Rich installed a shiny new bamboo floor today! YAY! Now, we have to keep the kitchen floor clean. DANG!  I’ll miss the days of having a floor that doubles as a dropcloth.  However, I will enjoy the feeling of the nice new floor under foot.

Well, if you’ve been in our living room in the last 6 months, you’ve seen the floor.  It’s been in boxes behind the couch waiting for us to have time to install it.  Being the thrifty gal that I am, I had decided that bamboo would probably be the best option concerning price-wise and still be made from an easily renewable resource.  Costco offered a solid bamboo floor for less than $3 a sq ft if I remember correctly.  Meaning the floor would cost us around $350.

However, one day while perusing Craigslist, I found someone selling their bamboo project leftovers.  I got 150 sq ft for $150!!  Of course, I didn’t get to choose brand, carbonized or not, species of bamboo, etc.  But you can’t beat the price.

I would have preferred non-carbonized, as I have read that it is harder than carbonized.  I know that some websites tout bamboo as a hard material, but the carbonized kind really isn’t.  We already have a few dents in the floor, but we figure it will add a nice patina over time.  If you aren’t interested in “patina”, I would highly recommend against this type of floor.

This is the second type of kitchen floor we have installed.

We previously installed cork.

Pros: I loved the softness of standing on it.
The color was a nice contrast to our existing hardwood.
It didn’t have a grain which made it just different enough to not look “matchy-matchy”.
It wasn’t “loud”.
Price.  I got it on clearance at Nebraska Furniture Mart for less than $3 sq ft.
Cons: It was a little difficult to install the “click system” under toe kicks.
It was soft (the refrigerator left dents).
The color faded in a strange way where we had a rug in the dining room.

Overall: I liked it, but I wouldn’t do it again.  There are too many other experiments to try!

This time:

Carbonized Bamboo

Pros:Easy install, we did have to rent a flooring nailer.
Price. Bought someone else’s leftovers for $1 sq ft.
Made from a quickly renewable resource.
Nice color and texture.
Cons: Dents Easily.
Others TBD, I’m sure!

So, that’s why we call this the “practice house.”  We are using it to find out what we really like for our next adventures.

I’m currently working on the subway tile in the shower.  Hopefully, I will have an update on that soon.