When asked to create a special floor for a family friend, Matt Phillips of Indianola, Iowa-based Phillips’ Floors Inc. did what many wood floor pros do: “I did a Google search for cool-looking wood floors!” he says. He knew he’d hit a bullseye for his friend, an avid outdoorsman, when he came across a log round floor. After consulting with Kaswell Flooring Systems, Phillips decided to go with mesquite log rounds for the 350-square-foot room. When the pieces arrived, Phillips and a helper began gluing them along the wall, careful not to place similar-sized pieces too close together. “I told my helper, ‘There’s no right way to do this, but there is a wrong way, we just don’t know what it is yet,’” Phillips laughs. “We just tried to make it look as natural as possible.” After the pieces were glued down, Phillips returned a couple weeks later to pour a white base epoxy ¼ inch deep, followed by a clear epoxy. Beneath the clear epoxy, the homeowner customized the floor even more by adding mementos that ranged from dog tags to arrowheads to shell casings. Phillips let the floor cure for another three weeks before sanding with a progression from 24- to 100-grit and applying three coats of satin water-based finish for maximum transparency. What started by Googling for inspiration turned into a one-of-a-kind and deeply personal floor. “The homeowner loves it,” Phillips says. “And it’s great he was able to take part in it.”
