercres at 5:30 PM on December 4, 2013

(I had something like these in mind, which are decidedly more utilitarian than Sara C's.)
posted by supercres at 5:36 PM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'd do a big, bright, cheerful, colorful rag rug. I see them all the time at Home Goods and World Market for under $50.
posted by mochapickle at 5:40 PM on December 4, 2013

Here's a Youtube video that looks good for the paper bag floor if you like that idea.
posted by BoscosMom at 5:46 PM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

You can also make or purchase floorcloths.
posted by trip and a half at 5:54 PM on December 4, 2013

You can use floor leveler to make the floor more level.

You can find vinyl flooring remnants for around $10 or $20, or cheap vinyl flooring (it will rip within a few years) is less than a dollar a square foot.
posted by yohko at 6:07 PM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

If it's a small, simple space, a vinyl remnant like yohko suggested could be held at the edges with double sided tape and 1/2" quarter round moulding. You'd need a threshold for each doorway.

I think a pro installer would say no to working on a damaged floor because of the headaches he might get if you're unhappy with the results but it wouldn't stop me from experimenting with scavenged materials.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:49 PM on December 4, 2013

I love having rugs in the kitchen. I wouldn't want wall-to-wall for obvious reasons, but I will never not have rugs. We usually demote rugs to the kitchen from some other part of the house, but they're pretty much all Target rugs we didn't pay more than $50 for.

You might consider repainting the baseboard on that wall, though, just to freshen it up.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:52 PM on December 4, 2013

You could caulk along the baseboard to make it less obvious that the floor is uneven.
posted by salvia at 7:09 PM on December 4, 2013

The blogger at Manhatten Nest did rubber flooring as a non-permanent fix for a kitchen floor he hated.

For something a bit more involved, he's also done vinyl composition tile on an old, bumpy floor, but that would be way more effort than I would be willing to put in.
posted by telophase at 7:16 PM on December 4, 2013 [4 favorites]

CORK! I looked into this a couple of times, but it was a little pricier in our area than vinyl. But cork is supposed to be super forgiving of imperfect flooring, and you can DIY the tiles. Cork is supposed to be lovely for a kitchen because it's slightly bouncy and easy to clean. Apartment Therapy on cork in a rental.
posted by viggorlijah at 8:46 PM on December 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for taking the time to provide lots of good ideas. Tonight for the first time I feel hope about my kitchen.
posted by steinsaltz at 9:55 PM on December 4, 2013

That rubber floor is GORGEOUS!

Do that!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:50 AM on December 5, 2013 [1 favorite]