Earlier this year, we purchased our first home and we’re currently doing a VCT tile renovation. The home was built in 1974 and there was only one owner prior to us. 

We like granny things and this was definitely a perfect granny house. Part of its charm and why we loved it was because it hadn’t been updated much. It didn’t look like the sterile new builds that are literally everywhere. Not deliberately trying offend anyone, but those just aren’t our jam – and ppl make enough snide comments toward my own tastes so I figure fuck it – while we’re here on my own blog…anyhoo. 

There are things we definitely do want to “upgrade” though. One of them being new flooring in the kitchen and dining room. The whole house was carpeted, including the kitchen and dining room. It’s a bit weird to have carpet in a kitchen. It’s not a practical choice in a space where spills and those types of things happen often.

Plus with kids, we wanted a few spaces to not be carpet. So this “new flooring” task was one of the firsts on our priorities list after moving in. 

Neither of us has a background or particularly high interest in home renovations, design, or any of that. So it was really hard to know where to start. I did some googling about flooring but felt overwhelmed by the many options and the whole process.

We also have a very distinct kitchen, harvest gold counters and all, so finding something to match it felt difficult. 

We decided to hire a designer to get some help. I did a Google search and found Tchotchkes Design Studio (!) online. I saw that the owner, Tasha, offered a 3-hour consultation package for $750 and I reached out right away to schedule something. 

And I mean Tchotchkes Design! Are you serious? It felt… serendipitous? bashert? (Come to find out, it’s not a Jewish-owned business. Slightly disappointing but the investment was worth it all the same). 

Tasha told us about VCT tile and recommended a couple of colors from the Tarkett brand.

She recommended VCT because it’s durable, easy to clean, and not very costly. 

During the three hours she was here, she also helped us with a lot of other ideas for each room.

After hours of searching the interwebs, we ordered samples of the Armstrong VCT brand instead, which we could pick up locally at a much cheaper price, and we also ordered a Terrazzo tile brand. 

I ended up doing so many searches!! I was in a massive internet rabbit hole over flooring. Thinking about which kind, color, brand, etc. etc. It was a lot. Ultimately, we decided to go with Armstrong Cool White for the dining room and Armstrong Jubilee for the kitchen. We felt Jubilee would be a fun choice for our harvest gold kitchen.

Cool White

Jubilee

The Cool White was in stock at a local Lowe’s in Scottsdale. We ordered the Jubilee and were able to pick it up a few weeks later. 

I’ve spent so much time now looking up info for this VCT tile renovation, including how it’s installed and maintained. We’re excited to see how it looks (and holds up) in these two spaces once the installation is complete.

Once we picked the flooring we also needed to get new baseboards. We got the same ones that were in the other rooms that we picked up from Home Depot.

We’re in the midst of the renovation right now, and a lot of other stuff came up during the process. But I’m taking the process piece by piece and breaking it into smaller blog posts.

Click here to read more posts about this VCT tile renovation project. 

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