Life is a compromise

Some of you may recall how excited I was with the linoleum floor in the kitchen:

Cherokee Red floor in the kitchen

Nice!

But not original. These floors, and indeed that whole kitchen was put in during the 1960s, by Taliesin Associated Architects (TAA) and if you look closely, what you really see is a Usonian kitchen. (Check it out below. I can wait)

Here's a glimpse if you don't want to click through:

 

What you see is flat fronts, Cherokee Red floors (usually concrete, not linoleum) round cabinet pulls, and simple wood fronts.

Now, if you recall, this house is definitely NOT a Usonian house. And that is really OK. We don't want to make it something that it is not. 

And you may also recall that I mentioned that we have the original cabinets in the basement (worse for wear):

and that the Butler's Pantry is also original to the house, though the doors are a bit warped:

Which is a long way of explaining that because we are now keeping the original subway tile (after discovering a good sweep of original tile in great shape) we will now NOT be replacing the Cherokee Red linoleum floor with another linoleum floor (Berlin Red, it's called now)

The missing tile was harvested for other use. This is a wall that was hidden for 60 years

The harvested tile

I'll say that again. The linoleum floor will not be replaced with another linoleum floor. 

But this, also, will be true to the specs. This is from the specification document we saw at the Avery Library at Columbia University:

Floors of the kitchen and bathrooms are to be of ivory-colored vitreous tile, 1" squares 

applied immediately over the foundation and laid level, bedded in 1/2" black cement 

mortar with joints not wider than 1/16" of an inch. The base is to be of the same tile, 6" high, 

set with the wall cement and external corners and returns at door openings, set with the 

face flush with the plaster work of walls

We won't be using 1" squares, but rather 1" hex tiles.

To give you an idea of what that will look like, here is an old photo from the floor of the Robie House in Chicago:

And to bring you up to date even further, here is a photo of my niece's new house outside of De Pere, WI:

Fantastic! We hope to do something like that.

So, good-bye linoleum, hello tile!