To cap off our kitchen mini-makeover (check out how we painted the cabinets and added hardware, we knew we had to do something about the floor. Enter: vinyl black and white floor tile.
Here is the before…
Remember that ultra-boring beige vinyl tile? It was clean and in fine condition, but it was just so dated and dull. Since we are saving up our pennies for a major kitchen rehaul (probably won’t happen for at least another year or so), we knew we wanted something super cheap and easy to install. Enter peel n’ stick vinyl tile. Okay, it’s obviously not the most glamorous of flooring options, but it can add a fun pop of colour or pattern to any room. We searched around the different options — we saw tons that were earthy/gray/beige colours that were relatively nice, but I just didn’t like the idea of using something that was *trying* to look like ceramic tile and so clearly wasn’t. That stuff doesn’t fool anybody. So when I saw the crisp white and black options at our local Rona, I was sold. They were fun and the best part? The 79 cents/tile price tag.
If you can’t find them at your local hardware store, I sourced some online options that are also a great price (and are delivered – hooray!):
–Achim Home Furnishings FTVSO10120 Nexus 12-Inch Vinyl Tile, Solid Black, 20-Pack
–Achim Home Furnishings FTVSO10220 Nexus 12-Inch Vinyl Tile, Solid White, 20-Pack
We grabbed about 50 tiles (25 white and 25 black) and got to peelin’ and stickin’. You can use a primer on your floors to ensure that they are really stuck on there, but since this is a temporary solution for us, we weren’t too worried. We gave our floor a good scrub and then got to work.
First step was to figure out the layout we wanted. Originally I had been thinking of the tried and true checkered pattern, but when I put it down it felt a bit too much like a diner.
How to lay vinyl black and white flooring
So I tried laying them out in a striped pattern and was quickly won over. The stripes are something a little different and definitely make the narrow room feel wider. Sold.
These tiles are so, so easy to install. Seriously, even if you’ve never done anything handy before, you won’t have any trouble with these.
You may have to do a little cutting to fit particular spots (like around the perimeter of the room), but with a good quality utility knife, it is pretty cinchy. You want to dry-lay your tiles so you can visualize how the pattern is going to look and make sure things are centered properly, then start laying. Make sure the first stripe you lay has a perfectly straight line, so the rest line up nicely.
As you can tell from my over-enthusiastic smile in the third pic, it’s actually pretty satisfying sticking these tiles down.
And here they are in all their glossy glory…
You can see the edges between tiles a bit, especially in the white ones, but it’s not crazy noticeable.
Doesn’t it look so much better?
The whole price tag for the floor was a mere $45. Crazy cheap, right?
And here is the whole before + after of the kitchen. Three little projects with a ton of impact, don’t you think?
I am so much happier in this improved space. It’s brighter, and just more fun.
This whole “mini makeover” was super reasonable:
- Painting the cabinet: $0 (already owned paint and supplies)
- Adding hardware: $150 (but remember, we’ll be using that hardware in our future kitchen reno)
- Re-tiling floor: $45
Grand Total: $195. Under $200! Amazing.
What about you guys? Any kitchen overhauls recently? Or maybe you’ve used the peel n’ stick tile somewhere? Do tell.