pianoredwood73
Member
- Messages
- 16
- Location
- Devon
Hi everyone
We have a 15th C G2 listed thatched farmhouse (in Devon) and amongst many other horrors that we plan to put right in due course is a dark brown cork tiled floor in the cross passage hall - butting right up to the plank and muntin screen and making it feel like a cave! Obviously it has to go but I can't quite get my head round what to replace it with.
Flagstones is obviously the first choice but the blue lias we're pretty sure it would have had is an absolute fortune (we used it on the hearths - 2 inglenooks and one smaller fireplace - and it looks fab but can we now NOT use it without it looking wrong?) and also very dark, the hall is a dark and low ceilinged space as it is and I'd prefer to lighten it but don't want it all looking too 'bitty'. Other considerations are that it needs to work with the rear passage rooms (former dairy, pantry etc, which open onto the living room just to complicate things!) which currently have nasty 1970's terracotta tiles - and with a new kitchen extension in time. Elsewhere on the ground floor is carpet which we'll prob keep as it's light, feels lovely and with small children it's handy for crawling!
Just for background, on the first floor 2 bedrooms and the landing have amazing elm boards, some of which have been painted, but others hubby has restored (he works with wood so knows his stuff). Another bedroom has very old oak boards, and the main bedroom has 1920's pine boards which were put in when the bathrooms were added above the kitchen. We plan to restore and expose them all in time. Have already 'done' 2 bedrooms - boards done, lining paper stripped, and original plaster patched in and limewashed - they look incredible and we want the rest of the house in time to be just as beautiful.
I'd half thought of using oak flooring in the hallway and rear passage rooms to keep it natural and lighter in colour as well as practical. Also a nod to the ancient oak screen in the hall. Then will prob do brick in the kitchen as it looks like that's what used to be in the current kitchen before the 1970's came along...
Any other ideas I'm missing? I'd be grateful for any opinions or experience of reinstating floors in similar houses. Many thanks for reading and sorry it's long!
Sarah
We have a 15th C G2 listed thatched farmhouse (in Devon) and amongst many other horrors that we plan to put right in due course is a dark brown cork tiled floor in the cross passage hall - butting right up to the plank and muntin screen and making it feel like a cave! Obviously it has to go but I can't quite get my head round what to replace it with.
Flagstones is obviously the first choice but the blue lias we're pretty sure it would have had is an absolute fortune (we used it on the hearths - 2 inglenooks and one smaller fireplace - and it looks fab but can we now NOT use it without it looking wrong?) and also very dark, the hall is a dark and low ceilinged space as it is and I'd prefer to lighten it but don't want it all looking too 'bitty'. Other considerations are that it needs to work with the rear passage rooms (former dairy, pantry etc, which open onto the living room just to complicate things!) which currently have nasty 1970's terracotta tiles - and with a new kitchen extension in time. Elsewhere on the ground floor is carpet which we'll prob keep as it's light, feels lovely and with small children it's handy for crawling!
Just for background, on the first floor 2 bedrooms and the landing have amazing elm boards, some of which have been painted, but others hubby has restored (he works with wood so knows his stuff). Another bedroom has very old oak boards, and the main bedroom has 1920's pine boards which were put in when the bathrooms were added above the kitchen. We plan to restore and expose them all in time. Have already 'done' 2 bedrooms - boards done, lining paper stripped, and original plaster patched in and limewashed - they look incredible and we want the rest of the house in time to be just as beautiful.
I'd half thought of using oak flooring in the hallway and rear passage rooms to keep it natural and lighter in colour as well as practical. Also a nod to the ancient oak screen in the hall. Then will prob do brick in the kitchen as it looks like that's what used to be in the current kitchen before the 1970's came along...
Any other ideas I'm missing? I'd be grateful for any opinions or experience of reinstating floors in similar houses. Many thanks for reading and sorry it's long!
Sarah
