You turn out of bed, look down and next to your foot, inside a knot in your wood flooring, is a picture of your smiling children. No, you're not still dreaming; you're the owner of a wood floor manufactured by Historic Flooring (Johnson City, Tenn.), and inlaid pictures aren't the half of it. Historic Flooring has inlaid a grandmother's ring, silver dollars and turquoise stone crosses, and they'll even wood burn the family dog's name into the floor. "Chester," recalls Historic Flooring owner Steve McKinney. "We suggested the customer place that board next to the feeding dish." The process starts with the company's craftsmen. While sanding each plank in a customer's order by hand in-house, they'll set aside 10 boards per 1,000 square feet that have unique features, like knots or cracks, that can be enhanced creatively. Wood knots are filled with tchotchkes per the customer's request, and the item is held in place with a pour of acrylic. Cracks can be held together with bowtie pegs or filled with acrylic blended with additives, like gold pigment, crystals or stones. The acrylic is buffed up to 3,500 grit—"polished like a diamond," McKinney says. Then the craftsmen apply a blended stain with Waterlox, followed by two or three coats of Vermont Natural Coatings finish abraded with a 320-grit pad between each coat. The process is involved, but the product is well worth the effort, McKinney says, "When you sit down on that floor, you'll want to go make love right now," But please, mind where you placed those specialty boards—not in front of the children.
