Oh, hi there! It’s Friday (phew) and I thought I’d share some random things that have been happening. Last week I showed a photo of our “finished” kitchen, but is it really finished? Ha. Read on…
Let’s talk about the kitchen floor. As a reminder, here’s the new kitchen!
Here’s the old kitchen:
Luckily, we got rid of that weird counter that stuck out and made the kitchen feel even smaller than it is. When we took it out, we discovered the “triple floor” situation:
Not to worry though, because we had extra tiles in the garage. The people who tiled the floor, before we moved into the house twenty years ago, left some extra ones. My husband replaced six tiles that were damaged (or missing), and the problem was “solved,”
However- before we could get that area grouted, SOMEONE, I’m not going to say who (but it wasn’t me) stepped on the tile and cracked it. Actually two of them are cracked, but one really badly, and it’s right in the middle of the kitchen. Now we have no more tiles. We tried to order some, but since the tiles are twenty years old, we’ve had no luck.
This is a huge problem, because that tile runs throughout THE ENTIRE HOUSE. There’s no doorway to the kitchen area where it would make sense to have a different floor, and we aren’t prepared right now to re-tile the house. The guy who tiled our backsplash recommended putting down a vinyl floor which could go right on top of the existing tiles (if anyone is counting, that would be the fourth level of flooring in this house.)
We’re considering it. Putting the expense aside, the logistical nightmare of getting new floors right now is daunting. I’m not sure what we’re going to do, but for now I’ve come up with a brilliant solution!
On the subject of pumpkins, I went to Trader Joe’s yesterday.
I LOVE the way Trader Joe’s embraces the season, but the truth is, most of their pumpkin products are either not vegan, or have a lot of sugar. But I enjoyed browsing through the store, and here’s the more “seasonal” part of my haul:
Of course I got all my usual things, like soy milk, nuts, almond butter-Trader Joe’s crunchy salted almond butter is the best- bread, and ingredients for pizza night (pre-made dough, pizza sauce, vegan chorizo.) Then when I got home I read the Fearless Flyer and saw all sorts of things I wish I had gotten (green apple sparkling water? Um, yes!) Well, I’ll have to go back soon.
One last thing: in my post where I talked about eating more beans, Lisa put a link to this recipe for lentil enchiladas in the comments. We made them for the Dolphins game on Sunday:
YUM! They were delicious and easy! Thank you, Lisa! I have to go back and read those comments again- there were all sorts of great recipe ideas.
Do you live near a Trader Joe’s? What are your favorite Trader Joe’s items?
What would you do about our kitchen floor situation? – Augh! I don’t even want to think about it.
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
32 Responses
That’s a bummer about the cracked tile, but great save with the rug. If it’s not too uneven underfoot that could be a semi-permanent fix, at least until you have the space to consider what else might be feasible.
Being in Australia we don’t have Trader Joe’s but there will be one near our hotel in DC and we have a kitchen so I’ll probably do a visit then.
It really isn’t too uneven. I can picture us living with it forever (of course, changing out the rug for different seasons) and then eventually whoever buys our house will be like, “what the heck???”
If you have a kitchen in DC you should definitely visit Trader Joe’s! They have all sorts of prepared foods and frozen foods you could heat up.
Did you try showing pics of your house/kitchen to people at some flooring stores? There might be an option to only change the kitchen floor….people with the “design eye” might think of something that the rest of us less-talented-in-that-area people might not. haha. I think I noticed the cracked tile in a previous photo, so I think I was assuming you were planning to replace the tile and it had just gotten cracked in the process of removing the old cabinets or something. Nice save with the rug!! Bummer about stepping on it… lol. I can imagine you were like, ARGH what did I just do?!?! hahaha… Oh well, accidents happen… 😉
Yes, if only THAT PERSON had not stepped on the tile (once again, it wasn’t me) we wouldn’t have this whole dilemma. Oh well. Yes, I’m sure someone who knows more about these things could come up with a great solution to this.
Love the rug. Your kitchen looks great. We had three layers of ugly linoleum to cover.
Help. I’m headed to trader Joe tomorrow
Ooh, have fun!
My single gal house had Pergo in the kitchen (basically a fake hardwood floor aka linoleum) and I loved it. If there’s a way to put it in just the kitchen I think it would look great. It would look great in the whole house too, but that might be more than you want to take on right now (or ever).
I used to work near a TJs but now that I don’t it’s a half hour drive to somewhere that I have no reason to go, so I don’t go as often. My absolute favorite is their coffee, we all like their cereal bars though I’m still mad at them for getting rid of the fig bars. I believe 100% that their bourbon vanilla makes everything better.
I’m excited- this is the first time I’ve gotten the vanilla. Our closest Trader Joe’s is 20 minutes away, in a direction I don’t go otherwise. So I definitely don’t go as often as I’d like.
Alright, I’ve heard of Pergo- I’ll look into it. Thanks!
AGHGHGHGH I hate all things home improvement and I would be soo sad + frustrated too! I almost feel like you could get someone to put a bunch of small tiles in there to make a kitchen mosaic. There’s no actual RULE it has to match, haha. HOWEVER I understand this would be an unconventional choice. And perhaps not the choice that would be embraced by a future homeowner (but maybe they wouldn’t care if they had plans for renovating anyway!).
All that said, we did our kitchen floors with vinyl in the kitchen via Lowes. I dont LOVE it but it’s fine for a kitchen.
Well, by the time we sell this house, if that tile is still there whoever buys it is definitely going to renovate the floor- it will be so old at that point. So it probably doesn’t matter what we do, and I’ll look into your suggestion. I’m really bad at visualizing these things, so I’ll try to find some photos. Thanks!
I love Trader Joe’s and have four stores all within about 20 minutes from me, but yes, they don’t have a ton of vegan-friendly fall options! I do like their pumpkin butter as a waffle topping, but it does have some sugar in it. I’ll have to go this weekend to see what new things they have!
I really like your pumpkin rug! It perfectly covers up the cracked tile and it’s very festive.
I really wish they had more seasonal vegan options! They have so many things that are surprisingly vegan- like their pumpkin rolls- it seems like they could vegan-ize a few more items. Oh well.
I love Trader Joe’s, and in fact I’m going tomorrow! The nearest one to me is close to an hour away, so I don’t get up there often, but I have a list including something my mother asked for, so off I go. I did remember to check the Fearless Flyer first! I love the shu mai, and the white cheddar corn puffs (what we call “the styrofoam” here, as it has that odd consistency and yet is delicious). And I’m hoping they’ll have the maple brown sugar mini wheats cereal, they were out last time I went. I hope they haven’t stopped making it: what makes me sad/angry with TJ’s is when they discontinue items I love. Bring back the frozen lemongrass chicken sticks! Also the frozen pomegranate seeds, I loved those on a hot day. Sigh.
My problem with Trader Joe’s is, they’ll frequently be out of an item that I specifically went there to get, things I can’t get anywhere else. That makes me very cranky. Luckily this time they had everything. Enjoy your TJ’s trip!
I like the way your kitchen turned out – such a bummer about the tile. I don’t blame you for not wanting to take on re-tiling the whole house. No chance of finding a match by another manufacturer?
You’ve reminded me that I haven’t been to Trader Joe’s in a bit and need to go!
I’m laughing about your floor, because we have a similar solution in our kitchen. It’s not funny, I know. 5 years ago now, we had a leak in the pipe under our slab. To get to the pipe, the plumbers had to jackhammer a hole in our kitchen floor. They filled in the cement after, but our flooring has a big square missing. No problem, I’ll just get some more to patch it. NOPE, of course they don’t make it anymore. So we could do just the kitchen, but like your house, the kitchen floor is the same as the dining room, hall, bathroom, living room. So we would either need to put in a different flooring in the kitchen, or re-do the entire first floor. And our carpet upstairs is a mess. Dogs and nice carpets don’t mix. Maybe we’ll fix it someday, but for now, we have a kitchen mat covering the spot in our floor. For the last 5 years. Sigh.
I love your cabinets. I really want new cabinets. And a new car (ours are 2005 and 2008) and a new bathroom upstairs. Doesn’t it feel as though every dollar has 15 different things it should be spent on?
Oh, that is SO FUNNY- it’s almost the exact same situation. I can totally picture us having this for years and years.
Our kitchen cabinets were literally falling apart, that’s how long we waited to get new ones. And yes- there are about a dozen other things that need to be done in the house, SIGH!
Yay! I am so glad you liked the lentil enchiladas. That is one of Phil’s favorite dishes of all the things I make! I use regular cheese but otherwise follow the recipe. I really like the cookbook they came from – it’s called ‘Peas and Thank You’. It’s a vegan cookbook but we have made many of the recipes even though we aren’t vegan! There is a great ‘meat’ ball recipe with lentils and olives that is really good in a marinara sauce in pasta. Might be something to get from the library if you want some inspiration! I always get nervous recommending a recipe. I would feel bad if someone didn’t like it. I have the same stress about book recommendations!
Ugh the tile situation is annoying. I had laminate in a condo I owned years ago. The nice thing is that it’s super easy to install. It was also like the 4th layer of flooring! I guess it is common to just keep layering it!
My weekend is not off to a great start. Paul woke us at 5 telling us he had puked. He had woke me at midnight saying he thought he was getting sick but I didn’t ask questions (he woke me from a deep sleep) so I stupidly assumed he was getting a cold or something. Wish my 12am self had brought him a bucket. Now I am trying to keep the boys apart so Taco doesn’t get it.
Oof. I can’t wait to hear about how your weekend turned out!
I’ll look for that cookbook. Those “meatballs” sound like something I would like. I don’t like fake meat products that taste super meat-y. Lentils and olives sound good.
The rug is a perfect solution! And the perfect excuse to buy many seasonal rugs.
There are no Trader Joe’s in Canada, but I am always intrigued by my American friends and their tales of all the interesting things there.
Someday you’ll have to cross the border (not sure how far you are) and hit up a Trader Joe’s!
Yes, I’m already thinking about my Christmas rug, ha!
Nice touch with the pumpkin rug!
An idea, you could take out a section of tiles in the middle of the floor & do an “area rug” pattern with different tiles. We did that in our sunroom (intentional, not as a fix-up).
Someone else suggested a similar idea- I’ll have to google it and look at photos to get an idea of what it would look like (I’m terrible at visualizing these things.)
Ugh on the tile but you did find the perfect solution!
I’m holding off on Pumpkin until October. 😉
October is coming right up, Coco!
We have a similar three-tile situation in our kitchen, only *most* of our kitchen is wood floors, but the area under the stove is tiled and ALL of it is cracked. I have no idea what it would take to retile that area, but I’m just not sure why just that one small area has tile? Also, the tile in our downstairs bathroom is a cracking mess and I know we should do something, but I am helpless to make decisions. So I fully support your solution of just covering it up and pretending it doesn’t exist.
Ha ha, good! Glad you can see things my way.
I have my own flooring woes. I keep reminding myself that we will be moving soon. I think I would probably go with floor layer 4.
Trader Joe’s is a bit of a hike for me. We go maybe once a quarter. I love their carmelzed onion cheddar.
Well, dang! Sorry about the flooring issue. I feel like that is SUCH a big home improvement task, what with moving furniture around and all that. I like your idea to just put a rug over the spot. Perfect solution!
Man, I love Trader Joe’s but I don’t go as often as I should. The one by me is about 20 minutes away so it’s less convenient than my local Publix, ha. But I want to check out their pumpkin offerings! Maybe a fun task for the weekend.
Yes. Getting new floors??? I can’t even imagine the logistics of it.
Our Trader Joe’s is also about 20 minutes away, so I don’t go that often (it’s also in the opposite direction of every other place I usually go.) It’s definitely a weekend project for you!
Ugh, that reminds me very much of our kitchen tile situation… at least the cracked tile is in front of the stove. So I think a rug would be my solution for right now.
We have a TJs nearby and I do most of my weekly shopping there. I wouldn’t know what to do without it. My favorite almond butter is the raw unsalted creamy almond butter, btw.
I demand salt in my nut butters! : )
Yes, I guess if we have to have a crack, that’s a good place because a rug doesn’t look too bizarre there.