Doug DalsingDoug Dalsing is a former associate editor at Hardwood Floors.DesignDane Makes Marvelous 'Marbelous' Wood Flooring ArtThe results on wood flooring are stunning when a Danish artist applies a paper-marbling technique from eastern Asia called suminagashi to create "Marbelous" wood flooring.March 21, 2012DesignMimicking Marble for a Fabulous Foyer Wood FloorMarch 21, 2012HistoryVintage Moments: Enduring Oak Flooring as Described by This 1924 Brochure"The richness of an Oak floor in the dining room contributes to a sense of wellbeing and enjoyment." So says to the ninth edition of "The Story of Oak Floors," which was published in February 1924 by the Chicago-based Oak Flooring Bureau.February 15, 2012RestorationWood Floors Part of Grand Renovation at UT's Ayres HallIt's likely that grand ideas were always circulating in Brown Ayres' mind as he strode the University of Tennessee campus paths during his tenure as 12th president from 1904 until his death in 1919. When he took the helm of the school, it was already more than 100 years old. Originally located in what is today downtown Knoxville, the university moved to the 40-acre tract known as "The Hill" in 1828.Architects: Weeks Ambrose McDonald Inc. (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Ross/Fowler (Knoxville)February 5, 2012HistoryVintage Moments: Tree Handbook Proves Useful for Education & MarketingWhen marketing your business, it's always wise to give your customers something useful to complement your products. That's what SC Johnson did with this "Handbook of American Trees and Wood Finishing," published in 1936.February 5, 2012DesignDesigner Creates Wood Flooring That Plays Music UnderfootThere is music in everything. Maybe it's the steady whack-hiss of a pneumatic nailer, or the drawn-out whir of a table saw, or the back-and-forth hum of an edger. When he walks the streets of Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, industrial designer Jeriël Bobbe hears music, too, from stone slabs, to tactile paving for the blind, to grated passages for wheelchairs. These experiences, coupled with his background in violin and digital music making, inspired Bobbe to design Me-lo-dy, wood flooring panels with relief grooves that produce musical pitches when something, such as a piece of wheeled luggage, is wheeled over them. To make Me-lo-dy, Bobbe worked with manufacturer Bruns. "The distance between the openings determines the pitch and their depth determines the volume," Bobbe says. He made the panels from walnut, which Bobbe says is "very strong" and "vibrates the best." He displayed the product during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, and he has garnered interest from commercial sellers. Ultimately, Bobbe imagines Me-lo-dy could be used to add "a bit of poetry" to what are typically dull, impersonal settings rife with hustle and bustle: railway depots and airports. Using wood flooring to improve everyday life is, of course, music to our ears.February 5, 2012DesignMafi Offers a Floor Kids Can Draw OnGo ahead, kids-have some fun coloring our new hardwood floors! Most parents wouldn't dream of saying such a thing. But when the wood flooring in question is Carving Kids from Austrian manufacturer Mafi, parents can actually encourage their kids to draw directly on the wood flooring using crayons or markers. "Children, let's say they're in kindergarten, can fill the outlines with any color they want-it's like a coloring book where they create their own landscape," Nic Neuman, CEO of Venice, Calif-based Mafi America Inc. Corp., says of Carving Kids (don't worry-the factory-applied oil finish can be cleaned with a Mafi-brand soap). This is designer wood flooring, and while you can find some of the sought-after character marks that adults typically ask for-like knots-kids will most likely be drawn to the CNC-engraved smiley faces, kitty cats and flowers. "Then, after five or six years-after the children outgrow the floor-you can just sand it down and you have a regular oak floor," Neuman says. For grown-ups who are kids at heart, there are other playful offerings within the Carving collection, including tartan and retro patterns.February 5, 2012DesignEven 007 Could Appreciate This Underwater Wood FloorThe underwater Ithaa restaurant at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, complete with wood floors, is not a work of fiction.February 2, 2012InstallationWood Performs in This Striking Concert HallRiftsawn red oak flooring plays a prominent role in Helzberg Hall, a concert hall in Kansas City's Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.November 30, 2011MoistureVintage Moments: Simple Moisture ManagementWe're not exactly sure when this Fulton Humidifier was made, but Roy Reichow of Cedar, Minn.-based National Wood Floor Consultants tells us the home in which he found it was built in the 1940s.November 30, 2011Previous PagePage 3 of 7Next PageTop StoriesDesignCraftsmanship Across the Globe: Introducing the Winners of the 2024 WFB Design AwardsHailing everywhere from Italy to Portugal to Cincinnati to Washington, D.C., to Brazil to Chicago (by way of Poland), the recipients of this year’s WFB Design Awards prove, through sweat and creativity, that true craftsmanship has no borders.Machines/ToolsMeet the Repairman Turning Edgers Into ArtworkContractingWhat’s Your Top Advice for When Things Get Slow?DesignWhite Oak vs. Red Oak: As Pressure Increases on White Oak, Red Oak Is a Versatile AlternativeSponsor ContentRecognizing Retail Excellence: Enter the 2024 WFB Outstanding Retailer Awards