Shaw Floors’ Grand Canyon hardwood floor was recently featured in an award-winning floor project spearheaded by Buffalo, N.Y. retailer M P Caroll Hardwood. Commissioned by a local Buffalo, N.Y. resident, the 300 square foot dining room floor, featuring unique detailing and an intricate triangle design, achieved the Wood Floor of the Year “Best Manufacturer Factory Finished” award by the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA).

“This artistic project is the result of a variety of industry experts merging design talent, premier product and installation skill to create an award-winning floor,” said Scott Sandlin, Shaw Floors’ vice president of hardwood. “We are honored that our beautiful Grand Canyon hardwood floor became such an integral part of the final design concept.”

The selection process was led by Mark Taylor, of Mark Taylor Interiors located in Buffalo, New York. The winning floor is part of 4,000 square feet of newly installed hardwood flooring. The floor consists of hundreds of individual hardwood pieces hand cut at Caroll's wood shop from prefinished hand scraped Shaw Grand Canyon hardwood and Black Samoan Mahogany flooring (by Johnson).

Grand Canyon features hand-scraped detailing and an 8" width. Made from hand-picked solid hickory byproducts, the floor is environmentally-friendly and offers an elegant look, according to the company. Grand Canyon is additionally Cradle to Cradle Silver certified by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, which offers a rigorous and comprehensive certification program that evaluates products and materials for human health, environmental health and recyclability.

"The designer fell in love with Grand Canyon. They could have picked anything and they picked Shaw,” said Mike Caroll, owner of M P Caroll Hardwood. “It was the perfect 8" wide hand-scraped hickory, and would normally cost forty to fifty percent more, so the price point was very well received by the client. The look is just what they wanted.”

The National Wood Flooring Association announced the winners of its 2012 Wood Floor of the Year contest during its Wood Flooring Expo held in Orlando, Fla. The recognition program was developed to encourage and recognize innovative craftsmanship and design in the wood flooring installations. Since the program began in 1990, more than 200 awards have been presented to NWFA member companies throughout the United States and Canada, as well as Russia and Finland.

The winning entries were announced during an Awards Luncheon held in April. This year's awards were presented by HGTV celebrity carpenter/designer Carter Oosterhouse.