I haven't been on the Nest for quite some time (I have a 7 month old now so I spent a lot of time on the Bump recently) but I was hoping for help in the renovation department!
My house was built in the 90's and has a lot of the dreaded honey oak look, if you catch my drift. The laminate floors, cabinets, trim, etc. are all honey oak. The kitchen has an odd sort of Mediterranean style tile that ties into the counter tops, which are a marble that has hints of blue and black.
So now, a lot of the tiles in the kitchen are breaking, and they don't make them anymore so there are no replacement tiles. Plus, I HATE those tiles! Also not crazy about all of that honey oak flooring.
My husband and I are hoping to replace all of the flooring on the 1st floor with new laminate. I know laminate isn't great, but I just want to give the floor a face lift for the next few years until we can maybe do real hardwood. We also might want to do an addition, so we're holding off on good flooring for now.
What color laminate flooring can I do? I want it to look as close to real wood as possible. I mean, what the heck is going to go with those cabinets AND the blue/black counter top? Also, my first floor is on the smaller side, so how do I make it larger? I'm not sure whether to go dark or light, or what kind of tones or tints to look for in the laminate. I will be eternally grateful to anyone who can help!!
Re: Matching New Flooring to Cabinets and Counters - Help!
It sounds like you're not in love with your kitchen so I feel I would be remiss if I didn't pass on this (unsolicited) advice. While they might not be your style, I think the granite counters you have could go nicely with a lot of different styles and the style of cabinetry you have is timeless. Assuming you'll have a carpenter in there to update the flooring, I think you could make a couple of quick updates - like we did with our home - and be much happier with your kitchen. We purchased a home with similar golden oak cabinets that were not our taste but still were quality construction with great bones. We had them professionally painted and changed out the cabinet hardware and fixtures. Everyone is amazed at how different it looks - no one can believe they are the original cabinets. Assuming you're planning to keep the counters, which I like, I think you could even DIY sand and paint the cabinets a nice light grey or white color, straighten the scalloped edge or eliminate the frilly molding above the sink/window entirely, update the backsplash and possibly the hardware and feel like you've got a brand new, updated kitchen for a really reasonable cost. Attaching a couple photos from our kitchen so you can see the before/after when we were almost done (hope this works, I'm not too active on The Nest). Good luck!