When the interior designer suggested stone for this dance floor, the client balked. "Our customer loves to dance," says Urszula Klotz of Chróścina, Poland-based Renaissance Floor In-Lays. "She told us that a stone floor is not for dancing––she needs a wood flooring parquet."
Renaissance obliged. The family company founded by Urszula's late husband Gene in 1989 is legendary for its complex wood floor medallions in palaces around the world. But the company isn't resting on its laurels––the new 1,149-square-foot medallion is the largest it's ever tackled.
Klotz and her team wanted contrasting species for the medallion, selecting merbau, maple, beechwood and oak. Working in their shop, they cut the pieces with a scroll saw and used a template to route the curve of the border. The feature strips were bent using clamps.
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They worked hard to make sure all the pieces were perfectly sized, as the job site was over 300 miles from their workshop, Klotz says.
On site, Renaissance's Piotr Witkowski led the glue-down installation of the 194 medallion pieces, which are surrounded by marble flooring that was already in place.
They sanded the medallion four times, starting with a 60-grit, then applied three coats of hardwax oil to complete the six-month project.
The central text, "Noce i Dnie," translates to "Nights and Days," perhaps a fitting inscription considering the months of work and experience that go into crafting such a floor––the kind of floor you want to dance on.
Suppliers:
Adhesive: MAPEI | Finish: Saicos Coating Systems | Scroll saw: Hegner
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