Nashville, IN – Distinctive Hardwood Floors, located here, provides custom contemporary and old world flooring, featuring distressed and antiqued wood flooring including American domestics, French White Oak, reclaimed wood, and exotics. Parquet, Medallion, and Mandala Marquetry make the custom work even more distinctive. “We offer everything from square-edged unfinished plank product to the most detailed inlaid floors, both pre-finished and unfinished flooring,” said Vice President and Owner Daniel Antes. The company uses only the best Hardwoods with the aim of revealing and preserving their natural beauty.
Currently Antes is purchasing 110,000 board feet a year. Eighty percent consists of White Oak—rift and quarter sawn, plain sawn and live sawn—and Walnut plain sawn and quartered. “When you look at our pattern work, it’s all typically the natural color of the wood. We use some acrylic impregnated woods to get some primary colors if needed. But the main body is natural White Oak or Walnut,” said Antes. All grades are purchased both in 4/4, 5/4, 8/4, in width sorted proprietary grades, with tighter specifications than the NHLA grade specifications. Mills and concentration yards in Indiana and neighboring states provide the White Oak and Walnut.
This Mandala was made in collaboration with artist Eileen Bradley.
Twenty percent of wood purchased is used for inlays and includes Cherry, Maple, Sapele, Fumed Spessart Oak, Zebrawood, Tigerwood, Jatoba, and other exotics.
Along with elegant patterning and unusual natural colors, Distinctive Hardwood Floors can provide weathering and texturing. “Super satin-smooth wood will show every wear and tear over time,” said Antes, “so we urge customers to use some texturing that will hide dents and scratches that will become part of the overall look rather than diminish the original intent. That’s when we get into hand-scraping, wire-brushing, sand-blasting, and the Shou Sugi Bon burn and brush wood technique for that ancient look. We also use different pigments and top-coats for certain effects.”
This decorative work is of multispecies with rose inlay.
The Woodstock Museum in Bethel, NY showcases many of Distinctive’s skills. The Museum and an international concert venue were built on the iconic festival site. Distinctive Hardwood Floors crafted the 9,000 square foot dance floor and banquet space. Antes remembers, “We had a number of character Hickory hand scrapes, oiled and waxed wood that followed the contour of the rim from the outside to the center—and book matched White Oak and Walnut. It was a prestigious product; it felt like we were part of a living legacy. We submitted multiple samples that would bind this space, working with the layout and purpose of the room. Once the interior design team gave final approval on a sample, we milled the Hickory, hand-scraped, water-dyed, and color oiled it. We then shipped it to New York. Our installation was a process, first laying down a 3/4″ sub-floor to the commercial concrete floor, then gluing and nailing the product in place. To meet the demands of the project’s fast pace, I hand-cut the medallion and taped it in place, fitting the materials on site.”
Also, the company prepares flooring for contractors and other manufacturers around the country. “They’ll send me the lumber or give me an order for product that they will install under their brand,” said Antes. “In many cases, we’re still installing our products, so when we ship to other contractors and homeowners, we know it can be easily installed and exceeds industry standard tolerances. We support our regular contractors by getting to know their skill set and their techniques, to provide a product that works within their capacity and methods.” Daniel Antes’ designs have won several National Wood Flooring Association Wood Floor of the Year Awards, a Wood Floor Supplier of the Year Award, and the Houzz Service Award.
Left: In front of this door is a ripped and bent Walnut and Wenge border with Maple polar array and star medallion by Distinctive Hardwood Floors.
Center: Daniel Antes buffs the final coat of wax at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Sullivan County, NY, the site of the original Woodstock Festival.
Right: This is a book-matched Walnut slab tabletop.
Rubio Monocoat Hardwax oil is applied to a multispecies parquet floor.
Richard and Daniel Antes, father and son, founded the company in 2001. At the time Richard was retiring from Indiana State University as an Emeritus Holmstead Distinguished Professor, and Daniel was looking for a more satisfying career than he had found in nursing. With some experience in Hardwood floors, Daniel led the way, starting with standard 2¼ – ¾” floor installation. “We found manufacturers didn’t necessarily manufacture to standard, but we wanted that for our company. So we built a shop to make our own products from ripped lumber, from the log to the final product with a LP-40 and a dry kiln. Every now and then people want to use a special tree from their own property, so we can do that,” said the younger Antes. After traveling and installing for the late Birger Juell of Birger Juell Ltd. and Chuck Crispin of Legendary Hardwood Floors, he said, “I felt I had learned what a quality Hardwood floor looked like. We have the capacity to go from log to finished unique product completely in-house and not have to outsource any of it.” Antes, in charge of design and sales, also is called upon at times to repair and restore historic marquetry.
Left: A dance floor with 12-foot diameter custom medallion is on a cruise ship in dry dock in Singapore.
Right: A hand-cut Walnut and White Oak crotch nautical medallion is in the center of the ballroom at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.
Shop and Production Manager Jon Sedge joined Antes at start-up and supervises the 10,000 square foot plant and office facility in Nashville, IN. Until 2017, all operations were based there, and setup was job-specific. Machines were on carts and taken in and out of storage. That issue was solved with the 2017 acquisition of 25,000 square feet of factory space in Bloomington, IN. “It was ideal,” said Antes, “with a double loading dock at ground level, truck height docks, and 24′ ceilings. Now it’s easy to stack lumber vertically and use it during inclement weather. Adding a new CNC, new finish line and additional equipment significantly extended our capacity.”
Tommy James is the Dimension Mill Manager. To accomplish the precision of custom work, the 15 employees use an Anderson CNC, Flexicam CNC, Extrema double surfacer, Northtech resaw, thin Lamella planer, 51″ wide belt, two shapers, a laser cutter engraver, Felder sliding table saw shaper, Stiles Kentwood moulder, Northtech straight-line rip saw, Soest UV finish line, Grizzly wide belt sander, and two forklifts. The plant utilizes air recovery from its rotary screw combustor to keep the building acclimatized year-round at 70 degrees and 50 percent humidity. That means they can successfully direct shipment to a range of altitude and humidity.
Antes also searches for the unusual such as Certified 3D (dead, diseased, and down) wood from the Brazilian rainforest for production. He said, “Certified 3D is environmentally conscious – no trees are killed for this product. We also use architecturally reclaimed woods, both domestic and exotic. Our inlays also use Cedar, Blue Mahoe, and true Mahogany obtained from Jamaica. While almost every standing tree is protected, we’re bringing in boards from buildings of the late 1800s that are being repaired.”
Old World craftsmanship continues in the New World with the father and son team at Distinctive Hardwood Floors. Emphasizing their unique skill set package of sourcing-design-crafting-installation, the company’s preferred public face is the Facebook page Daniel Antes Marquetry. For more information, you can go to www.danielantes.com/home.html.
