Blackford & Sons » Interior Design

Distressed Wood Flooring

Luke Blackford — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:48:08 +0000

When choosing a wood floor, there are many different options available. One of the most distinctive wood flooring choices available today is distressed wood flooring. This unique wood flooring creates a look and feel that is unmatched by typical wood floors.

Creating a new wood floor that has a distressed surface isn’t easy, and making it look authentic is even harder. In our custom shop, we have several different techniques that we use to distress wide plank flooring.

The most popular choice for many of our clients has been our unique hand scraped (or hand eased) edges and ends. This process is done completely by hand, giving every plank an authentic handcrafted look. This also helps to define the flooring, making the unique character of each plank stand out.

Along with hand scraped edges and ends, a hand scraped surface will add even more handcrafted flare to any wood floor. This is a great option that can be tailored to any design style from modern to rustic. Deeper scraping will lend to a more rustic interior design, while lighter scraping will compliment more modern interior designs.

A saw kerf surface also give wood flooring a unique distressed look. Saw kerf is a term used to refer to the markings that the saw blade leaves on the wood planks when they are sawn from a log. Before modern milling technology, it was common to see these marks on wood flooring. Our custom shop recreates this historic look in two ways; 1) by lightly surfacing the boards, leaving a hit-or-miss saw kerf surface, and 2) using the original surface retaining the saw kerf marks but giving the planks a smooth foot-worn look.

Finally, wire brushed flooring planks can add varying degrees of definition to a floor. Wire brushing wood removes the softer fibers and opens up the grain bringing enhanced definition and texture to the floor. Wire brushing can be heavy or light, giving any degree of texture desired.

Walnut Wide Plank Floor

Luke Blackford — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:44:51 +0000

A Nashville, TN builder came to us looking for unique wide plank flooring for his spec home. He wanted a floor that would exhibit handcrafted characteristics but still complement the modern architecture of the home. The floor that our design team submitted was a character grade 9-inch wide plank Walnut floor. Walnut wood has a very regal and distinguished look, and to add the handcrafted flare we selected hand scraped edges (for a lightly distressed wood flooring look). Normally, hand scraped ends would also be chosen, but to retain a ‘clean lines’ look (complimenting the architecture of the home) we left the ends untouched. This had a terrific effect that offset the distressed look of the wood for a perfect balance.

Enjoy the photos of this beautiful Walnut wide plank floor.

Scandinavian Style Interior Design – Beautiful Versatility

Luke Blackford — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:46:08 +0000

In my recent reading of various interior design blogs and magazines, I have found a rather modern design style that is becoming quite popular with many professional interior designers: Scandinavian.

This style is incredibly popular among kitchen designers in particular, and I can’t help being attracted to the warmth, and versatility of this design myself. This design style does have many variations, and is generally best described as “modern” and “eclectic” – these may seem somewhat opposing in some ways, never the less, this adequately encompasses the array of design styles known as Scandinavian.

Being in the woodworking industry, one of the first things I noticed about this style was the common use of Wide Plank Flooring, even with the bold contrast in styles – from cozy rustic to clean modern – the Wide Plank Flooring proves a beautiful accent, and seems to be a core component of Scandinavian design.

Enjoy several photos of this truly versatile, and thoroughly beautiful interior design.

Notice the beautiful Wide Plank Floor in this cozy, rustic, Scandinavian kitchen

A modern, clean, Scandinavian-style dining room tastefully accented with hand crafted Wide Plank Flooring

Another Scandinavian kitchen with Wide Plank Flooring

Notice how the Wide Plank Floor compliments the bright feel of this Scandinavian-style bedroom