Hardwood Floors June/July 2018

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS DESIGNER INSIGHTS

By Emily Morrow Finkell

Beautiful to the Finish

All photos courtesy of Emily Morrow Finkell.

primarily on cut, clarity, and quality of wood, very much like diamonds. The cleaner, the more precious the cut of the wood, the less you have to do to it to make it beautiful and salable. In the highest end of hardwood, you’ll see more of what’s special and beautiful about hardwood. We’ll call the first list the “A-list,” and it is comprised of looks that you’ll easily spot within the pages of high-end interiors magazines, like Architectural Digest and Elle Decor . The finishes from the A-list speak to luxury, are neither nichey nor trendy, but instead are timeless, beautiful, salable, and suited perfectly for the upscale market 5/8” cuts, which reveal the most beautiful looks and interesting sections of hardwood...rift, quarter sawn, sliced hardwood flooring. If we compared the A-list to automobiles, they’d be the high- performance luxury cars, which have a limited color line and model styles that rarely

change. These products set the standard for timeless luxury and unmatched quality. The A-list is not made of all the colors and finishes, just the right ones. The A-list finishes include matte, cerused sliced or quarter sawn wood grains, hand-sanded, sanded-down, paint effects, plastery-white or blackened, warm barnwood grays, and driftwood grays, which can have a silvery effect in the right light. In fashion, interiors, and even automobiles, the right application of color and finish

There’s a variety of finish options available for hardwood floors. Surface finishes are common, some are for sheen or gloss and are typically oil-based or water- based. It’s generally accepted that a finish is applied to help improve durability, moisture resistance, scratch resistance, and to provide a level of protection across the surface of the wood. In the hardwood flooring world, some think that’s pretty much the short and sweet low-down on finishes. However, there’s a much broader and more exciting storyline on finishes. When you change the filter of what you’re looking through, like a lens, for example, the view changes. Consider for a moment looking through a lens with a broader view, one that takes into consideration all of the flooring categories as well as the entire interiors world. I’ve created two very insightful and useful lists of evolving finish trends. These lists are based

The A-list is not made of all the colors and finishes, just the right ones.

must make sense with the specific product’s design. The Pantone Institute’s Director, Leatrice Eiseman, recently shared this as her mindset in

making sure products are successful.

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