Before the days of electric refrigeration people didn’t have to wait until winter to try to keep things cool. Our ancestors developed an exceptional ( and totally eco! ) way of cooling. They cut ice from the rivers in wintertime, stored it mostly in underground icehouses and brought it out in summer to use in iceboxes that nearly every household had. It was ingenious really.

When we were invited to inspect a really huge barn near Brackley PEI we heard that there was a basement under the barn. This is actually very rare so we were intrigued. Upon arrival we learned that the basement was indeed an underground storage warehouse for a huge distributor of “ice”.

The “cellar” as it would have been referred to was humongous. Nearly 10,000 square feet. We were first very disappointed to see the floor was almost completely rotted out,…but disappointment turned again to excitement when we began to examine the walls. Sixty years of ice being packed into the cellar had produced an incredible patina on the surface of the walls. We agreed to salvage the barn ( which was destine to be burnt as practice for the local fire department!!) and thus our icehouse floor was created. Check out the special patina this floor has. There is nothing else like it. Tell your friends the story of the ice house as you walk across your floor ..to the fridge!

In the early 1990’s I had the good fortune to travel across this beautiful country of ours. What a greatly blessed country we have, the future really belongs to us! One of the more interesting evenings I spent on this trip was in a little Saskatchewan town called Davidson. This small very beautiful town had about 100 buildings with one mammoth in the middle ..The local grain elevator. This one had been closed for some time however it was so beautiful and majestic I took many pictures from many angles. Curiosity has been a big part of my life …you know the rest, despite the sign.. …I went inside anyway. Two things amazed me, the sheer size and history but also something small, very small. The markings on the wood were carved out by the barley that had for so many years flowed over the boards. It was unlike any other wood I had ever seen. Every piece of wood differed from another but all had the same theme, the flow of barley echoed the flow of our countries history over the previous hundred years.

I was never in a position to acquire this wood as the buildings began to disappear from the prairie horizon, but I never forgot that incredible unique beauty and sense of history the boards had. Today in honor of those prairie towers and the role they played in our countries history we have created the “grain Elevator” floor. Every single marking is hand carved in to these recycled echo boards. No machine can ever recreate that beauty I saw that evening, and we guarantee no board will ever be the same in yours or your neighbors “grain Elevator” floor.

Ah the days we spent in the hayloft as a kid. That magical place felt like a cathederal only this wasn’t a church with rules that we couldn’t make any noise or fall asleep. This was a church where we could have fun playing with friends or just sit alone in the silence and watch the light shine brightly through the hay door sometime seeming like God himself was warming our young faces. There still is a great sense of spirit inside the many abondonde haylofts that dot the countryside. Sadly as over the last few decade agriculutur has change and old barns are now absolete and quickly falling down or being bulldozed into firewood. Vintaged wood wants to save as many old barns as possible and recapture that hayloft spirit so our clients can have that spirit right in there own living room , bedroom, or kitchen.

Exoeriance 100 to 200 yaers of history every time you step on your hayloft floor, think of all the hay that was stored here over the decade and all the hayforts and fun times all those generations of kids had …“in the Hayloft”

Every hayloft is different, so to are all our hayloft floors. Vintaged can hand make your hayloft floor to your taste or we can simply pull up the floor, lightly prcess it and make it your own. Colors, sizes and lengths vary with the barn itself so peruse or “Hayloft gallery”

Most people have read “footprints in the sand” That wonderful old , very simple story of our faith carrying us in our difficult times. If you have never read “Footprints” google it now and give it a go. If you haven’t read it in a while the give it another perusing as soon as you can. The simplicity of this story sometimes hides the depth of it, but even a simple read is sure to lift you.

I remember on a particularly hot summer day our kids had rounded up every garden hose on my property, then proceeded to make the biggest and I admit a very cool water spray fountain. They played and played and eventually pulled old dad in for a soaking. It was so much fun!

After the fun was over I couldn’t help notice the individual footprints of our three beautiful children. Their feet had been wet and they left their marks all over the deck. The hot sun had already began to fade them and I felt sad as they disappeared. I wished the prints could stay forever to remind me of their play.

I am after all a foolish entreprenure, I cant help it. Vintaged will send you a footprint kit, you retrieve your childrens footmarks and we will sutily blend them into a floor to creat a life long image of your kids little feet. The hard vintage finish will ensure these marks will never fade.

…why not add a couple of hand print accents.

Why are we so attracted to it? Those abandoned buildings at abandoned ends of town. The places our Grandfathers worked, sweated, hoped and lived so much of their lives. The boards are beat, scraped, burnt and damaged by years of hard use. This stuff isn’t made in a factory …….this is the factory. It’s not smoothness that’s beautiful, there nothing smooth about this. It’s the history and the “Feeling” that radiates from this floor. And oh yeah, ….oddly it looks so beautiful in a new home or condo.

As always there are no two factory floors the same and there are no two vintaged floors the same. It’s yours and only yours. Enjoy transferring the feeling to your friends.

When Bev McRae first called Vintaged Wood about having us salvage one of his old buildings , we thought this would be a run of the mill project. After all the building wasn’t as old as what we were used to, this was a mere 70 or 80 years old. There would be none of the beautiful old hand hewn timber we so often get exited about. This was what we call a “round nailer” referring that it was too new to have anything really cool in it. What’s that old familiar saying about the book and its cover???

Were we in for a surprise, as it turned out this barn was actually a former garage and was formerly located on the military base at Sumerside PEI. After seeing some very distinctive marking especially on the floors of the building, we began to research the history of this structure. As it turned out this was the military “ Cycle shop” on the base and also serving motorcycle pilots in the surrounding area. There were still parts from early Harley Davidson and Indian Motorcycles. There was even a magnificent hand painted mural of the Indian Motorcycle logo on the side wall of the old shop. ( albeit under 60 years of dirt and grime) yes this is where for years all the military “Indians” were repaired. Years of oil changes , paint jobs , tool marks and yes very distinctive kickstand marks gracing the floors of this cool old spot. When we powerwashed the floor history was revealed. Although junk to many it looked like VanGough to us. Although we did reclaim the whole building the floors were sold to a condo in Halifax, but we created “Cycle Shop” to relay the same feeling of history that we had when first uncovering the old floors.

Try your own “cycle shop” in the living or family room. Imagine the stories you can tell as you sip a pint in the bar area or how about line your garage walls with these timeless pieces. Anywhere you want it the cycle shop floor will be yours and only yours, because each of our Vintaged floors is as always ……one of a kind.

A walk on the beach has always been a spiritual time for me. No matter what the day has brought, a walk on the sands seems to have such a calming affect. I am very blessed to be born and now continue to live in a place that has miles of the world’s most beautiful beaches. I hope all our customers can come to Prince Edward Island and experience the peace of a walk on the endless grains of sand that massage every step taken.

When I began to reclaim wood, I started with the outside of an old barn not far from my favorite beach. As I stood and looked at the boards that were weathered by over 150 years of wind and rain, I noticed that the patterns closely resemble that of the way the wind and water shaped the many sandbars at the shoreside. With “sandbar floor” I have tried to capture the peace and spirit of the beach. The waves on the boards are actually raised and the floor has a very distinct , “massaging” feeling on ones feet…similar to a sandbar! I have had many people pre order this floor as….wall paneling, it does look like

“one of a kind” although I like it on feet.

The Grain Room, Almost the heart of the barn. The hayloft may be the spiritual center of the barn, but the grain room , at least according to the animals, is the most important place in the world. I remember well when I was a child, if a cow got loose from its pen it was almost too easy to find. They would gorge themselves up at the Grain Room.

Years of storing grain in these rooms produces one of the most unique patinas we have. Over time even the lowly lightweight piece of grain ( barley or Oats ) combined with the stacking of tones of cousins on top creates all kinds of cool indents. Pieces of grain may look alike but they never lay the same way, thus as always …no two Grain Room floors are ever the same just like all Vintaged floors. Wait till your friends ask “what is that floor!”

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. I sometimes think I must have made more mistakes than anyone else. I used to worry about this when I was younger, but as life continues I see my crazy mistakes more as a gift. I think it’s actually my mistakes that have led me to have such a rich life. I suppose the fact that God keeps pouring love upon me has a lot to do with it as well!

VintagedMix was perhaps more of an accident than a mistake. When I was making the prototypes for the Vintaged line I would bring the samples into my home from our shop. It was my children who began to piece the boards together in random order. They had an absolute ball deciding which piece might go where. ( our early customers experienced the same thing!) Soon we had 500 sq feet of mixed flooring. I was amazed when people began to say wonderful things about the mix. So far this has proven to be our most popular floor. Perhaps this mix exemplifies best the richness of what we sometimes let go to waste. It’s all recycled and it’s always one of a kind!

If I might be so bold as to add this thought ….. Make mistakes! Don’t ever be afraid, go ahead and do it. Make mistakes, it will only enrich your life. Have fun …and believe!