The Art of Wood Flooring
10 flooring ideas that go beyond the standard installation with innovative craftsmanship and materials
We searched our archives to highlight some flooring ideas that grabbed our attention. These projects demonstrate the limitless possibilities for our floors through the use of site-cut pine to create elaborate inlay patterns, including a buck’s head; mesquite planks throughout the house; an inlaid compass rose; ideas that make wood work in the bathroom, and more.
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The compass’s scallop-shell inlays reflect the owners’ scalloping hobby. All pieces were hand-cut with a scrollsaw, then surrounded by centuries-old reclaimed longleaf heart pine and cypress.
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Using mesquite for a floor not only presents a striking appearance, but with double the hardness of oak and incredible stability, it’s a durable option for a lifetime floor.
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Gracing a second-floor landing, the walnut is framed by two planks of light maple and a band of deep-purple heartwood, proof that not all art hangs on gallery walls.
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With its center star of African wenge, American cherry, and figured maple, the center of this medallion points the way to the living areas of the home.
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The buck and background in this custom wood floor are made with pine, aspen, ebony, and other exotic woods.
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This whirling, Art Nouveau–inspired design depicts a pond of flapping water weeds with eight tiny creatures hiding among the stems.
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If you work with wood long enough, eventually you will hit a curve. Probably the two most-common ways of making a curve are either to saw the shape from a bigger piece of wood or to bend a board.
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It’s really a case of risk assessment. In a family bath that sees heavy use from kids, wood flooring just does not make sense. But in a master bath where the residents understand that standing water has to be wiped away, or don’t mind the character and patina of water-stained floors, wood flooring will last as long as it will in any other room of the house. The best chance at success is probably engineered-wood flooring.
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This work of floor art was inspired by the moonlight that enters the home’s windows.
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Based on an antique topographical map of Florida’s original forests, this 83-in. by 72-in. inlay graces the Goodwin Heart Pine showroom.
