Revel Woods Samples
Hardwood flooring is a huge purchase. Not only can it be a significant investment, but it’s also something you’ll live with for a long time. For those reasons, we don’t recommend you purchase a floor without first getting a sample.
Revel Woods was developed around the concept of improving literally every aspect of the hardwood flooring buying process, which is why we took a fresh and modern approach to sampling as well.
We created our sampling process with three key criteria in mind. Our samples are:
1. Accurate
Before we tried to figure out the best method of sampling, we first needed to go back and figure out what sampling truly needed to accomplish. No sample will ever provide a 100% perfect idea of what a floor will ultimately look like, simply because wood is a plant-based material and there will always be slight variations. However, a sample still needs to give you a reasonably accurate idea of the floor’s:
- Color
- Sheen
- Texture
- Variation (knots, streaks, grain pattern, etc.)
Color, sheen, and texture can actually be represented fairly accurately in a small piece, and each sample includes two pieces because we also wanted to show the bevel and how the floorboards will look when put together.
The true challenge lies in accurately showing the floor’s variation. That is difficult to do in just about any size sample, because when you have 1,000 square feet of a natural product made from trees, it’s virtually impossible to show you everything you might see in a four piece sample designed to fit on a rack in a carpet store.
To solve this, we turned to photography. All of the studio pictures on our site involve at least 40 square feet of flooring (two full boxes of each product), which are considerably larger, and more effective in showing variation than any sample you’ll find at any store. Pictures are great at a showing variation, but they are notoriously inaccurate when it comes to color, texture, sheen, etc.
Our solution was to design our samples and our pictures to work together. This means that our sample process is more comprehensive and accurate than traditional wood floor sampling.
2. Portable
Flooring is an essential part of any space, and you want to make sure whatever you select is perfect for that space. By making our sample boxes compact, you get an accurate idea of the color, sheen, and texture, but can still easily transport them to a local showroom to checkout out cabinets, countertops, area rugs, etc. Our sampling process was created with the on-the-go, interior designer in mind.
Trust us when we tell you carrying around those large flooring store samples will have you looking and feeling like a pack mule. Plus, they inevitably get scratched and dented in the back of your car while you drive around town, which leads us to:
3. Easy
Samples should be easy: easy to get, easy to understand, and easy to return. Most flooring store samples need to be returned to the store, or you get charged for them. That makes for an extra trip; plus, you have to keep them in mint condition while in your possession, which is a job in and of itself when you’re handling large and unwieldy wood samples.
The Revel Woods sample box includes four samples (8 individual pieces of wood) for $15 and there’s no need to return them (we actually won’t let you - they’re yours forever). Our samples are slotted in each box with dividers, making them organized, self contained, and super easy to transport and store.
Revel Woods is the smart, easy, and modern way to buy premium hardwood flooring.