The Craft Room Redesign Project: The New Floor!


A few weeks back, I asked for your help with ideas for updating my office/craft room and solving the challenges of the space, one of the biggest of which was the flooring. You flooded me with awesome ideas! The old floor was painted cement – cold, uncomfortable to stand on, and stained. Keeping in mind that we are renters, many of you suggested Flor tiles, which are squares of carpet that can be packed up with you when you move. I had been considering them, but all your tips put me over the edge and I went for it. The pic above is of my color inspiration fabrics – bright to lighten up the dark space, but warm and cozy for everyday comfort. With those in mind, I chose a solid sunny yellow color and got to work.

I’ll show you how insane easy it was to install them (I did it myself – like, just me alone, in 3 hours) and a few pics of the updated space. I still have TONS of work to do, but this first step has me feeling energized and excited about the new workroom! Here’s a refresher on the before-flor.

Good bye nasty old floors, hello fancy new FLOR, check out the pics after the jump…

Thank you for all of your advice so far, you have me so excited to work on this project and filled with new ideas and energy! So, have you ever used or considered FLOR tiles? What do you think of the color choice? Leave us some comments, this week’s favorite wins that adorbs elephant pattern!

Craft Room Redesign: FLOR Installation

Flor has such a huge selection of carpet tiles in colors, patterns, thicknesses, etc. that I spent hours lost in their website flor.com. I ended up contacting them for a little consultation (866-281-3567) and they listened to my needs and the details of the space and helped me consider my options. I finally selected Flor’s Solid Toy Poodle carpet tiles because I liked the un-patterned look and the fact that it is designed to stand up to heavy traffic, but it still has a little cush to it. It has made a HUGE difference in my hip pain (anyone who knows me has had to listen to me drone on about hip pain for years) after standing at the cutting table. I went with one color (rather than alternating tiles) so I wouldnt feel distracted when trying to be creative, and I chose “sunny” because I wanted to brighten up the space, and also just because yellow is my favorite color. And full disclosure: when Flor heard what we were doing over here, they sent this massive treat over free of charge. I know, I know, way lucky and way spoiled. But I also want you to know that if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t tell you about it, and I really, really like it.

So, first I unpacked my boxes of Flor tiles.

I was going to just start in a corner, but then I read the instructions, ha. So I made a chalk x from corner to corner of the room. Then I found the center of each wall and drew chalk lines across the room. This helped me find the center of the room and make sure the floor didn’t look off-kilter.

Then I plopped my first tile down.

Then lined up tiles out to each wall to create my baseline.

Looking good so far!

Next step was to use the “flor dots,” which are basically stickers, to attach the tiles to each other. The stickers do not stick to the floor, they face up so they only stick to the tiles themselves. Awesome for making sure your original floor sees no damage.

When I reached the walls, on one side the tiles fit perfectly as-is, nice:

On the other walls I needed to trim the last tile. I was a little worried this would be a pain but it was wildly easy, just a knife and some cardboard underneath did the trick.

I moved the furniture around as I went along. For the desk I just lifted up the leg and slid the tile under. Easy peasy, though probably not the recommended method. The only area I couldn’t do myself was under this enormous bookshelf, so I asked my husband to do it. So we will see if that ever happens.

So here’s a sneak peek of the new floor – i’m saving the big reveal for the final before-and-after shots.

Ok, one more peek.

So, what do you think??? Did I choose wisely??

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45 Comments

Tristin @ Two Girls Being Crafty

Whoa, bright! Perfect and inspirational for a workspace. I dig it.

I haven't seen FLOR tiles in use except for in their catalogues and at one "real" place, so I appreciate seeing it in action. You're making me consider FLOR tiles again–they're just way cooler than buying an area rug 'cause they're way more versatile.

I'd say you made a great choice!

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Tristin @ Two Girls Being Crafty

…oh, and I just noticed that the tiles exactly match a lot of the color of the design of your site–the "ribbon" dividers on the sides and the silhouette PB logo appear to be be exact same shade of awesome yellow!

(AND congrats on getting the tiles free! HOLLA!)

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SewLindaAnn

I love your choice of color. I'm in the process of completely re-organizing and brightening up my space. It's a former living room so there's no overhead light. I had won a rug from FLOR on How About Orange a few weeks back and got the gray tiles. I love it. It's easy and movable and best of all washable! Good luck with your room.

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Cath

Oh Yah!
I guess I missed the part that you are renting. These make perfect sense and the color makes the room so bright and inspiring to create in.

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Stacey

What a great idea! Love the color! We are renters also and have zero carpet in our house. I am thinking this would do perfectly! I am a new follower of your blog and I absolutely love your ideas! Keep em' coming!

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amy

How do they feel? We bought a house that already had wall-to-wall beige carpet–not our choice–and as you can imagine, with three kids, it's not looking so great. (There's even carpeting in the dinging room. What a horror.) Eventually we want to replace it all with something like bamboo flooring, but meanwhile we have one room that is full of paint stains and ground-in play-doh, and I'd really like to deal with that sooner rather than later. Maybe these would work as an easy install for one room?

And the yellow is awesome. I love bright colors.

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Sharon

You all are so lucky over there!! Something like that would cost me a fortune over here!!! But, totally love the sunshine you have on your floor!

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Ali Smith and Noah Thomas

It's looks fab, it really brightens and opens up the space!! Keep it up, we can't wait to see it completely done! You are an inspiration to me, our garage needs a major overhaul! And wow, I might need to try FLOR for the concrete floors of my studio, not great on the bones!

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The Queen

Awesome! I love that color. Good to know things like that exist (and that they really work!). Thanks for the sneak peak- can't wait until the big reveal!

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Juliette

wow, that's bright! But I'm thinking it's going to fit in with everything really well in the end…like most things here on PM!

Can you vacuum those Flor tiles, or will they come up? That'd be the only thing I'd be worried about. But you're renting…and you have a fun floor, yay!

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stephchows

My parents used them in a sleeping porch to jazz it up! I love the color you picked, it's like a bright ray of sunshine! What a difference ๐Ÿ™‚

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rachel

I'm super excited because it looks great and I was one of the commentors that suggested it! Yay! Makes me want to get out our Flor tiles from our last house. Only problem is this house we are renting now is completely carpeted! Enjoy your new space. ๐Ÿ™‚

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Coco

I have never heard of these tiles before, and as a fellow renter it's very handy to know! I will have to look into if these are available in Australia…

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Nancy

I have used them in two rooms of my house and totally love them! I did the multi color thing with various textures as well and they are fabulous! Very comfortable and easy to change!

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Sarah

We have a Flor rug in our living room and we love it! The tiles don't pull apart easily and the low pile is really easy to vacuum or even sweep off with a broom. We have 4 kids and the tiles are really easy to remove and wash, which could never happen with a traditional rug! Flor is fabulous, you're gonna love it…wise choice!

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Stevee

You go girl! I'm so impressed you installed it yourself! I'm not surprised though… you are uber talented!

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dawn

Nice! Love the inspiration, too. I just used the Pastry Line in saffron for the curtain in the nursery and love it!

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Sara

I love the color palette that you chose. So bright and vibrant, I would definitely want to spend my crafty time in there.

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ruthie

What a tongue twister! I can barely pronounce this except for "no" and "natural" but this Fabric is Gorgeous! Megumi Sakakibara Hana No Naka Natural

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Stephanie

I love Flor carpets. You will be very happy with them. It looks so refreshing already, I bet it has really motivated you to get the room done faster ๐Ÿ˜‰

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