Rediscovering Antique Heart Pine in a Historic New England Textile Mill

At The Hudson Company, we reclaim heritage wood sustainably. Often that means salvaging it from beautiful places like this, the Draper Mill building in Hopedale, Massachusetts, where past and present meet. Though it’s quiet today, this mill—spanning over one million square feet—was once a major industrial hub that produced textiles on high-speed power looms. The Draper family built the mill complex in the 19th century using the preferred building materials of the era. One element in particular was exactly what we hoped we’d find when we visited: Antique Heart Pine timber. Milled and finished according to our exacting specifications, this wood will enjoy a second life as the fine flooring, paneling, and beams we are known for. Luckily, we knew just where to find it.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE TO SEE OUR ANTIQUE HEART PINE RECLAMATION.

Installation In Focus: The Carriage House By Workstead, Charleston, SC

The Carriage House, interior design by Workstead, Reclaimed Heart Pine, Vertical Grain flooring by The Hudson Company.

Reclaimed Heart Pine Heads South

Originally from The Hudson Valley, the talented team of designers at Workstead also have a strong presence in the American South—particularly in South Carolina (their work inside Charleston’s Dewberry Hotel is a must see).

For a recent residential project in Charleston known as The Carriage House, The Hudson Company had the pleasure of working alongside Workstead co-founders Stefanie and Robert to select and custom mill some Reclaimed Heart Pine, Vertical Grain flooring. Since the initiation of The Carriage House project, Robert and Stefanie have moved the bulk of Workstead operations back home to New York and we certainly look forward to working together with their team on more projects in the future (including the interiors of their new luxury, multi-unit renovation project in Brooklyn, opening in 2019).

But, until then, enjoy this peek inside the stunning Carriage House project, designed by our friends at Workstead.

Notes on The Carriage House

Detailed project notes from the design team:

“The Carriage House contains 2,000 square feet of livable space distributed over two floors, with three bedrooms and three bathrooms.  The first floor living room features two gas fireplaces, originally used for cooking and laundering.  A brand new kitchen serves as literal and figurative hearth of the home, with cabinetry tucked under the stairs and a grand island providing the counter around which life revolves.  A cozy window seat situated within cypress and caned cabinets compliments the dining room along the south-facing facade.

The second floor features an anteroom for use as an office or library with an adjoining bathroom.  A south-facing bedroom with windows on three sides includes a cypress-clad closet, while the large master suite is complete with two closets, laundry, and master bathroom.  A balcony overlooks the brick courtyard below with green hedges for added privacy.

At the heart of the Carriage House is connection—with time and place as with collaborators.”

Learn More

Explore More Hudson Company Flooring Installations

Learn More About Reclaimed Heart Pine, Vertical Grain Flooring

See The New York Times Feature Story on Workstead in South Carolina.

Check Out Workstead Full Portfolio and Bespoke Webshop

All Photos below taken from www.workstead.com unless otherwise noted.

Designers and Workstead co-founders Robert Highsmith and Stefanie Brechbuehler. Photo by Kathleen Robbins for The New York Times

“At the heart of the Carriage House is connection—with time
and place as with collaborators.”

Installation In Focus: Sunnyfield Farm

A Classic Home 8 Years In The Making

Overlooking the rolling hills of the Hudson Valley is the idyllic Sunnyfield Farm, a horse farm and traditional Georgian-style home in Millbrook, New York.

The Hudson Company was honored to play a role in the development, design, and construction of the home — a project spanning more than eight years, including a research trip to the Swedish countryside for inspiration and materials. This passion project required not only a very close client-designer relationship but also an ongoing dialogue with The Hudson Company. The result of these close partnerships is a residential installation project that features some of our most ambitious flooring details to date, including 10" Reclaimed Heart Pine flooring sourced from historic New York City townhouses; custom-milled, extra-long White Oak floor planks;  and Reclaimed Redwood specially milled for Sunnyfield’s trim work. 

Throughout the process, lead architect Cynthia Filkoff of Di Biase Filkoff Architects was attuned to her client’s high standard of quality and beauty. “We were initially asked to transform the preexisting modernist house into a traditional Tudor,” Filkoff explains, “but after living in the original house for a year, the client decided that the quality of the construction was inadequate. It made more sense to tear it down and build a new home.”

In time, the team at Di Biase Filkoff came up with a solution that would meet the client’s exacting criteria: a proper brick Georgian home with Swedish-inspired interiors connected to the magnificent land and views. In order to find the right balance of craftsmanship and aesthetic, Filkoff traveled to the client’s summer home in Fiskebäckskil, Sweden. “In Sweden, I was able to study the wood-centric, old-world architecture that the client admired so much. What I found there was an aesthetic that was rich in handcrafted details. It was inventive and playful, both inside and out. Ultimately, these were the kind of details that we worked to incorporate at Sunnyfield.”

Along with a detailed list of high-quality, sustainable material specifications, the choice of wood flooring was critical to the aesthetic and design of the home. “When it came to flooring,” Cynthia recalls, “the client was committed to creating a wood floor that reflected the antique floors of classic Swedish homes. The details had to be authentic.” From here, Di Biase Filkoff turned to The Hudson Company, who encouraged the designers to incorporate two complementary flooring types: Reclaimed Heart Pine and White Oak.

The Reclaimed Heart Pine milled for the Sunnyfield project was sourced from a row of historic townhouses on New York City’s Upper East Side and then milled to a width of 10” to reflect the flooring Filkoff had researched in Scandinavia. The White Oak flooring planks, installed in the home’s ground floor, were sourced from purpose-cut trees, hand selected from private timber stands. The trees were air-dried, kiln-dried, and custom milled to meet the architect’s designs. Along with an intricate wagon wheel pattern for Sunnyfield’s dining room, Filkoff also designated that much of the White Oak would be milled into extra-long planks that could span from the home’s front entrance all the way to the back door. At 10” wide and ranging from 10’ to 24’ in length, these extraordinarily long oak planks create a striking and unique aesthetic for the home’s ground floor. In addition, Reclaimed Redwood, sourced from decommissioned New York City rooftop water tanks, was used to outfit the home’s custom door and window frames and interior trim.

In the end, what made the Sunnyfield project such a glowing success was the sustained and passionate attention to detail by everyone involved: the client, the designers, and a wide array of talented craftspeople. Looking back, Filkoff remembers the project collaboration with special fondness. “Working with The Hudson Company exceeded our expectations on every level: from their knowledgeable insight and expertise, to their creative ideas, to their ability to source and deliver materials on time and on budget,” she says. “Throughout the project, the collaboration was exceptional. The Hudson Company enhanced the entire process. You know, I could go on and on about this project. Sunnyfield was such a labor of love.”

This installation profile originally appeared in The Hudson Company Journal, Volume 2 - click to learn more about our new print journal and catalogue.

The Hudson Company + Ashley Seil Smith

New York based artist Ashley Seil Smith

“I like the warmth and texture inherent in the Reclaimed Heart Pine flooring, there’s a lot of character and line variation within the grain, which I think complements the line work in my drawings.”

— Ashley Seil Smith

The artist at work.

The Hudson Company + Ashley Seil Smith

Ashley Seil Smith is an artist based in Manhattan, New York with a studio in the lower Hudson Valley.  She has a background in cultural anthropology but earned an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from the School of Visual Arts.  In 2012 she cofounded The Period Store and eventually sold it in 2015 to focus on editorial illustration, fine art, and teaching. Ashley's commercial clients include Google, Case Agency, Forbes, Oyster Books, Isthmus, and various academic journals and nonprofits. The artist lives, and often works, in Manhattan, but escapes to the Hudson River and her studio near Bear Mountain whenever she can. In addition to freelance, commissioned, and fine art work, Ashley teaches art to a variety of ages around Manhattan with Scribble Art Workshop.

The Hudson Company first discovered Ashley's work via her inspiring Instagram feed which is, like her work, full of whimsical observations of both the natural and built environments. It would be easy to peruse Ashley's work - particularly her pen and ink drawings and ethnographic prints - and see it as simplistic. But we think that it is precisely this deceptive simplicity that is so intriguing about Ashley's work. In our opinion, there is a timeless, reflective beauty in her (often small scale) drawings as well as an exotic mystique to her prints and graphic design work.

This summer we reached out to Ashley and asked her to allow us into her creative process. Along with the insights below, Ashley was also kind enough to create a custom mood board for us, using Reclaimed Heart Pine [Original Face] as her backdrop. 

5 Questions with Artist Ashley Seil Smith

Tell us about the tools that you've included in your mood board, what's their origin story? 

I enjoy collecting older tools that can actually be used in my art practice.  Some of them were picked up at antique stores across the United States (particularly along the Hudson River Valley, where my studio is), others I inherited from my grandma, who dabbled in art and was a wildly creative person.  A lot of older tools were designed beautifully, simply, and with quality material, so using them is an esthetic and practical as well.  My rulers are my favorite tools - natural material with interesting designs and stories to tell.

How do you use mood boards in your work? What role do they play in your creative process?

Mood boards keep things concise - I believe "good" mood boards have some parameters - a limit on how much you can add, so it forces you to think through what really inspires you and why.  So much of creativity is about making decisions, and a mood board helps you identify specific things you like or aim for in your own work.

I always keep a small collection of images on a folder in my desktop, and these act as a general mood board for my work, which spans across many mediums.  They are images that I truly love and that inspire me in some way, whether it's the color palette, technique, concept, or the way the image makes me feel.  I go through my little desktop mood board about once a month and always end up editing something out and adding other things that I like better.

There are so many places to go for inspiration these days, where do you go to get inspired?

I like going to places that set my aesthetic standard pretty high, and since I live in Manhattan, I have the opportunity to visit museums fairly often - the Met, MoMA, or Museum of Natural History are some favorites.  If an art exhibit inspires me I always buy the exhibit catalogue, so I have a nice collection of art books started and I refer to them when I'm in a rut.

Other than museums, I also turn to creative sources I trust, like The Great Discontent, and I see a lot of wonderful work on Instagram and Pinterest.  Pinterest, in particular, is great when I'm doing initial research for a project.  And, like many artists, I find a great deal of inspiration in nature. If I'm not working, I'm likely walking outside with my dogs or out for a trail run or hike around Inwood Hill Park.

What can you tell us about the drawing you included in your mood board: was that an original for this mood board or something you created separately? 

This particular ink drawing was done at the beginning of the year and was inspired by Yosemite National Park. I find myself drawing a lot of scenes from places I love or that inspire me. As you can tell, I enjoy the simplicity of pen and ink as well, it's a simple medium that's good for travel, so a lot of my ink drawings are done on location.

Why did you chose this particular Hudson Company flooring as the background for mood board?

I like the warmth and texture inherent in the Reclaimed Heart Pine flooring, there's a lot of character and line variation within the grain, which I think complements the line work in my drawings. I'm a big fan of Hudson Company flooring - you manage to cover all parts of the spectrum, from rustic to modern to classic and beyond.  Natural textures paired with modern design inspire me, which is one of the reasons I started following Hudson Company on various social medium platforms. 

You can learn more about Ashley's work on her website and you can follow her creative journey on Instagram. All above photos are taken from Ashley's website or Instagram feed. All mood board photos by Gentl and Hyers. 

Learn more about Reclaimed Heart Pine [Original Face] here. 

Mood board by Ashley Seil Smith for The Hudson Company

North 1st Street Profile Featuring The Hudson Company on Inhabit Blog

This week, the good people at Inhabit did an in-depth profile on our collaboration with The Corcoran Group for this stunning New York townhouse at North 1st Street. Read Alex Ronan's story outlining how this extraordinary, one of a kind property came to life. 

The Inhabit story is here. More information about our Reclaimed Heart Pine floors is here.

Installation in Focus: Private Residence, Brooklyn, NY

All photos by Evan Joseph. Used with kind permission.

Reclaimed Heart Pine for a Bespoke Brooklyn home

This year, The Hudson Company was proud to provide 2,000 square feet of ¾” x 7” Reclaimed Heart Pine [New Face] and 1,600 square feet of ¾” x 4” x 24” Reclaimed Heart Pine Herringbone [New Face] to this stunning Brooklyn townhouse project. This source material for this project was reclaimed from the New York City area (some of which was salvaged from a nearby Domino Sugar factory that had recently been decommissioned). All of the reclaimed wood flooring was site finished.

A well-crafted labor of love

According to Jeff Lorenz, one of the project's principals, the use of natural-tone woods was a central design goal, 'We set out to create a very natural, warm feeling home. We used a lot of wood between our floors and extensive millwork package. With both, we tried to showcase the materials natural beauty by keeping stains and finishes to an absolute minimum.' Unlike a typical 'owner-driven' design program, this residential development, designed by architect Will Corcoran, was built in anticipation of a future tenant. 'This home was a true labor of love,' says Lorenz, 'we set out to build our dream home in the hopes that the end user would appreciate the extensive material sourcing and craftsmanship.'

From the very beginning, sustainable material sourcing was important to the project. 'We are located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn,' explains Lorenz, 'and one of the neighborhoods most iconic buildings is the Domino Sugar factory. When we learned that we could incorporate material salvaged from such an historic place we knew we had to do it. People's reaction to this part of the project has been truly remarkable.'

A Successful Partnership, An Impressive Result

When all was said and done, the finished home was a profound success - the result of the dedication of numerous creative teams and craftspeople; from the design to the intricate tile and iron work to the beautiful Henrybuilt cabinetry. According to Lorenz, a successful collaboration with The Hudson Company was also a central part of what helped bring the project together, 'Working with Hudson was a great experience; when we came up a bit short of flooring material, they turned around what we needed in no time. When we decided we wanted to make a special 1" x 1" baseboard out of the same flooring material, The Hudson Company milled it down, no problems.'

Now that the project is finished, the only question that we have is, 'when can we move in?'

You can learn more about Reclaimed Heart Pine here or get a quote for your next project here. All photos by Evan Joseph, used with kind permission.

All photos by Evan Joseph. Used with kind permission.

Happy Birthday Whitney!

Opened in the spring of 2015, the extraordinary new Whitney Museum of American Art, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Cooper Robertson Architects, is New York City's newest architectural icon. And we're proud to have custom-milled the more than 65,000 square feet of Reclaimed Heart Pine wood flooring inside the new Whitney. 

Congratulations to the entire Whitney team on a very special first year...we're wishing you many, many more to come.

Introducing Our Limited Edition Reclaimed Belleview-Biltmore Heart Pine

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