Hi AT,
I have an endless hallway running alongside the rooms in a typical San Francisco Victorian apartment. To keep peace with the downstairs neighbors, we've agreed to cover over our recently-expensively-refurbished hardwood floors.
Do you think Florwould be good to use on a long, skinny area (25' long x 3' wide) that gets a goodly amount of traffic? Solids, patterns, neutrals, brights?
Thanks,
your devoted reader,
Liz
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Dear Liz,
Flor tiles are great for our famously long SF hallways because they're tough, easily replaceable, infinitely customizable, and more affordable than a custom runner. But your particular hallway may be a little too narrow. To use Flor you'll have to hand trim each tile down from roughly 19" square to 18" or less, so that you could fit 16 rows of two across your hallway. If you're up for this much hand labor, we'd say go for it. You can have a lot of fun with this solution, and it's easy to update.
Your current color scheme is very neutral, so there's room to play. We'd choose a color family (for example, pale blues and greens, or earth tones) and experiment with a random arrangement of tiles within it, in different textures and even patterns. This will add visual and tactile interest to a trip down your hallway. Stick to light hues to prevent a tunnel effect, and avoid the "Walking on Clouds" series because the edges are beveled, which will get in the way of all the trimming you'll have to do.
And check out The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner for other ideas.
Anyone else?
wow, the argyle pattern is a great idea! I'll see if I can get my girlfriend on board - she's a bit more aesthetically conservative...Thanks!
You may not have to trim at all. How about just a long strip down the center (where you're most likely to tread and wake the neighbors)
If you decide to trim the tiles, you'll need to stay away from the ones w/ beveled edges. It might limit your choices.
Please! Whatever you do, go look at the tiles in person at a place in the city. I called customer service and bought tiles over the phone and asked for some suggested matches based on the catalog pictures. They don't match. At. All. So now I have to return them and start from scratch. $50+ shipping down the drain. :(
if you can't make it to a store to check out the tiles in person, you can order samples from flor's web site. sadly, it used to be free, but then i guess flor got wildly popular and now they charge $5 for 8 samples.
Have you guys with Flor tiles in your homes been happy with them? Do they stay in place well? I'm facing a similar hallway situation, but I need something that can stand up to my cats marathon running sessions down the hall. They have a habit of moving lightweight rugs (like our bathmat) out of their way.
Kaiser, because your hallway is so long, a traditional runner might actually be cheaper for you, depending on which one you get. I found a few really nice vintage runners one ebay which (to me) were better looking and less expensive. I was held back by the fact that they wouldn't cover enough of the hallway, though. If there's a brand new runner which you like at a good price, however, you might be able to fit 2 in your hallway. This would work especially well with modern designs that don't have an obvious border or edge. It totally depends on your taste though. Good luck!
Hi. I sell FLOR at architectural elements. It's one of the products I'm completely obsessed with (in a good way!). The color options are endless! Some of the tiles are sustainable. The piles differ, and some are good for less foot traffic than others. In your situation I'd recommend something with either a really short cut pile or something with a really high loop pile. Like Fedora or Toy Poodle (a lot of color options). Each square has an adhesive on each corner. The adhesives are strong, but not strong enough to damage your floors (they've been vigourously tested). In my experiences, I have been able to restick the tiles (I like to rearrange them a lot) up to 5 times before they started to lose their stick.
A fun thing I like to do: Because the tiles are so inexpensive, you can have a lot of fun with different colors. I tell a lot of people to do seasonal rugs. For instance, in your hallway, you could have a bunch of brown and beige tiles as your base, and then seasonally interchange the others. Like in the summer you have brown, beige, lime green and pink. And in the winter you have brown, beige, merlot, and sage. You get what I'm saying? Throw in some patterned ones and you'll have even more fun! Also, please, please, please don't buy from direct from the catalog before seeing the tiles in person (we have the entire collection at architectural elements, hint hint!). When I first found FLOR all my favorite tiles in the catalog were the ones I hated the most when they arrived (ie: Housepet), the textures and colors can only really be realized in person.
Anyway, I highly recommend it. I haven't had any complaints from clients and I use it myself quite a bit. The customer service from FLOR is amazing. They can really help you if you need it.
Hope I've helped!
Oh, and also: Make sure youre door swings aren't too close to the floor! The carpet can prevent you from being able to open it!
Wow Sally GREAT post! Can you email me?
Click on my name...
Holly
Liz, I made you a picture for your hallway with FLOR tiles, in an argyle pattern:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/145763714/
AT-SF leaders: It's Monday in Manila. No time zone was specified. The letter only said "Monday".
Only wish you were my upstairs neighbor.... we would greatly appreciate an effort like this!!
I bought Flor tiles for my hallway and was very disappointed. The color did not look anything like the web (I know you can't be exact, but I looked at it on 3 different computers). They are impossible to vacum - after a week they looked dingy and one month later I am looking for a high quality hallway runner. Don't do it!
I love Flor!! There is a showroom here in Atlanta and I could spend all day there mixing and matching the different tiles and colors (and I'm sure they'd love nothing more right?) LOL... it seems like the perfect thing to put in a hallway because you can change them out if they get worn, spilled on, etc.
We did a single row of FLOR in a hallway that was too narrow for a double row (and I'm too lazy to trim them all). The colors are fun and I like that I can change the pattern around when the mood strikes. Plus, they were really affordable.
A couple of caveats:
1. The colors and general appearance are a bit "dingier" in person than they looked on the computer screen (so the advice to look at them for real before buying is good).
2. Like Bunny said, they are IMPOSSIBLE to vacuum (granted, we have a sheddy dog and two cats, but I am down on my hands and knees with the vacuum brush attachment every couple of days for what seems like forever, which I definitely would rather not be doing). So I'm thinking these are probably temporary ...
A question: could you elaborate on the "impossible to vacuum" references? I'e been considering FLOR but am curious on why this is the case.
Thank you!!!
I made a "runner" with 16 (8x2) short pile FLOR tiles for my 40" wide long Victorian hallway last year. I would say it was a mediocre solution. I didn't think it was cheap for one thing - buying them 25% off still ran a little over $200. Probably the worst thing about them is that they show dirt very quickly and stain easily- especially the lighter colors. They vacuum up pretty well, but I've had to periodically use carpet cleaner (Resolve, I think) to remove the spots. And since there is only an inch of floor space between the wall and the carpet, it doesn't really look like a runner, more like a patch of carpet. And yes, I could trim them, but I'm afraid of doing an uneven job and ruining them completely. In the end, I could have spent $200 on two very nice runners and probably would have been happier.
Why are they hard to vacuum? And do you mean when the Flor tiles are used as a runner or when they're used wall-to-wall or both? I would think that a wall-to-wall application would be more stable, just by virtue of the fact that the walls and the number of tiles provide stability to the entire group, whereas a runner is sort of floating alone in the middle of a space. What is your experience? Thanks!