This is a long post. If floors bore you but you’re dying to see appliances and accessorized kitchens, scroll down!

Pleased with how well my micro veneer floors turned out, I decided to try a variation in the Victorianna’s kitchen using a blue/gray color of veneer that doesn’t really look like natural wood. I thought I could emulate the ceramic tile that looks like hardwood that’s become popular lately. (If HGTV is to be believed, anyway.)

I had originally stained the floor just in case I decided to continue the hardwoods throughout, so I started by painting it white. I did a sloppy job of this since it’ll be covered up.

I cut veneer pieces 3/8″ wide by 7/8″ long and started laying them down in a subway pattern. I used a white Sharpie paint pen around the edges hoping it would give the illusion of a white seam between the pieces, the same way the black Sharpie gives the illusion of a black seam with the hardwood floor.

A few rows in I found that the strips of veneer I’d cut weren’t exactly the same 3/8″ width, so my rows started getting a little funky. I replaced a few pieces and from this point on used up all the pieces from one strip before cutting another, to prevent as much variation.

It seemed like it was going to work.

But… it didn’t.

A few things went wrong here. I got overzealous leaving space between the tiles, and ended up with grout lines that are inconsistent and way too thick. I also got crooked about halfway across, which is very visible once the cabinets are in place.

I let it sit a few days and decided I just couldn’t live with it, so I ripped it all out. (Fingernails to the rescue!) The wood all came up but some of the paper backing stayed behind.

I tackled it with the Mouse sander and got it relatively smooth. I thought about using a tiled paper like this, but it was Easter so the dollhouse store was closed, and I wasn’t convinced the paper would look how I wanted it to, either. So in the end I decided to go with the known quantity and do hardwood floors in here, too.

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