Vinyl tile click flooring in a cabin

The next step after whitewashing the pine ceiling was to install the vinyl tile click flooring in the cabin. I did these projects in this order because I”m a bit of a messy painter and I didn’t want to risk spilling paint on the brand new flooring, like I did in our rental house. (Spoiler, I did still spill my paint pail this time). We have used vinyl plank flooring in a few other projects we’ve done, and thought this would be the best product for our cabin. We wanted something durable, waterproof, easy to install, not too expensive, but still looks nice. Vinyl tile click flooring checks all those boxes.

 

Vinyl tile click flooring

I found this vinyl tile on Facebook marketplace. Most of my design decisions in the cabin end up being what I can find used on kijiji or marketplace. I started installing the tile at the front of the cabin, and laying each row at a third of the tile in the precious row. For vinyl tiles, it’s best to stagger the joints, rather than line them us as you would do with ceramic tile. 

The vinyl tile is a little trickier to install than the plank version because you have to clip in the short side, then basically lift the entire row at a 30 degree angle to clip in in the longer side. This can be a little frustrating when the entire row pops out of the groove, but I got into a good routine after about five rows. My trick was to use a hammer and a tapping block so as not to damage the edges, and get a nice tight fit between all the tiles.  

Kitchen update

We also bought a small apartment sized fridge that I found on Marketplace, and a drawer bank for the kitchen that we found at the Cornwall Restore. Tony will build a few more cabinets as well as all the drawer fronts for this tiny kitchen.

 

Bathroom and Kitchen Ceilings

I also white washed the kitchen and bathroom ceilings before I installed all the flooring.

 

Propane FIREPLACE

And I finished off the raised platform for the propane fireplace. I chose Varathane aged wheat for the stain, and then did three coats of satin water based polyurethane. 

We were given this fireplace from someone that Tony knows, except that it was an ugly shade of brown. So I bought two cans of matte black high heat spray paint and fixed it right up. I just need to add a piece of trim along the front of the platform, but I wanted to finish the floor first before I installed that last piece.

 

Cabin loft

I generally don’t like to do work trice – once we make a decision we just go with it. However, the pine tongue and groove wood paneling we chose to put in the loft was not a good choice. It was creaky and not very solid, and would have been impossible to keep clean. So we decided to rip it up, glue and screw down plywood, and install the vinyl flooring in the loft as well. Also this is where I spilled my paint pail, so I would have had to rip up at least five rows anyways to fix that mistake. 

NEXT STEPS

 Tony is still working on plumbing, I have a few more sections of vapor barrier to finish, then I also have to redo the flooring in the loft, but after that we’ll be working on the wood wall paneling.

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CABIN DESIGN AND PLAN

PHASE 1: SITE PREP AND EXCAVATION

• Trench for water line and electrical
• Basement, gravel pad, blocks, and beams
• Pond and driveway

PHASE 3: CLOSING IN THE CABIN

• Tin roof and tiny cabin exterior framing
• Housewrap, cabin windows, and exterior door
• Exterior siding

PHASE 4: INTERIOR FINISHING

• Electrical wiring, interior framing and loft
• Cabin insulation
• Whitewashed pine ceiling
• Vinyl tile click flooring

PHASE 5: FURNISHING