Distilled Collection Lithuanian oak: a designer brings a taste of home to New Zealand
Designer Sigita Kupača chose Vienna Woods’ Distilled Collection in French 75 for her New Zealand home, a floor of slow-grown Lithuanian oak. She grew up surrounded by Baltic oak in Latvia, so the choice was personal: European oak, made to order, laid to be the hero of the house.
A floor that fits everyday life
Sigita Kupača of Sigita Design was renovating her New Zealand home and wanted it built around her family, not the other way around. “I wanted a home that would suit our everyday life. It needed to fit in with us, not the other way around,” she says. Clean architectural lines, open space, natural accents, and room to breathe.
The floor had to carry all of it. She wanted one she and her guests could walk on in heels or boots without a second thought, not a floor to tiptoe around.
Distilled Collection, French 75
Sigita chose the Distilled Collection in French 75, a European oak grown and milled in Europe from Lithuanian oak. For her the choice was personal. “I am from Latvia. I chose it because it is sourced from Lithuanian oak, the same oak I grew up surrounded by,” she says. The wood even lined her school floors as a child, floors she polished during the holidays. “I wanted to bring a taste of my childhood to my home in New Zealand.”
French 75 reads as a soft, neutral oak, warm without pulling the room in any one direction. It is engineered timber flooring, made to order, so most Distilled runs land on a four to five month lead.
The hero of the home
“The flooring is, in a way, the hero of our home,” Sigita says. She built the palette around it, choosing colours and furnishings to complement the neutral oak rather than compete with it. The result is the simple, subtly sophisticated look she was after: architectural lines softened by natural timber underfoot.
Slow-grown northern oak like this is known for its tight, dense grain, part of the reason Sigita trusted it to handle real life. As general guidance, engineered European oak suits busy family homes well, though how any floor wears depends on the finish, the traffic and how it is looked after.
Let the floor lead
Sigita’s move was to specify the floor first and design outward. Neutral oak gives a scheme room to move: you can layer texture, colour and light on top without the floor dating the space. It is a useful approach for any renovation where the flooring is the largest single surface in the room.
Order this colour
See French 75 and the rest of the Distilled Collection in your own light before you commit.
The Distilled Collection
European oak, made in Europe, made to order. Browse the full colour range.
Keep it looking sharp
Simple care keeps an oak floor looking its best. Here is how we look after ours.
Bring a little of Europe into your home
Order free samples of the Distilled Collection Lithuanian oak, or tell us about your project and we will quote it.
