This customer recently purchased a home in Hollis, NH that had carpet in their open-concept family room. There was existing prefinished Bruce hardwood throughout the home already, and the home owner wanted to continue the wood flooring into the family room, but still have the room stand out as its own entity.
We decided that adding a 3-board border around the perimeter of the family room would fully define the space and make the statement they were looking for.
To create the perimeter, a natural oak was used for the outside and inside rows of the border. Using a red oak stained in a cherry color for the "inlay," or middle row of the border, really made the border around the room pop. The middle of the floor was filled in with this darker cherry color as well.
When installing a prefinished product, every cut around the border and boards must be routered, considering there will be no need to sand once installed. This makes sure every board stays together by tongue-and-groove, which limits any chance for separation over time.
This job was completed in a prefinished wood, although border work such as this can also be done with unfinished wood and sanded/finished on-site. For example, we could use a different species for an inlay, such as mahogany between a natural oak, to make the middle row stand out without using stain colors.
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