BrittanyMakes

Hello! How’s everyone’s week so far? I’m super excited about a long weekend – I need it!

Ever since we started our kitchen remodel (almost a year ago, whaaat?!) I’ve received countless emails and questions over our kitchen. I kid you not, most relate to either the hardware or our wood tile flooring. On top of that, about two weeks or so ago my kitchen was featured over on Apartment Therapy, which normally would be something to celebrate, however the article actually contained a lot of false information, specifically related to wood tile flooring. Today, I want to directly answer the questions I’ve been asked the most, as well as provide clarification to the Apartment Therapy article.

Here are the questions I’ve been asked most often:

IS IT COLD UNDERFOOT?

Apartment Therapy’s statement:

“… Wood tile is still tile, which means it will be very cold (especially for folks in Northern climates) …”

Let me preface my response by saying, I live in California where we don’t have “real” winters. I walk around barefoot all the time, and the flooring doesn’t feel any different than the original wood flooring we had before. The only difference I feel is the grain, as our previous flooring was lacquered smooth and shiny, while the wood tile we have has a texture similar to reclaimed wood.

I will also suggest, use a little common sense! If your AC is on, your house is cold and your floors are probably cold. If your heater is on, your house is warm and your floors are probably also warm.  Also, get a rug! Put a rug under your bed, or in your living room, or under your dining table. Rugs help warm things up.  And my last common sense observation, chances are if you live in a colder climate you’re already wearing slippers, right?

Some folks have installed a heating system under their flooring. Some do this under all kinds of flooring options, not just wood tile. And some homes actually have their heating systems run under their house (like ours!), which naturally keeps your floors a little warmer.

Bottom line, it was our preference to install wood flooring, because durability trumped the point of view that “tile is colder than wood”. It just sounds like a silly argument.

IS IT CHEAPER THAN WOOD FLOORING?

Apartment Therapy’s statement:

“… It’s cheaper to cover the same floor with wood-look tile than with a real wood solution”.

I wish they would have written “It can be possible for wood tile to be less expensive than wood flooring”. The truth is, while the price of the wood tile might be less by the square foot, the cost of labor for tile installation is probably double that of installing wood flooring, as there are more steps involved in laying tile (cement backer, thinset, tile, grout, sealant, etc), not to mention each step requires additional time to set up or dry.  Honestly, it was a little more expensive to install our tile floors compared to wood flooring.

IS IT DURABLE?

Apartment Therapy’s statement:

“…Even a really hard wood wouldn’t be as durable as the tile when it comes to scratching and denting…”

Thankfully, Apartment Therapy’s statement is correct. Ceramic and porcelain tiles are arguably the most durable flooring options out there. I honestly wish I would have recorded it, but my husband literally took one of our wood flooring tiles and banged it on the concrete to test it’s durability (because we were apprehensive, too!). Not one chip or dent or scratch after banging it on the concrete. I’m sure there are skeptics still out there, so I might just video tape my husband doing it again, just to prove it’s durability!

WHAT WOOD TILE DID YOU CHOOSE?

We chose the 8″x48″ Allways in walnut from Bedrosians.

WHAT GROUT COLOR DID YOU USE?

Grout is a tricky thing! We chose a grout one shade darker than the wood tile, probably the darkest brown on the grout palette. Anything lighter would stand out too much, show dirt, and make the flooring look visually busy. Our tile guy had offered to make us a sample if we were torn between two grout colors. This is pretty standard, if you’re not sure which grout to choose, ask your tile guy to make you a sample! It’s worth taking that additional step, because one you grout there’s pretty much no turning back.

Read more about our selection process and favorite wood tile options in this post.

I’m an open book! If anyone is curious about anything else that I haven’t dived into yet, ask away!