Tuesday 9 April 2013

Legacy Antique Panels: An Eco-friendly Option for Antique Wood Flooring

Legacy Antique Panels from Naturally Wood Floors are the ultimate choice for those wanting genuine, antique wood flooring. Available in a variety of designs and in a wide range of colours and finishes, our antique panels are created by sourcing reclaimed timber which is then hand constructed into panels and carefully finished, again by hand, to produce distinctive antique flooring.

Because our antique wood flooring is naturally aged, it has a beautiful, rich colour. The level of wear or distressing can be emphasised or de-emphasised as required by altering how we sand, fill and finish our panels.

Here we will describe our antique wood flooring range in more detail and show how it can be used to create authentic antique flooring in both modern and period properties.

Legacy Panel Designs
Our Antique Panels are usually one square metre in size and are available in Chantilly and Versailles patterns.

The Chantilly design is an interwoven square design, with the squares running parallel to the border:



Chantilly Classic Waxed Finish

The Versailles design is also an interwoven design, but arranged diagonally to the border:



Versailles Period Waxed Finish

Legacy Panel Textures

Working with these two panel designs, a wide range of different final effects are possible depending on the level of sanding, filling, staining and finishing applied. We have three textures available: Period, Classic and Refined.

Our Period texture gives the most worn, aged surface, achieved by rounding off any hard corners and edges, while our Refined finish involves carefully sanding down surface irregularities to produce a smoother, sophisticated, elegant floor, with our Classic texture lying in between.



Versailles Refined Waxed Finish

Our panels are made from oak, an extremely versatile timber which allows a wide range of colour choices from light mid-tones to very dark tones. Because all our panels are hand finished, we can work with our clients to achieve the exact colour and effect they are looking for, to produce a bespoke floor which perfectly enhances their project.  The range of colours and finishes possible means that our Legacy Panels are sought after for both modern and period properties.

Distinctive Flooring for Large and Modern Spaces
For modern homes, with spacious living rooms or extensive open plan areas, often the challenge is to pull a large space together, give it some character and make it feel like a comfortable living area. Our Legacy Antique Panels can help to break up a large expanse of floor, while the richer colours of our antique wood flooring gives depth, richness and warmth.

Whatever texture you choose, this handmade product makes a stunning design statement.

Authentic Flooring for Period Properties

Our Legacy Antique Panels are, of course, ideal for achieving an authentic period feel in older properties. Many period properties have, over the years, been given modern or otherwise inappropriate flooring and it often falls to the restorer to find and install flooring which is more in keeping with the age of the property. In a restoration project, there will often be other considerations beyond simply choosing a floor of the right period, such as matching

other flooring, ceilings, fireplaces, skirtings, doors and so on – so being able to specify an exact finish is essential.

It is also common to want to add extensions to period properties and owners often go to great lengths to ensure that both the architecture and the interior decor are closely in keeping with the period and character of the original property. For this type of project, our bespoke, hand finished Legacy Antique Panels offer the perfect way to achieve exactly the effect required.

Additional Advantages of Legacy Antique PanelsApart from achieving a unique and distinctive finish, our antique flooring panels offer several additional benefits:

An eco-friendly choice – As well as producing flooring which is beautiful and distinctive, using our Legacy Antique Panels is also a very eco-friendly choice, since not a single new tree needs to be felled to produce them. This is truly the ultimate sustainable flooring.

Easy to install – Our panels - which have already been prefinished before they leave our workshop -- are very quick and easy to install, with no messy sanding or staining needed on site.,.

Stable and hardwearing – Our panels are around 23.5mm in thickness (with some natural variation due to the nature of the timber). As well as producing a floor that looks as if it has already been there for decades, this is flooring that will last for many decades more. So wherever it is installed it is likely to become the legacy flooring of the future.

Legacy Antique Panels - click here to view our range of products or call us today on 020 8508 2555 to speak to a member of our team.

Monday 8 April 2013

FSC and PEFC Timber Flooring From Naturally Wood

At Naturally Wood, we supply and install a number of FSC and PEFC timber flooring products suitable for a variety of residential and commercial applications. This allows us to do our part to help preserve future supplies of many important wood species, as well as meeting the needs of our many customers who would like to choose sustainable flooring for their home or business.

But what exactly is PEFC and FSC timber flooring? What does it mean to us at Naturally Wood to be supporting these schemes? And, most importantly, what does it mean to our customers to be able to choose a sustainable flooring option?

What Are FSC and PEFC?

The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) are both schemes designed to promote sustainable forest management.

Both schemes aim to:
  • Ensure replanting and careful management to ensure continued supply.
  • Protect and enhance the ecological habitat created by the forest, thus protecting many rare or endangered species.
  • Restrict the use of chemicals harmful to humans or to the habitat.
  • Ensure respect for Indigenous Peoples and other communities present in or around the forest.
  • Ensure basic rights and working conditions for forestry workers.
Most certified forests around the world are certified by either the FSC or the PEFC. So choosing between FSC timber flooring and PEFC timber flooring doesn't involve any difference in timber quality or any ethical differences – it just depends on which forest the timber has come from and whether that forest decided to opt for FSC or PEFC certification.

Broadly speaking, most of the world's larger certified forests belong to the FSC scheme which operates worldwide, while a large number (over 8,000) of smaller or privately managed forests belong to the PEFC scheme, which operates mostly in Western Europe.

Because Naturally Wood sources a wide variety of species from all over the world we are certified members of both schemes. In addition, we also actively seek to source timber certified by other schemes, especially for more exotic species. For instance, we have BRIK (Badan Revitalisasi Industri Kayu, or Indonesian Institute for the Revitalisation of the Timber Industry) certification for our Indonesian Merbau timber.

Our Commitment to Sustainability
As a company that can trace its roots back to the 1900's, sustainability is something that means a great deal to us. Timber is the raw material on which our business is based, so it is most definitely in our own interests to promote the use of forestry methods which will ensure a continued supply into the coming centuries and at a price which will ensure it remains affordable to homeowners and businesses.

We also hope that, as an old and well established flooring company, we can lead by example and help to uphold the integrity of the wood flooring industry and encourage other companies to follow suit, as well as encouraging customers to be more aware about where the timber for their floor has come from.

Customer Demand for Sustainable Flooring
We are also extremely mindful of the growth in demand from our own customers for sustainably and ethically sourced wood. For many of our clients, part of the appeal of a solid wood floor is an appreciation of wood as a natural product and a concern for the natural environment typically goes hand in hand with that.

Installing a timber floor has a definite feel good factor which goes far beyond its practicality or even its looks. By choosing sustainable FSC or PEFC timber flooring our customers can enhance this feel-good factor, knowing that instead of depleting the world's resources, they have done something positive to protect the environment that produced their timber.

Personal preferences aside, many companies now have an ethical procurement policy which requires them to take into account sustainability issues when buying products and services for their business. For companies with this kind of policy, it is vital for them to ensure that their timber has been produced in an eco-friendly and ethical way, making PEFC or FSC timber flooring a natural choice. To help companies fulfil such procurement requirements we can supply full Chain of Custody traceability.

Our Range of PEFC and FSC Timber Flooring
Many of our products are available with FSC or PEFC certification, including floors in our Fusion and Palladio Parquet ranges, as well as prefinished floors from our Creations range.

Please speak to our team for further information.

FSC Timber Flooring  – contact us now to find out more about our FSC and PEFC certified products.