Hardwood Floors October/November 2017

Wood Stock A CUT ABOVE

“I got kicked out of school as a teenager, so my uncle took me to work,” shares Reyes. “From there I expanded my own horizons. I like to challenge myself.” And challenge himself he has. His work over the years includes some truly unique oors including a recycled log oor, hand-painted zebra oor, and even a chess board oor. Each oor also carries a unique story with it. “I had recently chopped

Slaughterbeck Floors Inc. is a woman-owned and operated family business in Campbell, California established by Joan and Jack Slaughterbeck more than 40 years ago. roughout those years, the company has grown to become a powerhouse with more than 800 domestic and imported oor coverings on display at their showroom. Joan especially takes pride in her team of artists and cra smen who can customize ooring to suit their customers’ aesthetic and structural needs. “We love to bring a creative twist to each job, with an eye for interior design. In fact, custom and decorative oors are a specialty of ours,” says Slaughterbeck. “We have artists on sta that can create one-of-a-kind oors or unique feature strips and medallions using wood and tile that our customers select. Some of the wood may even come from trees in our customers’ yards!”

down a tree in my yard, and we had an upcoming show to do. Some of the guys in the showroomwere having some fun with me saying, ‘that show is coming up pre y soon.’ So I said, ‘I’m not worried about it; in fact, I’ll make a oor out of that tree right there,’” says Reyes. “Several weeks later, believe it or not, I was making a oor out of that tree for the show. We took it to the show, and it was great!”

Reyes started the process by cu ing the tree into 3/4″ thick rounds. A er drying them in a kiln he fashioned in his o ce, he placed themwithin the framework along with smaller log sections to ll the gaps between the large plates. e gaps were lled with a resin and sawdust mixture. e piece was nally sanded and then nished with polyurethane.

“ e inspiration for the zebra oor came from an area rug. I thought it would be cool to replicate it on a piece of wood,” says Reyes. “So I put a panel together, and I drew it out just like the carpet and hand scraped it and stained it to match.” e piece was cra ed frommaple plank ooring, using a scraper and chisel. e stripes and border

Dominic Reyes is one of the artists on sta at Slaughterbeck Floors. He started in the cra at the young age of 15 and has grown and enhanced his skills during the past 27 years.

Photos courtesy of Slaughterbeck Floors

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