We have tile throughout the house, and plenty of broken dishes, and a few falls too. Whenever I walk on the squishy stuff they use in playgrounds I tell DH I want that in my kitchen, both for my feet and the dishes' sake.

I appreciate the wishes for my safety, but cuts and bruises and splinters are pretty much unavoidable.

They are. But hearing that you are taking care of inevitable cuts is a good thing. Blood infections are no joke. And, really, dealing with old construction, you don't know what might be lurking. You don't know anywhere, really. Glad you are cleaning wounds.

My parents have slateish floors and I have to remember to pack cushy socks and / or slippers. Kills my feet and back. And I've come close to falling a few times. Also cracked the screen on my phone there. Looks great. Not as livable. It was my huge concern when dad was coming home from the hospital - not only was it easier to fall, it's damaging when you do.

Hil, do you have a link for the floor mat you ended up buying. My tile floor is hell on my back.

My BFF in Charlottesville has bamboo flooring throughout her condo. It's nicely springy and, as it's basically a grass, it's reasonably ecologically sound.

Hil, do you have a link for the floor mat you ended up buying. My tile floor is hell on my back.

[link]

After searching for a while, I realized that the mats they sell specifically for kitchens are basically the same thing as the ones they sell for babies, except that the kitchen ones are black and way more expensive. Most of the baby ones are obviously meant for babies, but if you search a little, you can find some nicer ones.

Looks like they've also got some wood grain ones. [link]

One year when I was in college I had a room with a (non-operational) fireplace in it. I used to store books in it ... my little joke.

I currently store books in my non-working fireplace.

At the same time, there is a ficus tree in there.

Fire bad. Tree pretty. Books cool.

it's reasonably ecologically sound.

As I understand it, the major advantage over hardwood is that bamboo replenishes itself far quicker and doesn't require cutting old growth (or, to put it another way, grows like a damn weed). All the glues and finishes and whatnot used to turn it into flooring are just as nasty as for any other kind, but not-tree-killing is a real plus and it makes a lovely floor. We're planning on putting it in our upstairs to replace the OMG DISGUSTING old cheapo carpet, just as soon as we get our savings back to a bit of order.

I've had bamboo in my yard. It grows at an alarming rate. We had one tree break my tile roof because it was too close to the house. Seriously weed like. We dug it up and pulverized the ground and sprouts popped up for years. Makes a lovely spooky sounds in the wind. Yes, we had a love/hate relationship.

Yes, the bamboo is cut above the root when harvesting, and then just grows right back. 3-5 years, I think they said. They do make VOC friendly versions of the flooring. Not sure of pricing.

We have all tile in our house and we love it. But it is mostly helpful because of the dog and all the gear we haul. Much easier to schlep the heavy stuff over a smooth floor, so the floor is a feature not a bug.

It is true that it is hard and can be slippery when wet. We have those rubber mats in the kitchen where we do a lot of standing. And we have specific tile in the walk-in shower that is less slippery even when wet, but that was an expensive specialty tile.

Our tiles are all matte and textured. I don't know if they would have enough traction for your crutches. However, the grout lines do really show dirt.