Raised beyond it's traditional station as a field of color or texture background, the floor serves as a more integrated feature. As important as the objects it supports.


Wood is comfortable in both modern and traditional settings. Also, it's infused with a quality of contradiction — soft and hard, smooth and textured, organic and industrial — it'd be difficult to imagine a circumstance in which it wouldn't harmonize.


Tile: Here, dappled colors beneath a white sofa nearly hold it aloft in their warming energy.

Look closely: A shower. An enclave of stone and tile in a woody disguise.