What's Old is New Again

Whether you're in the process of building a new home, or just like to keep up with the latest interior decorating trends, you probably already know that what's old is new again. Walk into any recently built house on the Parade of Homes tour and you're likely to find at least one room with a totally rustic look.  

Maybe it's because people are seeking a return to simpler times, or because they've been inspired by the scenes in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean." No matter what the reason, people want a place in their homes where they can get away from it all.

Achieving an Old World look is easier to do than you may think, and you don't have to hire an interior decorator to get the job done. Choose a warm color to paint the walls -- tones of yellow and brown are extremely popular -- then fill the room with texture. Log furniture, rattan and wicker are commonly found in rooms with a rustic theme. So are vintage fabrics, braided or hooked rugs and natural decorations like vases filled with pinecones, and evergreen boughs placed on the fireplace mantle.

As far as the flooring goes, carpet and tile just won't do. People who really want an authentic rustic look are putting down floors that not only look like they belong in the past, but come from the past as well. "Our wood floors are made of 100 percent reclaimed and recycled antique barn lumber," says Jeff Horn, president of the Yesteryear Floorworks Company, a Pennsylvania-based company that for the past 20 years has been carefully dismantling barns across the Mid Atlantic and several Southern states and turning the old, weathered wood into flooring.

"You'd never know it from just driving by barns along rural roads, but underneath their fading paint and weathered grey exterior is wood with unique character," says Horn. "Nowhere else can you find antique oak, maple and pine that comes from old-growth forests without having to cut down any more trees, and we do our best to salvage as much wood as possible from each site we work at."

Obvious waste is trimmed away, then the wood is put through a metal detection process to remove old nails and spikes, sawed down to planks one inch thick and stacked in a kiln to dry and kill any resident insects. The dried wood is then milled into tongue-and-groove planks that install like any other standard hardwood flooring product.

The Aged Woods-brand product line includes milled and distressed heartpine, chestnut, white and yellow pine, maple, hickory and oak flooring that sells for between $8 and $15 per square foot. If you'd like to see what one of their floors looks like installed, visit nearly any recently built Ralph Lauren Polo and Rugby store or log on to their Web site, www.agedwoods.com to view installation photos.

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