Kitchen Reno: Part 7 - Patterns

As the accompanying picture shows, our kitchen rebuild proceeds apace.  Just 3 business days after having been razed to the studs and insulation, our kitchen once again has walls, albeit simple drywall, so far.  Still, that's good progress in my books.  

Mike, from Borman Construction, required a decision of my wife, Judy, and me which we had not anticipated.  He wanted us to choose a pattern for putting down the 12" x 24" ceramic tiles that are to make up our floor.  We had simply assumed that they would be laid down, end to end, row upon row, like a grid (sometimes referred to as "Vertical Straight Set").  While that was certainly an option, some quick on-line research revealed several other popular patterns for our consideration, including "Vertical Stepped", "Vertical Offset" and "Basket Weave," among others.  I printed some patterns that we liked and we discussed them amongst ourselves.  Eventually, we narrowed it down to the four patterns that I just mentioned.  Judy and I needed to do a grocery run, so we went to the supermarket and left Mike to continue hanging drywall, with the understanding that we would give him our final decision later.

By the time we returned from the supermarket, Mike had left for the day but, before going, he did something completely unexpected and rather impressive.  Using our actual floor tiles, he laid out each of our four "finalist" patterns so that we could see exactly how they would look on our kitchen floor.  You can see them in the photo on the right; Vertical Straight Set (top left), Vertical Stepped (top right), Vertical Offset (bottom left) and Basket Weave (our favorite) at the bottom right.  What a great idea for presenting the patterns in a way that made it easier to decide.  More bonus points for Mike!