With the kitchen finished, our attention turned to the flooring waiting to be done in various parts of the house. Three hallways got their share of hardwood, and next up was solving the laundry room/half-bath problem. We've had a hard time deciding what the best flooring option is for this little room. It's directly off the kitchen. It sees a lot of traffic, including that of the dirty four-legged kind since there's a doggie door to the outside world in this room.

The solution ended up being so obvious, I can't really explain why it took me twelve years to think of it. Why not try to match the kitchen floor? That floor takes a beating. Scratch it, and a few days later the scratch has disappeared. Cover it in mud, slush, and ground-in chalk (yes, that happened), and it all disappears with a quick steam mop. And if it loses its sparkle, a coat of sealer makes it shine like new.

Only trouble was, how to match a 40+ year old floor? Twenty years ago, I may not have been able to. These days, Google made it simple. I searched for red slate floor tile, thinking that was the most unusual aspect of our floor. Google brought me to this site, and there was a picture of our floor. Our job was too small for them, but they referred us to Taran Brothers Slate in Vermont. I emailed back and forth with a member of the Taran family, we sent off a check, and 40 square feet of flooring plus one threshold cut to fit were delivered to our door.


One thing I've learned during our renovations is to buy things based not on what they look like today, but what they'll look like when they've been lived with a good long time. I'm confident this new floor will look a heck of a lot better in 40 years than I will.