About me

The Collection | Vintage Couture
Inspired by: Matthew Dayler

New Product Introduction. Authentic hand-scraped craftsmanship as well as an inspiring selection of stately hardwood species give the Vintage Couture its classic style. Elements such as the boldly scaled 6" full width plank bring drama and a sense of surprise to room settings. Each wood species in the Vintage Couture collection is gracefully hand carved and gently cantered by skilled artisans resulting in a unique shapely profile. Every detail has been accounted for. Intricate carving techniques accentuate the beveled edge lines of the individual planks. Special distressing finish applications accentuate the natural grain details.

Inspired by classic modern design, the vintage couture collection adorns both traditional and modern interiors with "perfect imperfection". In the Vintage Couture series, Authentic hand-scraped floors are available in much acclaimed natural species sourced from around the planet such as American Cherry, Black Walnut, True Teak, African Walnut, Brazilian Cherry and Hickory to name a few. The Vintage Couture line is certain to awe guests and provide the backdrop to your ever changing gallery of furnishings for years to come.

Many Vintage Couture species are available with a complete line of matching floor transitions for the finishing touch.

Featured: Vintage Couture was recently selected and installed on HGTV's series "Designed To Sell".



The Artist | Matthew Dayler

Matthew Dayler was born and raised just outside Toronto, Canada. He creates self-portraits in drawings, prints and videos, which are inspired by popular culture and identity issues. Dayler’s work centers around a wide variety of contemporary imagery of high fashion in juxtaposition with classic poses and traditional drawing materials.

With his views of culture and the individual, Dayler is proud to inspire Vintage Couture. Like his Artwork, the Couture Collection is a handcrafted classic with a contemporary edge. Authenticity is realized in the combination of raw form Contemporary classics. The object of the Couture line is entirely in the comfort of its imperfect hand-crafted nature.

Matthew Dayler pieces have been exhibited at the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, the Toronto, Canada Art Fair, and the Galerie Edition Schedler in Zurich, Switzerland, among others. In 2008 he will be participating in a drawing show at Murray State University and exhibiting a solo show at the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center in Kentucky. Dayler lives in Covington, Kentucky and currently teaches/lectures at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

Why choose me?

Why choose Vintage Couture?

Authentic real wood species: The selections in the Vintage Couture collection are the actual species themselves. These are not simply stains. For example, the American Cherry is real American Cherry, the Black Walnut sku is made from the actual Black Walnut species. The Vintage Couture collection consists of some of the most desired species available for wood floors.

Stately 6" wide plank: The Vintage Couture Hand-Scraped features an uncommonly wide plank. The wider width compliments the species chosen for this collection exceptionally well and allows a fuller visual of the grain across the plank that is simply not available in the narrower 3" or even 5" widths. The wider plank profile also improves the visual of the artfully hand carved distressed work seen in each plank. The carved beveled edge further showcases the 6" width of each plank.

Authentic Hand Carved surface treatment: This technique, created with an actual chisel by hand, leaves no two planks looking exactly the same. The center of the planks as well as the edges feature the chisel distressed hand-scraping technique. The attention to detail that went into the hand-scraping of this collection is inspiring. The scraping work alone takes one person a full day to artfully carve and add dimension to 75 square feet of this flooring (a 10'x7.5' area). The full effect of the work that goes into actual hand-carved floors can not fully be appreciated until after a full floor has been installed.

New technique mimics old oil rubbed finish: An old English oil coating is the richest of finishing techniques. Oil brings out the warmth and richness of wood like no other surface treatment. Oil has to be applied on a somewhat regular basis and requires maintenance. The Vintage Couture series utilizes a new finish technique and luster that accurately mimics the look of an oil finish without the maintenance. An authentic hand-scraped hardwood floor with a 25 year finish warranty that never requires waxing: all of the beauty with none of the work.

Flexible installation: Above, below, or on grade, both concrete and wood subfloors. The Vintage Couture series offers a variety of installation options. The 7 ply engineered plank can be nailed down, glued down, or floated over an approved flooring underlayment. The floor can be installed on all grades, including below grade, on grade, and above grade. It can go in any room in the home and is stable enough to be installed over a radiant heating system should the need arise.

Precision milled 4 sided tongue and groove: All four sides of the Vintage Couture series are milled with a precision tongue and groove. This tongue and groove makes installation easier and provides for an accurate fit and even surface from plank to plank.

7 Cross-Ply construction: Cross-Ply engineered construction is a manufacturing process in which various layers of wood are fused together. Each layer is laid with the grain running the opposite direction. Heat, pressure, and adhesives fuse the plies of wood together similar to a sheet of plywood. This gives flooring planks superior stability over that of 3/4" solid flooring options. The core layers of Vintage Couture are dense and tightly packed, gap free. Engineered floors are now recognized as the preferred format for wood floors. When an engineered floor is subjected to more moisture than normal or even drier conditions than normal the grains of the ply that are running different directions actually pull away from each other rather than shrinking or growing in one direction. This minimizes growth and shrinkage of the flooring, creating a more stable surface for use in a variety of applications. Typical amounts of ply are 3 and 5. The Vintage Couture series features a 7-ply core construction, quality found in only the highest grade floors.

No Wax easy maintenance: Active lives demand floors that perform. Vintage Couture is a hardwood floor that is made for the way we live today. With its no wax finish, weekly maintenance has never been easier. Just sweep and clean like normal and you are on your way.

The Final touch: The level of sheen is low lustre. The 11 step finishing process, in which 8 coats of German manufactured Treffic Aluminum Oxide Finish are applied, providing the finest performing finish available. Each layer is individually cured with Ultra Violet light. Beautiful finish depth combined with abrasion- and scratch-resistance and no-wax easy daily maintenance results. Top-quality materials and exacting construction standards ensure the lasting performance of Vintage Couture Hand-scraped floors.

25 Year Warranty: The Vintage Couture Collection is protected by a 25 year manufacture finish warranty.

Designed in California by Heritage Woodcraft (TM)

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions on the Vintage Couture Handscraped Hardwood flooring.

Q. Are the grooves and the handscraping effects on this floor deep? I am asking because I am concerned about clean-ability.
A. While we do have some floors that have pretty deep handscraping effects (primarily the Heritage Woodcraft, Vintage Bridgeport collection) this floor was handcarved with the concept of easy maintenance in mind. For this reason the carving technique used provides a visible handscraped surface yet one that is still easy to clean. It has no significantly deep areas of chisel that would catch debris and cause additional work to maintain.

Q. What does 7 cross ply construction mean?
A. Engineered floors consist of many plies of wood that are heat, pressure and glued together. This creates a very stable platform for the hardwood floor. Expansion and contraction issues that create problems with solid wood floors are minimized and often even eliminated with engineered floors. Engineered floors are by far the most recommended format for todays hardwood floors.

Q. Do engineered floors sound hollow when they are installed?
A. How a floor is installed is one deciding factor on whether it will sound hollow. Floating a floor can cause the floor to sound hollow. This can be improved if the underlayment used is a high quality noise reduction version (we have several). Nailing the flooring down to the subfloor with an appropriate underlayment or gluing the floor directly down to the subfloor will end any hollow noise. The other factor that contributes to a floors hollow sound is the amount of plies are used in the construction and how tightly they are packed together. A 3 ply or 5 ply floor will not sound as solid underfoot as a 7 or 9 ply floor. Interestingly enough 3 and 5 are the most common constructions primarily due to the cost savings recognized by the manufacture during construction. We are pleased that the Vintage Couture line features a tightly packed 7 ply core which when installed correctly feels and sounds like solid hardwood with all of the stability advantages of an engineered floor.

Q. Is this a real handscraped floor or one done by machine?
A. Yes, It is always good to ask this question when shopping for a handscraped floor. Vintage Couture is is an authentic, all physically hand scraped floor.

Q. Can I nail down the vintage couture collection?
A. Traditional nail down installation methods are approved for use with the Vintage Couture line.

Q. Where can I purchase transitions to match the Black Walnut species in this line?
A. We stock a full line of matching species in floor transitions for specific use for the line. It is useful to note that we do not allow trim purchases for this collection unless you are making or have made a prior purchase from the Vintage Couture collection. The species in the Vintage Couture collection are specialty species and the trim for these can be difficult to find. This policy insures our customers have priority access to the trim.

Q. What underlayments are approved for use with this floor?
A. At the page level for the specific species of your choice, you will find the approved underlayment selections.

Q. I am nailing this floor down. Do I still need to purchase an underlayment?
A. Yes, this engineered floor requires underlayment for installation. Underlayment has several practical uses. To name just a few, underlayments quite the floor down by absorbing foot traffic vibration and noise, they insulate and assist in maintaining even humidity levels and they reduce the chance of future squeeks from the hardwood floor after years of use and house settling.

Q. The price on this collection seems really good. It is real wood right?
A. Yes this is real pre-finished wood flooring. It is arguably one of the best values on the site right now, especially considering the designer species used in the line. We have contracted the full production capability of this mill for an entire year and thus have a great rate posted for the floor. The price has even dropped slightly since we first introduced the line as the mill is able to run a 24 hour shift now instead of 12. This resulted in lower manufacturing cost, less downtime and thus additional savings for the product on the site.

Installation

Approved Installation methods for the Vintage Couture collection

The Vintage Couture collection is approved for all 3 installation methods. Glue down, nail down, or floating installations. The installation can be performed by both Professional Installers and Do It Yourself Homeowners alike.

The Vintage Couture collection can be installed over radiant heat floors as well. It is recommended for installation below grade, on grade and above grade areas of the home. It can be used in commercial as well as residential settings. Detailed installation instructions are provided on the simpleFLOORS website.

Warranty

Warranty: 25 year wear warranty/Lifetime structural

Warranty information
Maintenance information
Installation guide

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