Exploring the Rustic Side of Heart Pine

Goodwin’s Legacy Heart Pine in particular is a popular species often specified for projects in coastal areas. This new “lodge-like” home on Florida’s East Coast was designed by Marcia Hendry of Urban Cracker Design. Goodwin provided 1800 square feet of 7″ Vintage Precision Engineered (PE) and Legacy Naily Heart Pine for the project. The Vintage PE was used for flooring, and the Naily Heart Pine for paneling and cabinetry. Take a look:

The rich color and character of Legacy Heart Pine complements the metal and brick to create a distinguished yet rugged appearance. White ceramic was used to lighten the space. The walnut countertops and monkey pod wood slab table were crafted by Dan Peterson of Heritage Wood Finishing Company.

Hendry stumbled upon Goodwin while she was searching for unusual wood species.

“[Everyone at Goodwin was] wonderful to work with and always supplied samples and superb knowledge. They’re awesome, and that’s an understatement! Local, been around for a long time, and know what they’re doing: that’s what I think separates Goodwin from the rest.”

Marcia Hendry, Urban Cracker Design

Photos courtesy of Kamaran Wilson

Did You Say Kitchens?

The sweet smell of pies baking in the oven. Homemade soup slowly simmering on the stove. Tantalizing aromas in warm surroundings.  The kitchen is the cornerstone of every home.

Goodwin’s antique heart pine and heart cypress give the kitchen space a warm, inviting glow without compromising contemporary styles. Goodwin’s wood has been specified for many kitchen floors, counters, islands, and dining rooms.  Each blend seamlessly with all styles of cabinets and accents.

We are often asked if antique wood is suitable for kitchens, and the answer is “YES!” In fact, many people who install antique wood in their kitchen say they will never go back to any other type of flooring, period.

We understand the apprehension you may have about installing wood flooring in your kitchen, but cleaning is easy if performed on a regular basis.

Here are some tips for taking care of your heart pine kitchen floor:

  • Clean spills right away
  • Sweep often to rid the floor of stray crumbs
  • Consider a hard finish to preserve the floor from higher traffic. Goodwin’s environmentally-friendly finishes formulated exclusively for resinous reclaimed and River-Recovered® antique wood are perfect for wood floors in your kitchen. Their unique hardness makes flooring suitable for high traffic areas, kids and pets.

Take a look at some of our favorite kitchen projects:

A New Chapter Begins Where the Sidewalk Ends…

Children’s book author, poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein lived in Key West for many years.  While he passed away in 1999, his legacy lives on through some of his most popular works including Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic and The Giving Tree.

In 2017, Hurricane Irma blew over two trees in the front of the home that Silverstein lived in for years. They crushed the front of the house and the home was condemned.

The current owners engaged Scott Hutton of Kanga Construction to completely demolish the home and then rebuild an exact replica.  Goodwin milled 1800sf of building reclaimed Legacy Heart Pine Vertical 3-1/4″ flooring for the restoration of the home.  We also produced the stair treads.  Take a look:

We will be posting more photos of this exciting project as we receive them.  In the meantime, enjoy this very well-articulated story of how this re-build transpired:

Read Story

Back to the Beach!

Goodwin’s River-Recovered®, reclaimed and sustainable woods are often specified for coastal projects.  Our wood is perfect for any beachside residence or commercial space.  Take a look at this gorgeous residence in Key West, Florida.  This contemporary, new construction home features Goodwin’s Pecky Cypress on the ceilings and precision engineered Wild Black Cherry flooring throughout:

When it comes to livable luxury, building design professionals incorporate antique and sustainable wood to achieve a fresh yet warm feel. Are you planning to remodel your home in 2020?  If so, give the antique and sustainable wood experts at Goodwin a call today!

Public Invited to View Key West Custom House Wood Floor Re-finish 2

When should you select flooring for your new custom home?  Ideally, this process will begin while your architect is designing your home.  Too often, people wait until their home is under construction to begin seriously considering flooring options.  This can lead to significant pitfalls. Below is a summary of the main reasons why wood flooring should be specified during the design process.

Flooring Affects Numerous Aspects of the Home

Certain aspects of a home are affected by the type and height of the proposed flooring.  For instance, the baseboards for solid wood flooring need to be set differently than baseboards for an engineered product.  Subfloor is also a consideration.  Whether your home will be slab-on-grade and/or over a joist system defines whether you should use solid plank or engineered flooring.  Knowing the exact flooring you plan to incorporate into your new home will help ensure various aspects of the construction process are smooth and seamless.

Lead Time for Production

Depending on the type of wood flooring you are considering the production lead time could be a major factor.  It takes much more time to manufacture wood flooring from newly recovered logs than it does to custom craft a floor from on-hand inventory.

Acclimation

Wood flooring should not be installed immediately upon delivery as it needs to be properly acclimated before installation. Certain factors such as humidity, subflooring and change of season can affect acclimation time.  You want to make sure your flooring is delivered to your home site in time for it to be properly acclimated to the room(s) where it will be installed.

If you are working with a building design professional to develop plans for a new custom home, be sure to connect with us during this process.  Our wood flooring specialists will work alongside you and your design team to help select the best wood flooring to meet your needs.  We’re here to help!

Goodwin’s Legacy Heart Pine Select Adds Beauty and Value to Million Dollar St. Augustine Estate

While flooring seems an unlikely source of adverse health effects it’s important to consider your well-being when looking for new flooring. Carpeting, tile, and even laminate can be unsanitary and tough on those allergic to dust, dandruff, or pollen. We’re proud to say that Goodwin offers the healthiest flooring options on the market, even when compared to other wood flooring.

Sanitary and Hypo-Allergenic

Wood flooring in general is the most sanitary and hypo-allergenic flooring option on the market. Wood has no grout lines or loose fibers that can accumulate or hide allergens, bacteria, and dirt. Tile grout and carpet can amass these substances even after vacuuming and shampooing. Additionally, regular cleaning deteriorates carpet faster, and the carpeting will eventually need replacing. Regular gentle cleaning doesn’t harm wood surfaces, which can survive for centuries and increase a home’s resale value when properly cared for.

Increases Air Quality

Wood flooring increases air quality not only with the elimination of allergens, but by lowering carbon emissions. Living trees intake carbon and release oxygen during their normal processes. Wood is so good at filtering carbon that wood products will continue to intake and store carbon over its usable lifetime, even after being milled and finished.

Low VOC Finishes

Goodwin specifies using low-to- zero VOC finishes. VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, are gases emitted by certain paints, waxes, flooring finishes, and other such products for a period of time after they are applied. VOCs are known to cause all kinds of short-term and long-term health effects.

No Formaldehyde

Goodwin wood never contains formaldehyde. Cheaper engineered flooring may contain formaldehyde, even if they claim not to. Formaldehyde is often found in glues used in the creation of laminate and engineered flooring.

Natural Product

A classic look that never falls out of fashion, wood flooring matches every type of décor and can withstand changing trends and personal preferences. However, the physical appearance of wood is not purely cosmetic. As a natural product, wood brings the properties of nature to even the most concrete-filled environments. The health benefits of natural environments have long been studied, and research has shown that including wood products such as wood floors in the home can lower overall stress levels and lead to improved mental and physical health.

Here at Goodwin, we believe that flooring should always be beneficial to your well-being. If you’re looking for a healthier flooring option, visit us at heartpine.com or give us a call at 800-336-3118.

Have you experienced any health benefits since installing your Goodwin floor?  If so, we would love to hear about it.  Drop us an e-mail and tell us about it!

True Character Shines in This Gorgeous LEGACY Heart Pine

This is one of our favorite projects that really showcases our LEGACY Character Heart Pine. The homeowners near Orlando, Florida ordered 1536sf of 3-1/4″ LEGACY Character Heart Pine for their new retreat home. They also wanted two sets of stair treads, one going up to the landing and another leading upstairs.

LEGACY Character Heart Pine is the most rustic flooring that Goodwin mills. Quality installers know there will be some nail holes, slight cracks and checks that will need to be filled and dressed. These features not only give this gorgeous building reclaimed wood “Character”, but they speak volumes about its history and previous life as a structural beam in a 19th century industrial building.

The floor and stair treads were sanded and finished on site by Ric Scovil of Ability Wood Flooring in Orlando, Florida.

Special thank you to the gracious homeowners who said this about their new LEGACY Character Heart Pine flooring and stairs:

“Just a word of praise for your product. We selected LEGACY Character flooring for our new home. We moved into our new home August 2018. The warmth and richness of our flooring adds greatly to the craftsman feel of our Florida home. You are truly an artist with rare wood. Our floors were installed and finished by Ability Floors in Orlando who brought out the best in your wonderful product.” – Larry Cappleman

Photos by Beth M. Green Photography

Legacy ™ Vertical Heart Pine – A Coastal Appeal

Take a look at this gorgeous Legacy™ Vertical Heart Pine floor installed in a home in a Beaufort, South Carolina island community.

Goodwin provided 1900sq.ft. if 3 ¼” solid Legacy Vertical Heart Pine flooring and stair treads for this residential remodeling project.

Special thank you to the homeowner for your very kind words!

“Goodwin Heart Pine treated me extremely well. They educated me on all of the various grades and types of flooring as I changed my mind numerous times about what would be best in my house. Because of their professionalism and patience, I was able to get the flooring and look that I had imagined. I looked at a lot of suppliers, and there is no doubt Goodwin came out on top. I could not be happier with the service, pricing, and follow up.”

Luxury Condos in America’s Oldest City Feature Antique River-Recovered® Heart Pine and Longleaf Throughout 3

The Lakeview Condos in historic St. Augustine Florida date back to the late 1800s.  The Lakeview building was constructed between 1885-1893 by the firm of McGuire and McDonald, famously known for constructing the Ponce De Leon Hotel.  Both structures were built by Standard Oil tycoon, Henry Flagler; the Ponce as a luxury hotel and the Lakeview building as the male staff quarters for the hotel.  Originally, the Lakeview building was referred to as the “Ponce De Leon barracks.”

Fast forward to 2004 when the building was purchased and developed into luxury condominiums. Lakeview sits on the edge of Lake Maria Sanchez in a prime area of town just blocks off the heart of the old city.

October 2016 brought powerful hurricane Matthew to the area, which flooded the historic district of America’s oldest city as it passed at high tide.  Sadly, the Lakeview building took on five inches of water from Lake Sanchez.  Goodwin worked closely with the owners association to replace the original heart pine flooring.  Most units were restored using River-Recovered Heart Pine Character or Antique Longleaf pine.  Much of the replacement heart pine was either 2-1/2″ or 3-1/4″.  The 800-1000sf units are now light and airy living spaces with wonderful architectural transoms over the doors and arched passageway. Goodwin is always most pleased when we can be a part of historic restorations.

Wow!  This Antique Wood Kitchen Flooring is as Unique as it is Gorgeous 2

Check out this gorgeous antique wood kitchen floor handcrafted from 12” end grain antique heart pine.  Goodwin milled this unique wood kitchen flooring to have more of a “tile” look. It was installed twelve years ago by our good friends at Absolute Hardwood Floors in a lovely historic home in Palm Beach, Florida.  You can see all the elegance and detail, including the growth rings.  This beauty certainly is a one of a kind!

Goodwin values our long-term partnerships with esteemed companies such as Absolute.  We are currently milling an antique heart pine floor for them to install into another home in beautiful Palm Beach, Florida. And, yes, antique wood is perfect for beach homes.  Goodwin’s proprietary Diamond finish will not only protect it, but will keep it looking fresh for years to come.

Since antique wood is trending in contemporary design, now is the time to consider giving your beach home a new look.  Contact us today for a complimentary customized consultation with one of our antique wood flooring experts.

 

Wow! This Antique Wood Kitchen Flooring is as Unique as it is Gorgeous

Reclaimed Wood Kitchen Floors Blend Perfectly with Contemporary Accents 5

We are proud to show off the beautiful kitchen in the home of our good friend and client, Maureen Stafford.  Maureen is a preservationist and past president of the Old Northeast Neighborhood Association in St. Petersburg, Florida.  Goodwin milled 1020 square feet of Legacy building reclaimed heart pine select and vertical flooring to help with her restoration project.

We absolutely adore her gorgeous reclaimed wood kitchen floors.  Just look at how the antique wood perfectly blends with the contemporary countertops, appliances and accents:

People often ask if antique wood is suitable for kitchens and the answer is, “YES!” In fact, most people who install reclaimed wood kitchen floors say they will never go back to having any other type of flooring in their kitchen, period. Goodwin’s new proprietary finishes formulated exclusively for resinous reclaimed and River-Recovered® antique wood are perfect for wood floors in your kitchen. The Diamond finish is second in hardness only to diamonds, making it suitable for high traffic areas, kids and pets. Oh, and all of our finishes are environmentally friendly, too.

Interested in learning more about how reclaimed wood kitchen floors can breathe new life into your home? Give us a call, we are here to help!

Another Sinker Cypress Creation 4

Take a look at these beautiful, precision milled sinker cypress boards. We used them to construct nine benches for Bok Tower Gardens.

If You Guessed Bok Tower Gardens, You Were Correct! 27

Remember when we asked you to guess what our latest “gentle giant” was being transformed into? Hint: “her new home will be at a National Historic Landmark”.

If you guessed Bok Tower Gardens, you were correct!

Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida announced its expansion plans last year. Today, construction is in full force! Goodwin is proud to be providing headers, window sills, trim and siding for the new children’s interpretive center and outdoor demonstration kitchen. Our River-Recovered® Heart Cypress is the perfect complement to the rich culture and history of Bok Tower Gardens.

Goodwin is in the process of milling cypress for the project. Enjoy this video which offers a special inside look at the process:

And, check out these photos of the first run of siding as the transformation continues:

 

Read more about the expansion: http://boktowergardens.org/blog/gardens-announces-expansion-plans-on-85th-anniversary/

Take a Look at this Beautiful Heart Cypress 1

This River-Recovered® Heart Cypress Select trim is being milled and packaged for a new children’s interpretive center and outdoor demonstration kitchen at Bok Tower Gardens. Goodwin is providing siding and trim for both buildings, which were designed by Lake/Flato Architects. Henkelman Construction of Lakeland is the contractor.

Stay tuned…we will post more photos as this exciting project progresses!

 

Congratulations Jeffrey and Megan! 7

Last weekend, our Marketing Coordinator Jeffrey and his lovely wife Megan celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary in Cedar Key, Florida. While there, they visited the St. Clair Whitman House at the Cedar Key State Museum. Although Jeffrey was away on pleasure, he could not resist taking these photographs of Goodwin’s wood in the home:

Last year, Dale Kendrick with the Florida Park Service repaired several sections of flooring in the St. Clair Whitman House using Goodwin’s LEGACY heart pine. Jeffrey’s photos not only show the contrast of the new wood to old, but also illustrate how well the material marries together as a whole. The wood is featured in the front entrance, kitchen and on some of the wainscot in the dining room.

If you are ever on Cedar Key, be sure to stop by and check it out!

Hmmm…. I am considering giving Jeffrey an afternoon off to take his wife to an early dinner and movie since he found a way to “work” on his anniversary weekend…

Congratulations, Jeffrey and Megan. And, thank you for the wonderful photographs!

Are Concrete Countertops Green?

Building green is trendy these days in the construction and remodeling industry. There are environmental experts who point to concrete as a suitable material for green construction, including concrete floors, concrete homes and concrete countertops.

Concrete countertops are increasingly popular because the offer a wide array of design options – they can be formed into dramatic and amazing shapes, sculpted before curing, inlaid with tiles or designs, and most impressively they can be made in just about any color and finish. They offer all the beauty of natural stone, all the customization options of a synthetic material, yet they’re incredibly durable and surprisingly affordable.

But are concrete countertops a “green” option, or are they just greenwashed? How are concrete countertops better for the environment over other alternatives like stone or tile? The answers lie in how the concrete is made and treated before the countertop is installed in a customer’s home.

Can Concrete Be Environmentally-Friendly?

Concrete is made primarily from gravel, sand, and cement. Gravel and sand are 100 percent natural, so they can be an Eco-friendly choice. However, these aggregates can also be a source of pollution – especially if they’re trucked in from long distances. Therefore, you and your installer need to determine if the concrete aggregate is local or not when determining the Eco-friendliness of this option.

One alternative to standard gravel and sand aggregate is to use recycled material such as paper, coal fly ash, and glass. When mixed with cement, the finished concrete can be comprised of as much as 75 percent recycled materials, meaning that the finished product has very low net emission levels. This might be a good option to investigate with your installer as well.

The biggest environmental issue with concrete, however, isn’t the aggregate – it’s the cement used to bind the aggregate together. Creating cement emits mass amounts of CO2 emissions, which is by far the most serious concern pertaining to global warming; for every ton of cement produced, there is an equal amount of CO2 emitted. While there are concrete production options available that lessen the impact on the environment without compromising the positive attributes of concrete, these cements must be specifically requested as they are more expensive.

Finally, it’s also a good idea to ask your installer about recycled concrete. Left over cement and concrete can be partially re-used to create new concrete, further reducing the environmental impact of any concrete installed in your home.

The Verdict

Recycled concrete can be used in floors, walls, outdoor effects, and even countertops to provide stunning and environmentally friendly additions to any home or business. Concrete’s unique properties – it can be custom-sculpted, inlaid with tiles or designs, and amazing color array – allow designers to create dramatic looks in the kitchen, bathroom, or outdoors. However, the method used to fabricate the concrete needs to be taken into consideration when choosing supposedly green concrete. While concrete can be made into a green building material, the opposite can also be true. So ask your installer.

Finally, don’t forget to compare green concrete counters to other alternatives. Granite countertops, for example, may seem very natural and therefore very “green,” but in actuality they may have tremendous amounts of CO2 emissions because the stone must be excavated, polished, and shipped hundreds or thousands of miles before install. The same goes for other natural stones.

Author Miguel Salcido writes for Premiere Vanities, a company that makes bathroom vanities from a variety of materials incorporating a range of textures, including fiberboard, laminate and various types of wood.