Bespoke Floor Panel.

[TrevorHill]

We’re currently renovating a 1960s dormer bungalow on a spectacular site overlooking the Irish Sea. Although the house is structurally sound, it’s very much a blank canvas and requires extensive modernisation throughout.

Last Saturday, I finally decided I’d had enough of the rather manky hallway carpet and pulled it up. To my delight, hidden beneath the carpet and an exceptionally thick underlay was a beautiful five-finger parquet floor. We had parquet flooring in our previous home, so discovering this was an unexpected bonus. It will, of course, need to be sanded and refinished, but it has given me the perfect opportunity to incorporate something I’ve always wanted, a bespoke inlaid floor panel featuring the artwork from an album by a close friend who is an exceptionally talented musician.

I must have been living under a rock because the quotations I’ve received so far have been eye-wateringly expensive. I completely appreciate that this is highly skilled, intricate work and that quality craftsmanship comes at a price, but I’m hoping there may be a more cost-effective way of achieving something close to the design I have in mind.

I’ve attached both the proposed design and photographs of the existing parquet floor, and I’m hoping to tap into the wealth of knowledge and experience that PistonHeads is renowned for. Any recommendations, suggestions or alternative approaches would be very gratefully received.

Thanks in advance. Trevor.

[kambites]

I guess you could sand the floor back, carefully paint the image onto the bare wood, then varnish/wax/whatever over the top to protect the image? Not sure it would really look right though with the wood grain still running the same way throughout.

If you actually want it made as pictured with the grain following the image, I could easily see it running to many thousands of pounds. I suspect it would be weeks' worth of work for a very skilled person.

[.:ian:.]

Colour laser print transfer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/3zd3...

https://craftwhack.com/image-photo-print-transfer-...

Would need a varnish as its really not very durable. It wont look anywhere as good as that AI image though.

[TrevorHill]

kambites said:

If you actually want it made as pictured with the grain following the image, I could easily see it running to many thousands of pounds. I suspect it would be weeks' worth of work for a very skilled person.

I’ve been quoted between £10K to £25K depending on how much detail that I want to achieve. That’s a crazy amount of money for a 120cm x 120cm piece of wood. We could go 100cm x 100cm.That’s from a very bespoke Marquetry company.

.:ian:. said:

Colour laser print transfer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/3zd3...

https://craftwhack.com/image-photo-print-transfer-...

Would need a varnish as its really not very durable. It wont look anywhere as good as that AI image though.

That’s exactly why I won’t be going down that route. It has to look right or I won’t be doing it at all. It’s a nice idea, but it’s not ten grand nice, never mind twenty five.

I’m hoping to find a middle ground, ideally I'd have someone make one engineered oak panel the correct thickness and size.
Then laser engrave the artwork. The butterfly and birds are then hand coloured using wood dyes before everything is sealed and match the finish of the new panel to the existing flooring.

Finding someone to do this is the hardest part of the project. I was hoping that someone here had either done something similar or knows of someone or a small craftsman type who could accomplish this at a more realistic price point.

Thanks for the input thus far…

[kambites]

You could always treat it as a project and learn to do it yourself. It will take a LOT of time, but with the right tools I suspect it wouldn't actually be that difficult if you're willing to dedicate a few hundred hours to it.

[TrevorHill]

kambites said:

You could always treat it as a project and learn to do it yourself. It will take a LOT of time, but with the right tools I suspect it wouldn't actually be that difficult if you're willing to dedicate a few hundred hours to it.

I have cognitive decline, so I suspect that probably rules me out. My attention span is about that of a gnat, and I'm very easily distracted. Learning anything new has become quite difficult, unfortunately.

The upside is that familiar, repetitive tasks aren't a problem, which is why I'm still allowed to drive. I do, however, have to undergo periodic driving assessments to make sure I'm still safe on the road.

[kambites]

TrevorHill said:

I have cognitive decline, so I suspect that probably rules me out. My attention span is about that of a gnat, and I'm very easily distracted. Learning anything new has become quite difficult, unfortunately.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[Drogo]

You could always contact Liam Crill to see if he'd be happy to quote.

[TrevorHill]

Drogo said:

You could always contact Liam Crill to see if he'd be happy to quote.

Liam, I'm afraid, has gone AWOL! I'm still in regular contact with the rest of the band, although they don't play together very often these days, life tends to get in the way of these things.

One of the other members is a specialist cabinet maker and, without exaggeration, the best resonator guitar player this side of New Orleans. Unfortunately, he now lives full-time in Brooklyn, so geography may be working against us.

[Jeremy-75qq8]

Just bear in mind it may impact new buyers.

It is a highly personal logo in the middle of a nice floor.

We looked at a house with indoor pool with the Chelsea football logo built into the bottom of it ( vendor was a player ). Emm right

[JoshSm]

Another option - apply a veneer layer (or two) onto a suitable base and get it cnc'd to the different depths produce the design? Not an unusual idea even if maybe not often used for this exact thing.

Should be able to get two colours trivially, and more with some extra effort. Use a Grade A beech base and get some of the larger veneer sheets over the top? In a dark hardwood or dyed in colours? Layer order would depend on how much of each colour the design needs - primary would be the top, least used at the bottom.

Could dye/paint some parts if needed.

Then varnish it or flood with epoxy if you want it flat.

[JoshSm]

Jeremy-75qq8 said:

Just bear in mind it may impact new buyers.

It is a highly personal logo in the middle of a nice floor.

We looked at a house with indoor pool with the Chelsea football logo built into the bottom of it ( vendor was a player ). Emm right

My first thought would be 'who cares', likely won't be the current owner worrying too much. Second thought is that done carefully it's a very easy thing to reverse, unlike chipping out the bottom of a pool.

[TrevorHill]

Jeremy-75qq8 said:

Just bear in mind it may impact new buyers.

It is a highly personal logo in the middle of a nice floor.

We looked at a house with indoor pool with the Chelsea football logo built into the bottom of it ( vendor was a player ). Emm right

Absolutely. I’d keep the very personal nature of this intact, but make it flow a little more naturally and give the final part the emotional weight it deserves.

We moved back to the north of Ireland because I have been experiencing cognitive decline. Realistically, I’m unlikely to ever meet the new owners if my wife decides to sell the house after I’m gone.

It’s also a very personal project for me. As I mentioned previously, the design is a copy of an album cover by artists we know quite well. We’ve become quite friendly with them over the years, and one of the songs on that album isn’t just my favourite song or tune of all time — it’s also the song I’ve chosen to be played when my journey eventually comes to an end.

We first met the lads when they played a gig in my hometown, and since then we’ve seen them perform dozens of times — here in Ireland, all over Europe, and on several trips to the US, where we’ve travelled specifically to see them play at various gigs and festivals.

So, while there is obviously a practical element to the project, it’s ultimately something that has a great deal of personal meaning for me.

I think this version retains the honesty and warmth of what you wrote, while making it sound more considered and polished without losing the very personal message behind it.

[TrevorHill]

JoshSm said:

Another option - apply a veneer layer (or two) onto a suitable base and get it cnc'd to the different depths produce the design? Not an unusual idea even if maybe not often used for this exact thing.

Should be able to get two colours trivially, and more with some extra effort. Use a Grade A beech base and get some of the larger veneer sheets over the top? In a dark hardwood or dyed in colours? Layer order would depend on how much of each colour the design needs - primary would be the top, least used at the bottom.

Could dye/paint some parts if needed.

Then varnish it or flood with epoxy if you want it flat.

Thanks for your reply, Josh. It sounds like it would be much easier to achieve and, thankfully, considerably easier on the wallet than my original quote!

[Ledaig]

Although not widespread, have you consdiered laser floor engraving?

A local artist to apply the colours and then a protective top coat.

I've no idea on cost for this though.

[TrevorHill]

Ledaig said:

Although not widespread, have you consdiered laser floor engraving?

A local artist to apply the colours and then a protective top coat.

I've no idea on cost for this though.

I’ve just spoken with a parquet flooring specialist, and that’s exactly the approach he suggested. He reckons it should look 90–95% as good as the bespoke option, but at a fraction of the price.

[biggiles]

If you're doing this 120x120cm, then that should be trivial for any CNC or laser engraving workshop nearby. They could easily cut/burn this pattern into a sheet of (decent) plywood for you. If it must be parquet, then perhaps you can attach slips of parquet to a ply backing board (maintaining consistent thickness) and then use the machine to cut/burn.

Bringing such a machine to a fitting floor would be very difficult. Taking the floor to the machine will be easier.

[TrevorHill]

biggiles said:

If you're doing this 120x120cm, then that should be trivial for any CNC or laser engraving workshop nearby. They could easily cut/burn this pattern into a sheet of (decent) plywood for you. If it must be parquet, then perhaps you can attach slips of parquet to a ply backing board (maintaining consistent thickness) and then use the machine to cut/burn.

Bringing such a machine to a fitting floor would be very difficult. Taking the floor to the machine will be easier.

That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’ll be removing a section of the floor, then it will be laid onto a piece of backing board and it will be CNC’d.

I’m not sleeping too well recently so I fired off a load of emails to various companies and individuals that ChatGPT recommended. One man emailed me at 7am yesterday morning and we spoke yesterday lunchtime. Although he wasn’t able to do it he gave me the phone numbers of the two people who can do the work. Probably take longer than I thought but like everything else it’ll be worth the wait.

[TrevorHill]

I’m starting to make some progress now, although I must admit I thought the whole process would be much simpler than it has turned out to be. AI has taken me a fair way, and I now have a vector file, but it’s still not at the stage where it’s usable by a CNC machinist.

I think I’ve taken it about as far as I reasonably can myself and it’s time to hand it over to the professionals. That means I can get back to the jobs I’m rather better suited to, restoring the original doors and stripping decades of paint from the woodwork to bring the house back to something much closer to its original form.