Wildlife officials say cougars are expanding into the central U.S.
Residents are advised to lock up their teenage sons.
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Writing about bathroom sinks reminded me about the current trend in kitchen floors.
People want stone, tile, or a stained waxed cement floor in the kitchen (which is more visually attractive than it sounds). That's what's "in".
Duh? Why?
People in the kitchen are standing 90%+ of the time. One rarely sits in the work areas in the kitchen. You're on your feet. Also, fragile things get dropped. So why on earth would you want a rock-hard floor?
So many of the big box stores have polished cement floors, and I actually suffer if I have to wander around them too long. I go in with a list and go directly to what I want by the most direct route, and get out. They might sell a lot more casual purchases if the floors were kinder.
A proper floor for the kitchen is resilient. It has some amount of gentle give. Like poly-sealed wood, or a resilient tile or sheet goods over wood. Those industrial-looking rubber tiles are a good idea for the feet, legs, and back, but the raised plug surface texture they all have makes them a bit hard to clean. (And why do they seem to come only in gray?)
In the '70s there was a brief spate of carpeted kitchen floors. That didn't last long for obvious reasons. What were designers thinking?
The kitchen floor in the new house is matte ceramic tile. I don't like it. It's hard and cold and unforgiving.
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