Beyond the Surface: Why Maintaining Hardwood Preserves More Than a Material

When neurodesign expert Linda Kafka talks about hardwood, she doesn't begin with species or finishes.

She begins with stories.

One of those stories comes from her childhood recreation room. The basement was lined with wood paneling. A massive tree-slab coffee table sat in the center of the room. Family gathered there. Conversations happened there. Life unfolded there.

Today, decades later, Kafka can still picture it.

“It wasn’t the polished living room we weren’t allowed to touch,” she recalls. “It was the place where we could really be ourselves.”

For Kafka, those memories reveal something important about hardwood: its value can deepen through use. That belief sits at the heart of her work in neurodesign, an emerging discipline that examines how the built environment influences the nervous system, emotions, behavior, and overall well-being—and it offers a compelling argument for maintaining hardwood rather than replacing it.

More Than a Material

For much of the design industry, hardwood has been discussed in terms of aesthetics, durability, craftsmanship, and sustainability. Kafka believes those qualities tell only part of the story.

A sample can showcase color, grain, and finish. What it cannot capture is experience: how hardwood feels beneath bare feet, how it sounds underfoot, how daylight interacts with the grain, or how the material shapes the emotional experience of a room.

“There is an experiential side of hardwood,” Kafka says. “And I think the industry needs to lean into it.”

Neurodesign explores that experience beyond what people consciously see. “Our brains are constantly scanning our environments,” Kafka explains. “They’re looking for comfort, safety, familiarity, and information.” The brain continually processes far more sensory information than reaches conscious awareness. Much of our experience of a space occurs beneath the surface of deliberate thought.

Why Hardwood Feels Different

“We evolved in nature,” Kafka says. “We did not evolve in a box.”

For most of human history, people lived among trees, water, stone, plants, and organic forms. Research increasingly supports the idea that those natural connections matter. A review published in Wood Science and Technology found that exposure to wood-rich environments is associated with reduced physiological stress responses compared with spaces with fewer natural materials. Other studies have reported lower levels of tension, anxiety, and fatigue among participants exposed to wooden interiors.

Researchers continue to investigate the mechanisms behind these responses, but the findings suggest that wood may contribute to environments people perceive as calmer, warmer, and more restorative. Hardwood also brings an authenticity that manufactured uniformity cannot reproduce: grain shifts, knots appear, and color varies from board to board. That individuality becomes even more meaningful with age.

The Value of What Time Leaves Behind

One of Kafka’s favorite examples comes from real estate listings.

“When I see a listing that says it has original hardwood floors, I still think, ‘Oh, that’s special,’” she says. The subtle wear pattern in a hallway, a stair tread polished by decades of footsteps, or the floor beneath a dining table where generations gathered can be described as imperfections. Kafka sees them as records.

“Natural materials have a story to tell,” she says. Her perspective echoes the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, which celebrates beauty found in age, weathering, and imperfection. Hardwood embodies that philosophy because it can be refinished, restored, and renewed while retaining character accumulated over decades. Maintenance, then, becomes an act of stewardship rather than simply upkeep.

Preserving Craftsmanship and Connection

Kafka’s understanding of stewardship is rooted in something deeply personal, long before she ever worked in neurodesign.

She grew up watching her father work as a stonemason, shaping and placing each stone by hand with remarkable patience and precision.

“My dad would stand there and chisel stone and fit it together like a puzzle,” she recalls. “When I look at his work today, I remember the human being who made them.”

That early experience shaped how she now sees materials like hardwood. To her, wood carries a similar human imprint—grown, harvested, milled, finished, and installed through many hands and decisions before it ever becomes part of a space. Maintaining it, then, is not just about preserving a surface, but about honoring the chain of craftsmanship embedded within it rather than discarding it.

Designing for Longevity

Modern design culture often prioritizes what is new. Trends change rapidly, and materials can be replaced long before they reach the end of their useful lives.

Neurodesign suggests another way of thinking: if environments influence how people feel, longevity itself can become a design strategy.

Hardwood offers designers a material that can age, be renewed, and remain in service. Refinishing extends its useful life while retaining the grain, workmanship, and evidence of use that make an existing surface distinctive.

“The grain remains. The craftsmanship remains,” Kafka says. “And the experiences remain.”

Bringing the Story Forward

As designers increasingly focus on environments that support human well-being, Kafka believes hardwood offers an opportunity to broaden the conversation about value—not only in terms of aesthetics and performance, but in terms of experience.

“Think beyond the sample board,” she says.

Maintaining hardwood is ultimately an act of preservation—not just of wood, but of memory, craftsmanship, and connection. When cared for properly, those qualities can continue to grow richer with time.

Sources

Burnard, Michael D., and colleagues, “Wood and Human Stress in the Built Indoor Environment: A Review,” published in Wood Science and Technology in 2015.

Rice, Jennifer, and colleagues, “Human Stress Responses in Office-Like Environments with Wood Furniture,” published in Building Research & Information in 2019.

Terrapin Bright Green, 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design: Improving Health and Well-Being in the Built Environment.

Tsunetsugu, Yoshifumi, and colleagues, research on the physiological effects of wood environments published in the Journal of Wood Science and related publications.

Semir Zeki, Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and the Brain, Oxford University Press, 1999.