Walking along the floors of this Cincinnati, Ohio, home is like stepping onto a room-size wooden jigsaw puzzle. The homeowners worked with local interior design company Spaces to find a floor that would “exaggerate the space.” What was chosen was Paris-based manufacturer Oscar Ono’s Opus collection, which is inspired by ancient mosaics and wooden block roads in 19th-century Paris. Given the floor’s intricate design, Spaces had to find an installer who could take on the challenge, and the job was given to Florence, Ky.-based Grain Design Flooring.
The Opus collection is a prefinished engineered white oak comprised of dozens of small blocks that have been milled into two abstract-shaped tiles. When Grain Design Flooring Field Operations Supervisor Alex Hamilton received the flooring with no directions on how to install it, he worried its jagged edges would make for a complicated installation process. “The first two days were like, ‘This is going to take forever.’ But once we got into the swing of things, it wasn’t that bad,” Hamilton says. The two tiles had to be installed in an alternating pattern, so to simplify the process, Hamilton’s team preassembled panels of the interlocking tiles by biscuit-jointing and taping up to 20 pieces together. They were then glued onto plywood throughout the home’s living room and foyer. The installation measured 915 square feet, and the project used about 700 tiles of the Opus collection.
The pattern was also laid on the treads of a spiral staircase, which Hamilton says was a much simpler installation than the floors. For the stairs, Hamilton created a template of the treads’ shape, cut the wood tiles to size and glued them to the treads.
Ultimately, the meticulous installation of the Opus collection not only transformed the Cincinnati home into a visual masterpiece but also showcased the craftsmanship of Grain Design Flooring in tackling a complex flooring challenge. Hamilton says, “I’m flattered that the design company thought highly enough of us to execute it.”
Courtesy of Alex Hamilton
Courtesy of Alex Hamilton
SUPPLIERS: Adhesive: Wakol MS 260 | Moisture barrier: Wakol PU 280 | Underlayment: Huber AdvanTech | Wood flooring: Oscar Ono Opus Collection
Courtesy of Alex Hamilton
