When Brian Gore of Creative Hardwood was brought into a remodel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, he knew early on it would be the kind of project where precision mattered. The home was located in a high-end area and the renovation carried a clear design direction that required careful execution. The work blended restoration with new installation and required close attention to detail to ensure old and new elements aligned seamlessly.
The scope of the project developed gradually. Gore and Matt Fohey with Matt
Fohey Hardwood Restoration initially were asked to install plainsawn herringbone
flooring in the upstairs of the home. That portion of the work entirely was new
installation and included brass inlays at several transition points. Once that phase
was completed and the results were visible, additional areas of the home were
opened up for discussion.
“We did regular plainsawn herringbone upstairs, which was all new work,” says
Gore. “Once that was finished and they saw what we were capable of, we were
asked to take on more detailed features elsewhere.”
One of those areas was the kitchen, where a feature strip was introduced into
an existing floor. Brass already was a prominent design element throughout the
space, particularly in the cabinetry, and the flooring needed to complement that
material without overpowering it.
Because Gore builds furniture in addition to installing floors, he had access to materials that helped shape the design. “I had some walnut slabs, and the homeowners were drawn to one knot in particular,” he says.
“It had an almost galaxylike appearance. I cut that section out and used it as the center of the feature strip.”From there, the surrounding layout took shape. “We decided to run herringbone on both sides of the strip,” he explains. That decision was influenced by existingflooring elsewhere in the home. The living room already featured close to 1,000 square feet of riftsawn red oak herringbone that had been installed roughly 40 years earlier.
“Our goal was to make everything match,” says Gore. “We wanted the new
work to connect visually with what was already there.”
Another challenge arose at the fireplace. After old stone was removed, the area was
left with an opening that needed to be rebuilt while cleanly tying into the existing herringbone. “They didn’t have a solution for the fireplace,” he recalls. “They asked if
we could mill riftsawn flooring to match and then inlay brass into it.”
The work required both restoration and fabrication. “There was a hole to fill, and it had to tie into herringbone that was already in place,” he says.
Before moving forward, Gore sought advice. “I called Lenny Hall to talk
through different ideas,” he says. “Even if you think you know how to do
something, there often is a better way. If I hadn’t reached out, it would have cost
me several more days.”
To recreate the fireplace perimeter and prepare it for brass inlay, Gore built router forms to capture the exact shape of the existing floor.
“I made a form that followed the outside of the hearth and attached it directly to the floor,” he said. “That let me rout the shape accurately and then create the negative for the brass.”
Subfloor conditions added another layer of complexity. “We had to grind off old glue and hand chisel into the existing herringbone so that we didn’t disturb it,” describes Gore. “In a lot of areas, there were humps in the subfloor that we
couldn’t remove.”
Instead of forcing the substrate flat, adjustments were made to the new flooring. “We contoured the bottoms of the new boards by tapering them so the tops would sit correctly,” he says. “That way the surface was right and we could still route the brass accurately. A lot of it was grinding new wood to match old wood.”
For Gore, projects like this ultimately come down to discipline and humility.
Precision work leaves little room for shortcuts, and knowing when to pause,
rethink an approach, or ask for input can save both time and mistakes. Reaching
out to someone with more experience is not a weakness, but often the smartest
move on a complex job.
Even with the right plan and tools, execution still demands patience. “Measure
everything before you start, measure it again, and then measure it again,”
advises Gore. “Slow down. You only get one chance with this kind of work.”