Surface Blog

Carlisle a professional member of ICA&CA

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

Carlisle is honored to have recently joined The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America (ICA&CA). We’ve worked with many of the organization’s members in the past, and we’re looking forward to supporting the Institute as professional members. About the ICA&CA:

“The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America (ICA&CA), founded as two separate nonprofit organizations in 1991 and 1968, respectively, merged in 2002. Today the Institute—Institute of Classical Architecture & Art—is the leading nonprofit organization, represented by 14 chapters nationwide, dedicated to advancing the classical tradition in architecture, urbanism and their allied arts. It does so though education, publication, and advocacy.”

Click here to visit the Institute’s website.

Posted on Aug 08, 2011 AT 03:26 AM in News & Events • (2) Comments

Reclaimed Heart Pine a perfect match for home on Idaho’s Priest Lake

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

Kevin Crowder of our Denver showroom sent along these photographs of a cabin on Priest Lake, Idaho. Check out the Carlisle Reclaimed Heart Pine floors, finished with Tung Oil!

Reclaimed Heart Pine’s classic rich orange, amber, and pumpkin hues are complemented by occasional nail holes, wormholes, saw kerfs and watermarks to create a gorgeous one-of-a-kind floor. This is the wood that built America, and is today reclaimed from factories, warehouses, and other old buildings throughout the East and Southeast.

Click here to learn more about our eco-friendly Reclaimed flooring.

Posted on Aug 01, 2011 AT 02:48 AM in Green Building • (3) Comments

Restoration blog highlights historic Maryland house renovated with Carlisle floors

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

We want to share with you a wonderful blog that’ll fascinate history buffs, restoration buffs, and lovers of American history alike. Hopeful Unity c 1682, which tells the ongoing story of the restoration of an historic Maryland farmhouse, is subtitled “On the journey of restoration and rebirth of an old soul, in the form of an abandoned pre-revolutionary house resting quietly in a field…”

We’re particularly pleased to have been part of this project. Working with Carlisle Sales and Design Consultant Shanon Sterrett, the homeowners chose Hickory planks, and finished them with Carlisle stain.

“Floors are beautiful, from Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring, Gingerbread stain and Tung Oil finish, with the knots left in when milled,” the homeowner/blogger wrote in her May 27, 2011 entry.

She wrote more about the floors in her January 24, 2011 entry:

“Well, the floor’s no longer natural in color…..it looks a lot different now. Today the first coat of Tung oil is being applied over this stain coat, so by the end of the week it’ll look even more different than these photos. This color is a custom historic stain called “Gingerbread” created by Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. It really toned down the color variation inherent in the hickory and is true to the time period. It gives the place a warmer tone. When the Tung oil is finished, it’ll be different even still as the Tung oil has a slight color to it as well.”

We had a great time browsing in this blog, and we hope you will, too. Go back to the earliest entries for some fascinating looks at the history of the house and land. You’ll also find great photos throughout.

Here are installation pictures of the floors. Enjoy!

Posted on Jul 29, 2011 AT 05:50 AM in Hardwood Flooring • Restoration Projects • (2) Comments

Red Oak floors a great fit in Aiken, S.C.

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

A big thanks to J. D. Cooper of Cooper Home & Stable in Aiken, South Carolina, for sending along these photos of an Old Growth Red Oak floor recently installed in an Aiken home. The customers worked with Carlisle’s Shanon Sterrett to select heirloom grade planks in 7-inch face widths and random lengths ranging from 3 to 14 feet. The craftsmen in our Custom Shop milled the boards to a three-quarter-inch thickness and added a tongue-in-groove edge and stress reliefs. The floor is finished with our Oatmeal Stout stain.

It’s a beautiful floor that adds to a warm and inviting home. Feast your eyes!

Posted on Jul 28, 2011 AT 05:33 AM in Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments

Utah customers “Love, Love, Love” their Eastern White Pine floor

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

Sometimes our customers know exactly what kind of floor they want. Sometimes they’ve seen something they like and hope to replicate it. Sometimes they want a certain look or feel, be it rustic or modern, classic or elegant. Sometimes they want a floor that’s historically accurate for their antique home.

What we want is for our customers to be happy. That means working with them to bring their vision for a new floor to reality. It’s no surprise that the Carlisle staff members who work most directly with customers (and with their designers, architects, and builders) are called “Sales and Design Consultants.” They’re skilled at walking you through all of the types of wood that we offer and matching those woods to the appropriate hand-made surface from our custom shop, as well as to the perfect Carlisle stain and/or finish. Our Sales and Design Consultants will even guide you or your installer through the installation and finishing process with written instruction and phone assistance.

Our website, with its hundreds of photographs of floors that have been installed around the US and beyond, is designed to help in the process, too.

To give you an example of how it works, we share the story of a homeowner from Park City, Utah. She wanted floors that resembled those in two of the photos on our website (you can view the photos here and here). We helped her select 850 square feet of our Premium Eastern White Pine in 5- to 9-inch face widths with a Hit or Miss surface, finished with Gingerbread stain and Carlisle Tung Oil.

The skilled craftspeople in our Custom Shop created exactly the surface look she wanted.

The customer is delighted with her new floor. She sent along this note recently:

“We Love, Love, Love our floor.  We adore it and could not be happier with the final product.  It is gorgeous!”

Click here to learn about the process of selecting a Carlisle floor that’s right for you, your style, your home, and your budget.

Posted on Jul 26, 2011 AT 12:13 AM in (2) Comments