Adleta Corporation out of Carrollton, TX, nationally distributes a wide variety of floor coverings, such as commercial flooring in schools or malls, porcelain tile, and vinyl plank flooring. They also handle three top-of-the-line hardwood floor companies, who not only manufacture traditional hardwood floors, but specialty finishes, such as hand-scraped and hand-stained boards, wire-brushing, and exotic wood techniques.
Recently, Adleta’s sales representative for this region, Scott Donoho, visited Temple Johnson Floor and talked about their three flagship companies. Temple Johnson already carries two companies that Adleta distributes: Bella Cera and LM Flooring.
Now Bryan Jones, owner, has announced they will add a third new Adleta line: Jackson Hardwood. Sales representative Donoho believes Jackson’s new Autograph Series represents a solid, contemporary trend in both flooring and home decorating. The series itself is largely European white oak (also commonly called French oak) and features long planks and bold widths.
“The Autograph
Series has some offerings with 85-inch lengths, which look great in large, long rooms,” Scott explained. “Today we're really seeing a lot of nice, wide plank timber. And they’re great colors, less gray shades right now, but lighter, warmer colors.”
“White Oak is like Europe's kind of hickory tree, if you will. Even though hickory only grows in continental North America, white oak has strong similarities—in that it's very dense, has been around for a long time and stains well. They also put an over wash on the stain, which leaves some unique, whitened coloration along with the dark grain.”
BLUFFS
in the Autograph Series actually is American hickory. It’s not smoked, but they wipe the stain on the board manually. Hand staining is quite subtle and doesn’t announce itself near as much. “But it almost gives you a smoked effect,” Scott explained. “The lighter or heavier pressure from the hand translates to a nice, light flow of color in the wood.”
Another hickory product in Jackson Hardwood’s lineup is TEMPEST. “Most people don’t realize that when you hit hickory with stain, it turns the wood really black,” Scott said. “With TEMPEST, the artisans use a color toner on the board before they start putting stain on it. It nicely mutes some of the blackening of the grain. So, what you notice is that it's not a wild, dark blackening when you get your coloring on the board. It knocks it down just enough to give a softer, eclectic look. And it’s absolutely beautiful.”
CAVALIERS
is one of Jackson Hardwood’s more unusual patterns. It features hand-scraped birch, which naturally has a unique and uneven grain pattern. “That’s just the nature of birch wood. They do a lot of hand carving and hand scraping with this wood, so you can see a lot of visual activity going on in the texture of the material. What’s extra special, that we never had before, is some contemporary color, because birch is actually a lighter color wood, very close to Maple.”
Donoho described the RESTORATION OAK
in Jackson Hardwood as being a ‘little brother’ product to the Autograph Series. The difference is that it's a 6½” wide plank, which is textured with heavy wire brushing, and has also been lightly smoked. Since smoke is acidic, it reacts with the oils and sugars already present in the fiber of the wood.
“You hear wine drinkers talk about tannins for wine wells, because when they char the barrels, that reacts with the oils and sugars to create certain flavors and tastes associated with the wine’s flavor. Tannins are an important part of the process of fermentation, and the process is essentially the same with wood.”
“It brings out the difference in the wood with more oils and triggers more color expansion through the process,” Scott said. “So, you can have some nice surprises in the final product. Sometimes they will even add ammonia, which reacts with the oils and sugars in the material. It creates some shading effects, and what it does—it blesses some of the undertone of the colors.”
Many of the new offerings are a response to current trends observed in major remodels or new construction builds. Decorators are moving away from staining wood bases and door casings—even cabinets. More often, they paint them in cooler tones, such as light gray or white. As a consequence, four out of five colors in Jackson Hardwood offerings are lighter, closer to blonde tones. Toasty, natural looks are really popular right now. Jackson’s new floor ideas complement these new looks, such as Urban Farmhouse and Western Rustic.
And there’s no one more enthusiastic about the new Jackson Hardwood line than Scott Donoho. He not only has a sure command of the particulars of his products, but he seems to have a lot of fun distributing them as well.
Come in and check out the new fall offerings in Temple Johnson’s showroom. Bryan Jones, and his wife Janis, are always happy to see you come in the door.