Carlisle Wide Plank Floors

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• Customer Letter: Prefinished Antique Hickory for a Kitchen remodel.

  Posted by GuestBlogger

  Another very happy customer in NJ who purchased our 4-10" Antique Hickory Amber prefinished Hickory for a
  kitchen remodel.  I hope to get pictures from the customer and will pass along, but in the meantime Great job to the guys in the mill for making another amazing floor, and the prefinishing shop for a job well done and helping create another happy customer!
  
  Have a nice day.
  Shanon 
  

  Hi Shanon,
  

  So the floors are all in and installed, and I have to say - they look amazing!!  We absolutely LOVE them!  And of course Jeff and my first reaction was "we should have done the whole downstairs in them".  Well maybe down the road...     Anyway - thank you again for all of your help throughout this process.  You made it a great experience.  Now we just can't wait to get everything else done in the house, so we can move back into those rooms and actually enjoy the floors.
  
  Thanks again!
  Collyn

  Posted on October 1, 2008 at 09:33 AM in (0) Comments

• Wide Plank Floors Rise With The Tide: An Interview with Maine Home+Design’s Joshua Bodwell

  Posted by GuestBlogger

  By Albert Waitt

  Joshua Bodwell is a Maine writer and the Associate Editor of Maine HOME+DESIGN, a magazine dedicated to “capturing the interiors, exteriors, and heart of Maine homes.”  From Revolutionary War-era farmhouses to rehabbed industrial lofts in downtown Portland, Josh Bodwell has seen and written about them all.  The Surface caught up with the ever-busy Bodwell to get his thoughts on wide plank flooring. 

  You've seen a lot of great homes in your position as associate editor at Maine HOME + DESIGN, have you noticed the increased use of wide plank flooring?

  Wood flooring is almost ubiquitous in great Maine homes. In a state that is so valued for its forests and connection to the outdoors, it is not surprising. Many Maine designers—whether they are architects or interior designers—use wood flooring to re-knit a home to the land beyond its walls.

  Why do you think wide plank flooring is becoming so popular?
   
  I think the rise in wide plank flooring’s popularity can be attributed to several factors.

  First, I would note the obvious: it looks great. From a design standpoint, the long, continuous lines achievable with wide planks can be used as a room’s key design element.

  Next, I would have to speculate that the power of nostalgia plays a big part when homeowners in Maine—whether they are year-round residents or second home owners—select this type of flooring for their project. This theory is based upon the dozens of conversations Maine HOME+DESIGN staff has had with countless people in the home building and design field. We hear time and again that there is just something so warm and memorable about wide plank flooring—I personally always relate it to the wide pine floors in my grandparent’s 150-year-old house.

  Lastly, in a time when “sustainability” is on the tips of many tongues, using pine flooring that comes from forests that are being forested with sustainable practices is very appealing to consumers. Utilizing reclaimed wood for flooring is even better—this is not recycling, but upcycling, by which I mean, taking something that is already made and giving it a new, more valuable and sustainable life.

  Statistics show that demand for antique flooring has doubled over the last ten years. Are you seeing more homes with reclaimed wood, antique floors, as well as more recycled or salvaged materials in general? 
  

  Yes, we see homes all the time with reclaimed wood, antique floors. In fact, two weeks ago I was visiting with the wildly talented furniture maker Eric Ritter of Ritter Furniture and we spent a long time talking about the reclaimed wood floors that he had laid in his 175-year-old colonial farmhouse.

  Recycled and salvaged materials are constantly popping up in Maine homes. I think the state has a long history of this sort of smart frugality. These days, there are reasons beyond frugality to use such materials. Again, as I stated previously, consumers are becoming more savvy about where the components of their home come from, how they are manufactured, and how they impact the earth. Antique flooring scores high with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, or LEED, and many people give serious credence to their advice.

  What kind of aesthetic do you find wide plank flooring giving homes on the coast? In the interior of the state?

  As I said earlier, wide plank flooring seems to be a perfect fit for the Maine design vernacular—in the interior of the state, it offers echoes of old barns and farmhouses; along the coast, it epitomizes our ideals of the perfect beachside cottage.

  The aesthetics possible with wood flooring are, as I also said earlier, limitless. A few examples of homes we’ve featured in Maine HOME+DESIGN come to mind:

  Back in May, 2007 we featured a home in a piece entitled “Island Elegance.” In that home (which included Douglas fir walls and ceilings) the antique southern yellow pine floors gave the small island home an added level of sophistication.

  In June of that same year we featured an early 1880s farmhouse in South Freeport where the homeowner (who is also an interior designer) picked old wide-pine-board floors and gave the space an almost French countryside aesthetic.

  Lastly, a Goose Rocks Beach home featured in our new issue, “Land of Leisure” (August, 2008), has gorgeous wide pine floors throughout. While some could argue that pine isn’t “strong” enough to withstand the wear and tear of sand-covered feet, the homeowner and architect felt strongly that the natural aging of the wide pine would add beautifully to the beach cottage-meets-farmhouse aesthetic that they were aiming for.

  Posted on August 13, 2008 at 01:35 PM in Hardwood Flooring • Home Building & Contracting • (2) Comments

• Interior Design and Hardwood Flooring:  Spotlight on designer Krista Stokes - Part II

  Posted by GuestBlogger

  By Albert Waitt

  Krista Stokes is one of Maine's hippest designers and the proprietor of Favela Chic Salvage Boutique and Design.  She was of 14 professionals chosen to work at the exclusive Hidden Pond Resort in Kennebunkport, ME, where she created the "Lazy Days" cottage.  Her work there was pictured in the Boston Globe and chronicled throughout New England. 

  The Floor

  No Knock on Wood

  Krista:  Go for the hardwood, wide plank floor because of "the feel" of it.  And the way it sounds.  The feeling of wood is what I go for-everything else is secondary.  You can do anything you want with it.   It's a really versatile tool.  You're not pigeon-holed into anything. 
  

  Taking Wide Planks One Step Beyond

  Krista:  I love going into a place that has a floor laid in an unexpected way.    It gives people a chance to make the statement:  "You know, I actually thought about my floor."   Anytime you can say that in your home in a nice and easy way, it's great design. 

  For example, you can always take what one would expect a hardwood floor to be and change it.  This ranch I'm doing now is really long.   It already goes on forever.  So instead of doing the floors lengthwise, we said let's cut the room in half and lay the planks short-wise.  You enter through the French doors and on the other side of the room is York Harbor.  The floor takes the distance of your eye and shortens it.  Now you walk in the door and the wood takes your eye outside to the harbor because the floor is pointing you that way. 

  If I were a Carpenter:

  Krista:  Carpenters can lay your planks at an angle, do an original design, a compass rose, or parquet your floor.  You can do anything you want.  The sky's the limit if you can find somebody who likes to work with wood for wood's sake or craft's sake.

  The Décor

  Come Together:

  Krista:  Hardwood flooring is the most versatile thing in your house.  It will do whatever you want it to.  It's all about the décor. 

  You can take the same heart pine wide plank floor and:

  Put a chrome table, with chrome and black leather seats, on that floor.  Paint the wall bright red and hang motorcycle parts on it.  Place a juke box in the corner.  If you like that sort of thing, you'll be thinking, "Sweet."  You've got a floor that is perfect for the room.
  
  Then take all that away, and hang ship wheels on the wall.  Place an old farmer's table in the center of the room, and put up a fireplace mantle with a boat on it.  And wow, the floor's perfect for that room.

  Clear those pieces out and bring in some Angela Adams elements like an area rug or print, an espresso nut dark wood table with white leather chairs, and a bowl of fruit and a side board.  Now you're contemporary and funky, yet traditional.  And the floor is still perfect.  

  As long as you are following other rules that balance out your design and balance out the objective of what you want the room to feel like, you're going to be successful with a wide plank floor.  Everything adds up to create the atmosphere you want. 

  Posted on August 12, 2008 at 02:05 PM in Hardwood Flooring • Home Building & Contracting • Home Decor • (0) Comments

• Chicago: Ronald McDonald House

  Posted by GuestBlogger

  Hi, my name is Gary Ryer and I’ve been working at Carlisle Wide Plank Floors as a sales and design consultant for ten years. Over the years, I’ve had some pretty interesting projects. I’m writing to share with you a very special project that I’m working on in Chicago. It’s the Ronald McDonald House in Oak Lawn and the architect I’m working with is Constantine Vasilios. We have worked together to build a beautiful FSC Certified Antique Oak wide plank floor, part of which will feature a special hand crafted pattern. Carlisle Wide Plank Floors donated the FSC Certified Antique Oak as part of the charity building effort to make a cozy, safe home for local children and families.
  
  I thought I would share this interior sketch:
  
  
  
  Also, here’s an exterior sketch of the Ronald McDonald House in Oak Lawn.
  
  

  I’ll have more updates as the project moves on…hopefully some pictures of the progress too!
  
  Take care,
  Gary
  
  

  Posted on August 12, 2008 at 08:39 AM in (0) Comments

• Interior Design and Wide Plank Flooring:  Spotlight on Krista Stokes - Part I

  Posted by GuestBlogger

  By Albert Waitt 

  Krista Stokes is one of Maine's hippest designers and the proprietor of Favela Chic Salvage Boutique and Design.  She was of 14 professionals chosen to work at the exclusive Hidden Pond Resort in Kennebunkport, ME, where she created the "Lazy Days" cottage.  Her work there was pictured in the Boston Globe and chronicled throughout the region. 

  The Surface sat down with Krista to discuss aspects of decorating for spaces with wide plank flooring.  For the record, the interview was conducted in a public place.  It was also repeatedly (and pleasantly) interrupted by a number of Krista's clients who couldn't pass by without saying hello and talking about their homes.  It's clear that Krista has the makings of a fan club on the Maine coast.   And she has a philosophy when choosing flooring materials:   

  It's the Wood:

  Krista:  For me, it's the wood.  It's part of the earth.  When you walk into a room and see beautiful hardwood floor, it's a feeling that you get.  I love the light reflection of it.  I love the sound of hardwood.  It's a great way to give a space energy.  The wood has traveled long and hard.  Regardless of its history, whether it came out of an old farm in Ohio or a forest in Brazil, it's traveled. Just to bring that into the home means a great deal.

  Floors Tell Stories. 

  Krista:  I recently went through a big debate with some clients.  The wife really wanted a wide plank floor.  The husband wasn't thrilled.  They have a dog and he didn't want the dog's nails to scratch the floor.  I said, "Listen guys, it's life. Let life screw up your floors.   Don't get your floors and then want them to stay the way they are."  

  Floors all tell stories.  It's getting harder and harder for us to instill history with the next generation.  A lot of people want to leave a history for their children, but don't want to relinquish the control of modernity.

  But, it's okay.  Don't sweat it.  It's a floor. It's supposed to be walked on.  Kids are going to run across it.  It's supposed to have dogs' paws on it.  The wood has survived this long and it will survive much longer than us humans.  The first thing you notice when you walk into a room with a wide plank floor is, "Wow, what a great floor."  If you see where a child's toy car left a skid mark, then you might think, "Hey, what happened?"  It's family history.

  Posted on August 11, 2008 at 02:00 PM in Hardwood Flooring • Home Building & Contracting • Home Decor • (0) Comments

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