Gotcha’ Covered
Floor Coverings Grab the Spotlight

“The fact that you walk on them doesn’t mean they can’t be art,” notes architect Bruce Wentworth, AIA, referring to the aesthetically-pleasing floors he’s recently created in several high-profile home remodeling projects.

“Our clients have increasingly shown interest in using bamboo, stone, marble and other natural materials in their floors,” he adds. “But some have wanted us to take all this another step, developing ideas that explore elemental relationships within a kind of 3-dimensional canvas. In this situation, floors have a starring role.”

In a recent whole house remodel, for instance, Wentworth not only removed walls to create an open area with a dramatic visual continuum, but designed flooring with inlaid geometric patterns that accentuate spatial relationships.”

“The horizontal accents unify,” Wentworth says, “Which makes the whole feel orderly, yet open and relaxed.”

Jeremy Fleming, a designer with Sun Design Inc. in Burke, also sees an evolving owner passion for flooring that adds a distinctive aesthetic.

“We designed a room for displaying a rare collection of Asian art that called for Balinese clay tiling on the floor (featured on the cover). It’s very durable – but, more importantly – a one-of-a-kind material that really sets off the room and its contents.”

Homeowner Mary Riggs had her dream project on hold until she learned that Michael Nash Kitchens and Baths of Fairfax had just acquired a rare Turkish granite (roho alhante) ideally suited as the flooring covering for a planned luxury spa.

“There was simply no turning back once I knew I could get that color and texture,” Riggs says, recalling that the designer’s ideas were critical to moving the vision forward.

“We had lot of design help at the showroom. The alternating tile sizes and angles they proposed create a wonderful visual rhythm,” Riggs says. “ I’ve never known a room that makes me feel as good.”

John Schmitt, CR, a principal of Kingston Custom Builders of Fairfax Station notes that the slate flooring specified for his firm’s recently completed sunroom appropriately reinforces the indoor/outdoor continuum.

“Natural stone flooring is the perfect textural accent for a room that is all about bringing the outdoors in,” Schmitt says. “Yet the room is comfortable all year around.”

– Contributed by John Byrd,
Home Fronts News in Reston, Va.