For decades, the message from Muscanell Millworks has always been the same- when it comes to our solid hardwood flooring, you can count on quality. From the milling tolerances to grading characteristics to the extra attention paid to moisture levels, our team has committed to producing the best possible product for our market.

Well, that’s what we claim anyway- so how can we prove it?

It’s not always just our words that matter, so we decided to start talking more with the craftsmen and flooring pros who have their boots on the ground and their hands on the wood to get their thoughts on the matter. First up, we chatted with Everette Simmons of Furniture Grade Floors.

The Basics:

• ES has 15 years in the industry
  • Initial background in fine woodworking, custom cabinetry and furniture
  • First worked with hardwood flooring at Colorado Custom Wood Floors under Phil Stevens
• Based in Silverthorne in Summit County
  • Services Breck – Vail – Frisco – Winter Park – Steamboat – Surrounding Areas
• Phase 1 of Furniture Grade Floors established around 2018, went full-force with it in 2023
• Currently booked with jobs through 2027
• Certifications:
  • Lägler PST® Certified
  • Bona Certified Craftsman
  • Institute of Fine Woodworking education
  • LED Coatings by Archetypal Certification

The Foundation and Fundamentals of FGF:

Initially, furniture making was the life plan for Everette and installing floors helped pay the bills in the meantime. Over time though, that perspective changed.

“As I started doing tables and building custom cabinets, I realized that there is a dying art in doing wood floors, and there’s a dire need for it. It’s an unexpendable good. Whereas tables and fine furniture are not a necessary part of the house, but a floor is. So I decided I wanted to take the fine woodworking background to wood floors, and sort of put ourselves in a little bit of a different box than what your typical hardwood floor company is today.”

The importance of showcasing the artistic elements of wood is certainly evident in the jobs accomplished by FGF. Hardwood floors in sweeping great rooms, custom color schemes, seemingly floating box tread stairs suspended by deceptively-strong cables, and delicate inlay details that would be welcome in any A&D showcase permeate their jobsites. The team is able to appeal to their own creative natures while also fulfilling what Everette called “an addiction for customer satisfaction.”

The Work:

Furniture Grade Floors boldly states that “there is no better custom floor than site-finished hardwood,” (and at Muscanell, we must say we agree). There’s a lot that goes into crafting that perfect custom floor, including providing technical direction mixed with helping customers discover some emotional insights.

“We go in for a consultation with the client, it’s usually my wife and myself. I ask them a lot of questions about their space and how they want it to feel because color and all this is a feeling. Even the grade of your wood is a feeling. It’s not that you want rustic wood. Like, why do you want rustic? What do you want it to do?”

By helping people realize this, it entrenches FGF in a deeper level of the whole building or remodeling process. Once they’re in the door for flooring, it often leads to additional opportunities for staircases, built-ins, and finish work all because it’s quickly understood that the commitment put into the flooring transcends to these other areas as well.

The People:

Throughout several points in our conversation, Everette was quick to share his appreciation of the people who surround and support him in the hardwood realm. From the mentorship of his first boss Phil to the artistic input and moral/emotional support from his wife Brit, Simmons was plentiful with the kudos.

When it comes to the team at FGF, there’s a solid mix of industry veterans and folks new to wood overall. Each has their own area of specialization: primary partner Emmanuel is the chemistry master for making colors, Vitaly the main installer has a lineage of working on European castles and parketry and has ‘out of this world’ carpentry skills. Justin “Shiv” is a decorative metal artist who matches Everette’s passion for stairs with his railings and metal work, and Allie the former tech worker-turned-business manager runs the backend of the business and client relations.

“Everyone has a specialty, but the one thing that I think where we differ than a lot of other floor companies that you’ll see is it’s not an option, it’s a requirement for me that everyone understands how to sand and finish a floor the way that we do it, everyone understands how to install a floor the way that we do it… If a client or a home builder catches anyone on our team, everyone can speak to [the situation] in a very similar way.”

There’s a shared mindset and recognition amongst the FGF team that can be seen in the finished product. 

“I want people to have a good attitude and to be kind and happy and enjoy what they’re doing…if you’re not happy, then I don’t think we’re ever going to get the results or the quality of work that we want.”

On Using Muscanell Hardwood Flooring:

Speaking of appreciation, the team at Muscanell might have blushed a little at what Everette had to say about working with our hardwood flooring:

“So, I am OCD about a lot of things. There’s nothing I am more crazy about than the materials and the wood that we are using…. Acclimation is everything, milling tolerances are everything to a quick install and a good install. So I’ve been using Muscanell my entire career. It’s all Phil Stevens used. I grew to love the product and the relationships we have with everyone there…

It blends well with our market, it blends well with our business model. And the quality when you have a mom and pop milling company, their attention to detail complements our attention to detail.

When I show a client, I open up a bundle when we deliver and I just put it together with my fingers. And that’s the milling… The color grading is exceptional… specifically Muscanell, the color grading is second to none. So when I talk about custom color and the tones, I already know how to make the color because I know what the wood is going to look like and how the wood is going to act. It’s such a game changer.

Where we live in the Rockies, we have extreme climates. You know, right now our outside moisture content is about 3%, and you have swings from minus ten degrees in the wee hours of the morning up to 60 degrees in the day. So if you just take any commodity mill, that standard of dryness and milling tolerance is not as high- the wood gets shocked. When it gets here, the acclimation can be a nightmare. It twists and moves. And, Colorado is a very difficult place to work with wood so that comes into play. And in fact, you know, [Muscanell] is one of only two options I give clients to use for mills. There is no other option- it’s those or we’re not taking on the project. I believe in their products that much.”

So, to circle back to the question of how we can prove we have the best possible flooring for our market… 

We suppose there is no real finite evidence, but the greatest ambassadors of Muscanell Millworks are the hardwood flooring craftsmen who can speak from both the technical and tactical standpoints. Whether it’s the how-to knowledge of installing or sand and finish or being a visionary in developing the ideal environment, we’ll certainly take the word of the pros who work with our flooring every day.

To contact the team at Furniture Grade Floors, call 303-506-5401, email info@fgfloors.com, or click here