The kitchen is perhaps the most important room in the house. It’s likely where you begin your day — a cup of coffee in hand. It’s also where you may end your day, gathered around the kitchen table with family and friends.
Because the kitchen is, in essence, the heart of the home, many homeowners strive to make it both as functional and fashionable as possible. However, renovations and revamps are costly. HomeAdvisor reports that the average cost of remodeling a kitchen is just under $20,000. Certainly not everyone has the money for that type of project.
But fear not: You can add a bit of pizzazz to your kitchen without emptying the bank account. One such way is to redo the flooring. You might expect this to be one of the more costly renovations out there, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. In July 2009, the DIY channel ThreadBanger released a video on YouTube that demonstrates how to redo your kitchen floor for under $100.
This DIY project is ideal for renters who don’t want to fund a complete overhaul but are seeking some sort of update. In the video below, Meg is renting an apartment with linoleum flooring in the kitchen. Before beginning the project, she picks out a wood-grain tile that would look great next to the hardwood floor in the rest of her place.
Then comes the most difficult part: removing the existing floor. This task may only be feasible depending on what you’ve got in your kitchen currently. We don’t recommend ripping up a concrete floor without the help of an expert. But if you have linoleum or vinyl flooring, you’ve got the green light. Be sure to wear protective eyewear while you work.
There are a number of popular kitchen floor ideas — from hardwood to limestone to stained concrete. Some are quite expensive, but cheap floor tile is not entirely impossible to come by. BuildDirect sells a number of different floor tiles for less than $1 per square foot.
In the video, after Meg and a partner rip up the linoleum and tackboard, it’s time to install the new tiles. One by one, she places them around the room, starting from the center of the room and moving outward. After all the tiles are in place, she installs floor seams to complete the job. You can watch Meg in action below.
If you’re looking to redo the flooring in your kitchen but have limited funds, consider purchasing some cheap floor tile and doing the job yourself. Just make sure to take proper safety precautions and know what you’re getting yourself into.
You’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment by the time it’s complete. Plus, you won’t put too much of a dent in your piggy bank.
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