Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Kitchen Floor


Out here in suburbia, it is common for conversations to center around the getting of new stuff. Most commonly talked about is the thing you are going to get or have done. Once it is there it is no longer interesting unless there is a problem with it. Then that’s a whole new thing to talk about. So scrapbookers and couples and playgroups and people getting haircuts are all going on about the car they want, the home improvements they are planning, the vacation coming up. It’s what we do.

Sometimes there’s not as much to talk about, such as when money is tight due to a change in job circumstances. When I was off from work I would often only have to offer the thought of: “Well I’d like a new kitchen floor someday.”

That floor did bother me. It was the vinyl roll-out kind that came with the house. Bright white with little dents that filled up with dirt and would never be clean again, no matter how hard I’d scrub. And a long scuff right across from the dishwasher, there since we moved in. A rip in front of the fridge from the time something sharp and heavy came tumbling out. Every crumb and dirty footprint could be seen from across the room. Better houses don’t have this kind of floor, they have tile, or slate, or wood, or something that looks like wood. Premium.

Well now that money is flowing in again it was possible to realize the dream of the new kitchen floor. First we had to pick something out: hello conversation topic! We finally settled on a new type of flooring material; it’s a composite that looks like a tile or slate, with acrylic grout. A few weeks ago the work crews came and installed the new floor. The last step is to put in the moldings to cover the gaps around the edges. Larry is working on doing that.

Meanwhile, people have been coming over to the house, for whatever reason, and of course they remember and say: “Oh the new kitchen floor!” And then we stand there and look at it while they try to think of something to say. After all, it’s just a floor, there’s not that much to get excited about. So I offer a helpful commentary: “It resists scuffs and scratches, and the grout is non-permeable!” Which brings about a round of “Very nice, big improvement” and then we can move on to talking about something else.

Does the new floor make me happy? No, it’s just a floor and cannot bring happiness. But the old, bad floor that was disturbing me is now gone. So it’s better.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Mindy! Thanks for the e-mail. I was unable to reply, though; the message came back to me. I tried to just send you a test e-mail but it came back, too. Do you know why it might be doing that, oh techie guru?

Amy M.