Vinyl tiles in the mudroom

Today we laid the floor in the mudroom.  We used commercial grade vinyl composition tiles from Armstrong.  They are what you see in malls and grocery stores.  Don't feel bad if you can't remember the floor of any stores you frequent.  I had never paid attention until now.  Just in the last few days, I saw them at Costco, mall, Rite Aid, and our home improvement store.  We were told that they are cheap, easy to install, easy to clean, and durable.  It was very cheap.  At 79 cents a tile, we spent under $100 including a bucket of adhesive.  We broke a few tiles when the kids stood on it over a big gap.  Other than that, the installation was as easy as we had hoped.  I know cleaning it will be great because there is no grout or seams.  We will report on the durability later, but if hundreds of people can push their cart on it everyday, I am sure it will last us until we get sick of it.

Kai and Quinn sat on the tile to help them stick.  We started under the washer and dryer.  I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but there are just enough specks of grey and tan in the tiles to hide dirt and dust between moppings.             

And here it is all finished.     

Scott started at 4 in the afternoon and finished it at 11.  I helped for a total of an hour.  Not bad for a half day's work.  Thank you, Alison, for the idea to use Vinyl tiles and also to make it black and white checkered!  We love it! 

In the morning we went down to Clarkston to pick up the dinette from Duane of Wilden's Upholstery.  We have been very happy with the goucho bed and dinette he had made for our trailer.  Pictures here and here.  He surely didn't disappoint this time either.  The tufted back came out beautifully and it is very comfortable.  The vinyl we chose from Luxurious Leather Looks III was called Graphite. We like the linen like texture it has.   
  

You may have seen it in the last post, but Scot finished this cabinet last week.    

We still have some tools in it, but this is what the inside looks like.  We will likely put our Cuisinart mixer next to the pressure cooker.  Scott used full over lay Euro style hinges for this.  It lets the door swing all the way to the outside of the cabinet.  We wanted the option to leave the door open when we are cooking and need frequent access to the microwave. 

Some can lights to install next.  

Before and after

I was pretty sure we had not taken a proper "before" picture, but I just found one when I was scrolling through some old pictures.  We loved our old kitchen.  It was one of the deciding factors for us that got us in this house in the first place.  This post is not one of those " Can you believe how ugly it was?" posts.  It is rather seeing your child's picture when he/she was little and reminiscing the good old times. And then you look at the big kid in front of you and feel pleased with how much he has grown.     

So, here is our big kid today.  The old outer wall came to about where the new island ends, and rest is what we have added.  

We are working on cabinets, drawers, and work surface for the office area, which currently looks like this.  I crammed things in there so we could start using the space and find out what we wanted.

Curious about the grey contraption on the window?  It is a hydroponic gardening system Scott ordered online so we can start growing our own herbs.  I think it is a great idea.  The only problem is that there is no getting around how ugly it is.  Scott wants me to give it a chance until we start seeing green.  I am pretty sure I will still want it somewhere else.  I wonder if Asha would care if we put it on her window.  She has a sunny one.