Flooring issues.

We've been in quite a dilemma with the kitchen floor. We hate the cheap tile that's on there now. Originally, we wanted to put cork floors down, but we found out that in order to make the new floors level with the existing floors, we'd have to rip out the original pine boards that are still there, underneath the more recent layers. This idea pained Reagan, of course, and so Adam tried to figure out a way that we could save the original floors.

Option 1: Put down the cork and try to make a well-designed way to match up the two floor levels (primarily between the kitchen and the dining room). Well, this might be tricky, and chances are we'd stub our toes a lot.

Option 2: Nix the cork and just refinish the original pine floor. The problem here is that we ripped out 2 thresholds, and so these areas would have to be patched. Or, we could just put in new thresholds that were flat or something. However, we started to uncover the original floor, and it's not in great shape. There are other areas that would need patching, and there are lots and lots of nail holes from the later floor.

Lower right corner, existing tile. Lower center, the thin oak boards over the original pine, upper center. The two little squares on the left are the cork samples.

The original pine on the other side of the sink, by the door to the side deck (with lots of paw and foot prints).

Option 3: Suck it up, Reagan, and rip out the original floor and install a nice, even, new cork floor. Yeah, that's what we're going to have to do.