Real Wood Floors created Vintage Loft, a wide-plank, long board floor that will keep your home a rustic, warm, and timeless living space.
Vintage Loft flooring features knots, grains, wire brushing, beautiful shade and tone variations, and occasional saw marks. All of these characteristics could be found in the floor boards of old buildings and warehouses.
To capture the essence of these factory spaces, Vintage Loft is designed with low gloss hardwax oil finish. This hardwax finish can be cleaned and maintained by any homeowner. If wear patterns or scratches appear on the floor, it can easily be refreshed without any sanding or buffing. Typical urethane coated floors require a professional refinishing for any new coats to be applied.
The Industrial Revolution changed the way the world did work. Beginning in the early 19th century, hand production changed to mass production, replacing people with people-operated machines. This global movement dramatically advanced Western culture, bringing with it a rise in manufacturing effectiveness and efficiency. Of course, processes, machines, people, and architecture have evolved. Let’s look closer into old America and the inspiration behind Vintage Loft.
New England is home to many of the century old textile mills in towns like Lawrence, Lowell and Manchester. Many of these mills have been converted to offices, living spaces and shopping centers. Others remain hauntingly abandoned, looming eerily over quaint Northeast villages. Inside the mills, restored or empty, remain beautiful wooden beams, machines, and wide plank flooring begging to be felt, sensed, and explored.
Characteristics of Vintage Loft
Like a luxury leather bag or jacket, your Vintage Loft flooring will be different from any other. Here are a few of the qualities of an authentic, industrial-type wood floor:
Filled Knots
These are common natural blemishes in the floor boards, typically caused by the trunk of the tree overtaking small branches.
Saw marks
Each floor is custom crafted. Some boards contain saw marks, which are cuts in the wood caused by a bent saw blade. These marks are indicative of 19th century milling, where disparities in boards were expected. All differences in boards are by design, because when pieced together, the diversity creates a matchless living space.
Shade and Tone Variation
Like the variations of crystals in snowflakes, trees are products of nature that are infinitely variable and will have many different shades and tones. Vintage Loft is made from European White Oak, which is known for its high tannin content. Tannin is reactive, and can create a high variation in color, tone, and shade during our manufacturing process. This is part of the intentional design of Vintage Loft.The authentic knots, grains, saw marks, and variations in Vintage Loft make the product a true showpiece for your home. We hope that our look at the past and the inspiration of this collection has given you a better understanding of your living space and its rich history.