Custom Wood Floors

Wood flooring can be enhanced with something as simple as a strip border around the perimeter of the room or as ornate as a coat of arms in a foyer or a great room. Custom designs can give a homeowner a "one-of-a-kind" floor and are a wonderful way to put a splash of personality and individual character in a home. Your home is a reflection of your own unique style. Your furniture, your paintings, your accessories, the family treasures and pieces you've collected through the years, are a reflection of your personality. Your floors are a large component of your home decor as well, and today's homeowners are selecting custom wood flooring options to bring fresh life to old rooms.

Changing the look of a room or area with custom wood flooring has never been easier. The wide range of design options available appeals to the different decorating tastes and budgets of homeowners. It is the versatility of wood that allows interior designers, decorators and consumers to create a signature look for your home. Plus, advances in sanding systems make custom installations more alluring than ever before. New dust containment sanding systems get rid of much of the dust connected with custom installations, reducing airborne particles and dust by up to 95%. This means that homeowners can enjoy the benefits of a custom wood floor, without the usual disarray.

What makes custom wood floors attractive is that you can completely customize your tastes, from choosing among a variety of wood flooring species with rich new colors, to including decorative borders and corner treatments, to incorporating mixed media such as natural stone, metal or leather inlays, to designing intricate family crests or medallions. No matter what your imagination, you can achieve it with a custom wood flooring installation.

By combining wood with several different media such as slate, stone, marble, metal or ceramic tile, floor designs and patterns come to life. Adding detail with paint is another alternative. Designs properly applied will enhance and differentiate any wood floor. Use a solid gloss or semi-gloss paint to make stripes, checkerboards, stenciled borders or even flower or animal scenes. The paint must be compatible with the finish and the floor must have two coats of finish over the paint.

Mixing wood species is another way to create contrast in wood flooring. Oak is not the only wood type being used today. Maple, birch, walnut, Brazilian cherry, mahogany, ash and many other species offer unique grain and color specs.

A floor refinisher can use different wood stains to create fool-the-eye inlays, pinstripes or borders. A simple brass inlay around a fire place is a cost-effective way to add that value-added touch. Or ready-to-lay, prefabricated wood tiles with medallions, star bursts and elaborate borders are available through wood flooring dealers. These pre-fabricated tiles allow homeowners to mix and match to create their own patterns and designs.