Many years ago a wise man told me wood, hardwood, is a living, breathing thing. Even long after the tree becomes a plank, solid or engineered, hardwood floors are ever-changing throughout their lifetime. As a retailer of the most beautiful collections of hardwoods, I find those are words to live by.
Queue: Acclimation
Photo courtesy of Armstrong Flooring
As we mentioned wood lives and breathes and to properly introduce hardwood flooring to your own home, you must acclimate. Acclimation allows the moisture content of the wood to adjust to the conditions in the room by simply placing the opened boxes of planks in each area this process begins and will take a few days to a couple of weeks.
Ever-Changing Throughout Their Lifetime
Living....Breathing....Ever-Changing.... Hardwood Floors do require a little TLC. Installing window coverings to block UV Rays and on occasion rearranging furnishings and area rugs will help your floors age evenly. Age? Yes, a natural process for hardwoods is aging, yellowing, fading, darkening and even lightening in certain conditions all accelerated by UV rays.
Highlighting Wood's Natural Beauty
You've done your research on the quality of all the different hardwood species, and are ready to make your selection and now you're wondering which finish and character will actually highlight the wood's natural beauty. We're often asked: "How will this look with my cabinets.... my furniture... my decor palette". This is a one-word answer, and that word is CONTRAST.
Photo credit: top inspiration board from our friends at RMCoco Fabrics. Photo credit bottom hardwood selections by Artistry Hardwoods with color-through technology.
In this featured 'Inspiration Room' (above) the choices for a wood floor to accentuate the overall palette of the room, can be either the darker of the dark tones in the room which brings a subtle balance, or the lighter for a more defined contrast showcasing both the floor and furnishings.
One of the more difficult rooms to find just the right contrast is any room with cabinetry.
Let's talk kitchens....
Photo credit Hallmark Floors Alta Vista collection in Laguna
If you've ever browsed through Houzz, you know that white kitchen cabinets are the most popular and that they haven't lost their appeal over the years. The choices in floor finishes are limitless and trend towards personal preference. The key here is the painted cabinetry island and balancing all the tones while at the same contrasting to highlight all three - the white, the black and, mainly, the floor.
The darker the cabinets the lighter the wood floors and vice-a-versa.
Natural Hickory hardwood floors have so much character in their color variation they are a natural pick for the darker wood cabinet kitchens.
Found on Pinterest from the Wood Grain Cottage
Cherry Woods, beautifully done! The deeper coloration in the Cherry planks pick up the color in the cabinets and the contrast with white base and moldings is a stand-out.
And, with every design a little paint must have - Greige, the not so gray, not so beige color that's the new neutral for home decor.
When you have a true love for Greige, you don't just paint the Island, no...no...no... you paint the entire kitchen in your favorite color. Now, what to do for the hardwood floor selections. Of course, or should we say: "HOPEFULLY", you selected your floors at the time you selected this paint color for your cabinets. The cabinets are simply stunning and the floors must do their part not to compete, but to enhance and we've done our best with these samples from Homerwood in White Oak. Why White Oak? We are loving the natural, rich grains of the wood and have presented three choices of finishes, from the top we have Graphite, then Simply White, and lastly, but a lovely choice is Espresso. We're leaving the decision to you. Which floor do you choose to compliment the cabinets?
Inspired With Color
One of the things we love most about Hardwood Flooring is the natural beauty. A beauty that can stand alone, but we see that's not so practical for our homes - just the floor. We want to add layers of color and texture to emphasize that warmth and feeling of home. When it comes to complimenting the color for hardware floors, we look to nature - the tree, and the leaf doesn't fall from the tree, and neither does the color.
Our first go-to is green - many, many shades of green
As the leaves change with the season, so does our color
Inspiration: Benjamin Moore's 2017 color of the year Shadow
Aesthetics
Homerwood's Hickory Natural
In our Showroom, the Hickory Natural gets so much attention! The sample is pulled more times than we can count and wherever we go people want to know, "how do I decorate with this busy, but beautiful hardwood?". We've put together a vision board for just this purpose. Envisioning the build from the floor up and introducing the layers as we move throughout the space with paint, natural textures, and textiles with complimentary tones that showcase the hickory wood floor.
Earlier in describing the beauty of complimenting hardwoods with color, did we say: "Just the floor?" Ahhhh, we did, but our reference has meaning; meaning that some woods are so pretty you don't want to put anything on them! Enter the patterns, a truly stand alone floor.
Chevron
For the Love of Patterns
Notably suited for entryways and hallways, and whole house takeovers!
The mix of board sizes creates interest in this stunner
Our grand finale! Herringbone in mixed stains for a truly remarkable floor or wall application.
With over eight vendor choices in our Showroom, we are familiar with each unique quality they represent. From the species of the wood, the hardness factors & how they perform to the way they are manufactured, our philosophy remains that providing a quality installation will ensure the natural beauty of your own hardwood floors.
We did go a bit long in this Blog, and there's a lot more to cover! Do you have any questions/comments? Please post them in our comments section, or better yet, stop by and say Hi! We're happy to be of service.
