Antiqued Pine, what comes to mind when you hear that term? Age or a type of finish? How about price? When people ask me what is difference between antique reclaimed heart pine and our antiqued pine floors, I tell them “about $15 a square foot. Another issue you face when shopping for reclaimed heart pine; is it reclaimed or salvaged? A reclaimed floor has been repurposed, a beam becomes a floor for example. A salvaged floor is just a really old floor, torn up and sold as is, most of the time.
Distressing is a fashionable design style and decorative art form that has been getting increasingly popular both among fashion and interior designers. In its simplest form, distressing a wood floor is about adding age. And we call the final product antiqued, with a d. Not to be confused with antique with has the actual age. If you antique a floor, it has been ‘antiqued’ using certain finish techniques. An antique reclaimed floor is entirely different category and price.
Caribbean Heart Pine- great substitute for antique reclaimed pine
What is Caribbean Heart Pine? For one, Caribbean Heart Pine is a perfect substitute for Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine. And, a very easy species for the antiqued pine finish style. Adding age to Rustic Caribbean Heart Pine is so easy, I can do it. The reason is simple and can be found by looking at the board from a different angle. The growth rings of Caribbean Pine are the closest thing to those of Antique Heart Pine. without the huge price. Huh? Age, it tells us about the age which essentially gives you the heart content.
Antique Pine Floors Distressing is key
Scraping, hammering, beating with chains; really anything that does surface damage to enhance the illusion of age. Face nails are my favorite accessory but scraping comes in a close second. But without question the best method and one that is indispensable, darkening the edges which gives the illusion of serration when in fact, there is none.
What about darkening the edges, how is that antiqued Pine?
Darkened, and in this case distressed edges give the illusion the separation that you would expect with a floor of this “age”. In fact, the term French Bleed aka Black Bleed, are the same thing. This effect is created by blacking the edge of each floor plank which draws a contrast between the color of the planks and the beveled edge of each board. A French Bleed is intended to give the floor an antique or vintage look.
Find your custom method of adding that d to antique
Distressing the face and darkening the edges are the two mainstays in our process. Distressing a pine floor may be accomplished in a variety of ways, wire brushing is one you have probably heard about. But what about just beating up the face of the board? Not exactly the process but it can involve chains! For more information on how to, email Jason direct with subject line expressing an interest in antiqued pine. Also visit one of our other venues such as Houzz, Facebook or Pinterest.
