A call from a project manager in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, set in motion a uniquely intricate restoration project for Matthew Szyszka. His task was to repair and restore a European-imported wood floor as part of a renovation in a 4,000-square-foot home. But it wasn’t just any floor—it was a fumed, prefinished, hand-distressed floor originally installed 15 years earlier, and no one had been able to match its color or texture.
Szyszka was recommended for the project after the manager read about his award-winning work in Hardwood Floors magazine. He had recently earned the 2023 Wood Floor of the Year award for Best Color and Texture, thanks to his innovative work with fuming techniques. That made him a natural fit for the job.
“The project manager sent me pictures, but I told them I needed a physical sample. Without seeing it in person, there’s no way to match the color accurately,” Szyszka says. A panel was soon shipped to Szyszka at his Crystal Lake, Illinois, shop, where he began the intricate process of analyzing the tones and textures.
Szyszka ended up offering more than 250 color samples using a variety of techniques, including fuming, hardwax oil and pigmented wax. He then sent the samples back to Wyoming for approval. Once it was approved, Szyszka personally traveled to Jackson Hole to walk through the property and discuss the project further in person.
As he examined the home’s floor, he found heavy wear, discoloration from liquids, wax that had worn away in places, and damage from high heels. Seven areas of the floor needed patching, most significantly around the kitchen where cabinets and a large island had been removed. The largest repair zone ended up being about 150 square feet.
During the initial walk-through, Szyszka noticed the flooring dimensions were unusual. The planks measured 6 5/8”, 7 1/8” and 7 7/8” wide and were 7/8” thick—none of which matched standard sizing. When he brought this to the project manager’s attention, they revealed the original floor had been imported from Belgium, which meant the dimensions were metric. Szyszka confirmed it with a metric tape measure.
To replicate the original flooring, he sourced raw white oak from Graf Custom Hardwood and a local lumber supplier. The boards were 12’ long, 1 ¼” thick and 8 ½” wide—a mix of rift-and-quarter and character grade. He set up a full production station in his shop, including a planer, miter saw, table saw and routers.
“We had to match the thickness to 20 mm, three different widths, tongue-and-groove profiles and two-sided hand-scraped bevels,” Szyszka says. He milled every piece by hand, including cutting grooves on the back of the boards for moisture control. To avoid letting the shop environment interfere with the precision, he even installed dehumidifiers to simulate the drier climate of Wyoming.
Once milled, the boards were dry-laid in the shop and sanded. The bevels were hand-scraped again to ensure a pillowed look rather than a sharp edge. Finally came the color. Szyszka found he needed to create two separate batches to account for fading in the existing floor, using varying fume combinations. After that, he applied a custom blend of hardwax oil followed by layers of Duraseal paste wax mixed with dry pigments. Eight total applications were required to achieve the desired tone.
After a curing period, about 350 square feet of flooring was transported to Jackson Hole—a 21-hour journey. Once on site, the boards were left to acclimate for one full month before installation.
When Szyszka returned, installation began. Each board was hand-selected and distressed room by room to ensure the new wood blended seamlessly with the original floor. A final pass included deep cleaning and an additional coat of wax.
The results of Szyszka’s efforts are undetectable to the untrained eye and stand as a testament to his attention to detail and deep understanding of both wood and finish. “A repair job like this isn’t just about tools or materials,” he says. “It’s about patience, precision and getting both the large and small details right.”