"It doesn't matter how many years you've been in this business. If you haven't been in it in the last 5 years, you really don‘t know anything." This was said to me by my dad back in 1991 when my wife and I moved to Roanoke to join the family flooring business. I always thought this was probably the most modest thing he had ever said. At that time, he had over 40 years in the business and to say that the first 35 didn't count for much was hard to believe. The truth of the matter is he was right then and is still right today.
I guess it isn't as much that we have so many floor options now that gets me excited. It's the fact there are so many people talking about it. But that is the case for many products and professions previously thought of as mundane and utilitarian.
There are houses here in Randolph County that have electrical systems that can be programmed to do amazing things and sound systems with drivers mounted behind walls turning the walls into speakers (talk about surround sound). I know of one house which incorporates water from the bottom of the lake into its heating and cooling system dramatically reducing its heating and cooling bill. Technology has changed so much almost anything can be customized for a specific purpose.
But to me, what makes a house special isn't the gadgets and modern conveniences. It's how cleverly they are incorporated into a home without being a distraction.
It's personality over perfection but not at the sacrifice of quality and function. It's looking aged but well maintained.
"Rustic Elegance" is the phrase that best describes what many people are looking for in a home and there are many fine examples in Randolph County. For those fortunate enough to go on Lake Wedowee's Tour Of Homes the last couple of years, you had a first hand look at Rustic Elegance done to perfection.
Now, I know, short of winning the lottery, most of us will never be able to own a house like the Octacello or Camp Stone, but some of the nuances making these homes so warm can be duplicated. These houses are idea boxes not only showing how talented and creative our local builders, decorators and designers are but how it is possible for any of us to incorporate these ideas into our own homes without spending a bundle.
The Huddleston house on Mill Street in Wedowee is one such house built to have an old house feel. Their house sits on a nice lot with some old trees out front and they chose a house plan with a colonial look. Inside they have higher ceilings, hardwood floors and an open staircase. But to me, one of the best decisions was to remove the factory trim boards around the doors and windows and use painted 1x6 boards to trim with. That, along with the taller than standard baseboards, gives the house an authentic look that is subtle, attractive and functional.
Another way to warm up a houses appearance is to recycle. The Octacello and the Baker house are the recycle poster children of Wedowee. Floors, doors, stairs, even some of the ceramic tile in the Octacello is recycled from houses that were torn down. This house impresses me because it's not a house with history, it's a house that holds history. I look at the mismatched floors and doors, the different style spindles in the staircase and the wide variety of furnishings and I see a story in each one just begging to come out and be heard.
Laughter and depression, war and peace, life, death and the struggles and triumphs that came in between have all been witnessed in loyal silence by these inanimate things. They show workmanship in being built by hand to last through the ages and represent the proud work of someone long gone. I like to think some of the work I am a part of will be displayed years from now, long after I'm gone like the old newel post in the Octacello which anchors that magnificent staircase. It is as much art to me as a painting. But unsigned and that, I feel, is the beauty of an anonymous antique. It represents and keeps alive a period in our history and pays homage to all the craftsman who contributed to it instead of just one.
If the Octacello is a house built from salvaged pieces, then the Baker house is pieces built from a salvaged house, or should I say houses, churches, barns etc etc. Rusty tin, heart pine boards, glass, rocks and more was rescued from the scrap heap and assembled through the hard work and determination of this family to create a post card setting that makes my stress level drop in half just looking at it.
In these times of environmental awareness, so many people are looking at buying "green". Bamboo and Cork flooring are considered the greenest products on the market when it comes to floors. But, they are still harvested and combined with machinery to mill it, chemicals to bond it and fuel to transport it. So, I can't see it remotely as close to green as a product made from refuse.
Laminate flooring is made from wood byproducts, waste from sawmills and the like. And the waste from laminate is made into pellets and burned as an efficient heat source in many homes. Shaw, Mohawk, Uniclic and a few other laminates are made here in the USA so not only is less fuel used to get it to your home, American labor is used to manufacture it.

By Charley Norton

Charley Norton is co-owner of Norton's Flooring, a company started by his father in 1976. Norton's Flooring products are in countless homes on Lake Wedowee and throughout the county.