Am I crazy for not caring about keeping my hardwood flooring?

[Zippy]

I realize that it sounds blasphemous, but we are going to be doing a pretty major remodel/refresh of our 1927 house within the next year, and while I have loved the character of this house -- part of it having to do with the hardwood floors, built-in bookshelves, etc., the fact is I'm not really opposed to changing my floors vs. repairing them. A friend of mine just re-did one bedroom with a hardwood floor & it cost $4,000! There are only about two people who work on hardwood floors in my city, and I'd want to use the same person she did. Our floors are in rough shape. I had been estimating about $10,000 for the floors, but then I'd still have to deal with my bathroom tile and kitchen floor. I really think that besides the bathroom, I'd like the same flooring throughout the downstairs.

I know we're supposed to treasure historic homes and do right by them, but the fact is that someone came along in the 1970's and made several poor design choices that we have yet to undue but that already messed with the integrity of the historic home. So am I awful for wanting to modernize it? Houses in my neighborhood are mostly older, but plenty have modern interiors. I wouldn't want "modern," but I'd strive for an "updated classic," with an eye toward what would make sense even 100 years from now.

Thoughts? Things I should consider? Thanks!

[bae]

What are you thinking of replacing it with?

My previous home was a very historic Craftsman cottage, and the previous owners had chosen to put nice carpet down over some hardwood floors that needed work, and that was a decent solution - they had carpet, and putting the carpeting down preserved the floors fairly well until I came along and wanted to refinish them and lose the carpet.

[Zippy]

Definitely not carpet. Probably tile, although our guesthouse has polished & stained concrete floor that is decently common around these parts & is super easy to care for & probably wouldn't ever feel off-trend like I worry about with, say, wood tile. The other very common flooring here in the desert Southwest is saltillo tile, but I'm not a fan.

[catherine]

To your point, I usually hate to see the character of old homes replaced with the latest HGTV trend. That said, I think tasteful changes can be made. I don't have any specific suggestions, but maybe researching colors and patterns of different types of tiles that might have been used earlier in the 20th century. Linoleum is an interesting choice--it's so "old school" but has made a modern resurgence.

When you say the floors are in bad shape, are the boards in disrepair, or are they simply dirty/stained? Could you do the refinish? DH and I have sanded down and finished our floors. It's work, but it's not rocket science.

I really like the magazine Old House Journal--maybe you could get some ideas online from their website: https://www.oldhouseonline.com

[rosarugosa]

To your point, I usually hate to see the character of old homes replaced with the latest HGTV trend. That said, I think tasteful changes can be made. I don't have any specific suggestions, but maybe researching colors and patterns of different types of tiles that might have been used earlier in the 20th century. Linoleum is an interesting choice--it's so "old school" but has made a modern resurgence.

When you say the floors are in bad shape, are the boards in disrepair, or are they simply dirty/stained? Could you do the refinish? DH and I have sanded down and finished our floors. It's work, but it's not rocket science.

I really like the magazine Old House Journal--maybe you could get some ideas online from their website: https://www.oldhouseonline.com

Catherine: I love OHJ and have been a subscriber for many years! It is such a wonderful resource.

[catherine]

Catherine: I love OHJ and have been a subscriber for many years! It is such a wonderful resource.

I love old houses. And I HATE when I watch House Hunters and a young couple walks into a beautiful Craftsman house and says, "Oh, we have to paint all this oak woodwork WHITE!"

I want to scream.

And I do hate when people adhere to exterior historic landmark requirements and go haywire with modern stuff on the inside. The disconnect is disturbing to me.

[iris lilies]

I love old houses. And I HATE when I watch House Hunters and a young couple walks into a beautiful Craftsman house and says, "Oh, we have to paint all this oak woodwork WHITE!"

I want to scream.

And I do hate when people adhere to exterior historic landmark requirements and go haywire with modern stuff on the inside. The disconnect is disturbing to me.

I do not mind contemporary furnishings in an old house. In fact, I like the contrast. That is, if they left the woodwork and mantles and ceiling medallions and pocket doors and original floors
I like the contrast of all that with modern sofas chairs etc.

This thread is of course right up my alley.I can rant and rave about sooooooo many things touching on this topic. Dont get me started.

But let me just mention The Latest Trend here in my Victorian village of perfectly gorgeous 1880’s houses, and it is to rip out walls for “open concept.” Today’s open concept is the 35 year ago trend to rip out one floor in a second story room order to have a double storied living room.

Eyeroll.

Already two of those double storied room have been put back together I’m sure the new owners thought “what were they thinking all those decades ago!? “

[catherine]

I do not mind contemporary furnishings in an old house. In fact, I like the contrast. That is, if they left the woodwork and mantles and ceiling medallions and pocket doors and original floors
I like the contrast of all that with modern sofas chairs etc.

I agree... and I acknowledge that my emotional response to all this is based on my early life in Paradise: my great-aunt's cottage that was built in 1910, and never touched all these years. Raw timber interior, "open concept" living/dining, old-fashioned farmhouse sinks, pantries, clawfoot tubs...

I have gotten some "hints" that I should never GoogleEarth my aunt's cottage again, and so I won't.

[Teacher Terry]

Depending on the condition of the wood Catherine is right that you can do it yourself. We did just that. No matter what you choose you will probably spend the same amount of money. We put laminate pergo that’s waterproof in our kitchen and bathrooms. We picked a similar color to our hardwood and it looks fine. I don’t like tile as the grout is hard to clean, it’s cold and if you drop something it’s toast.

[JaneV2.0]

Whatever you do, don't rip the old floors up unless they're completely unredeemable.

A friend's realtor used to call historic houses mucked up to emulate modern standards "remuddled."

I love the idea of linoleum--we used to have that at the beach, eons ago--and the new patterns are wonderful.