Surface Blog

Welcome to Surface, a blog by Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. Join us in discussion about hardwood flooring wood grains & styles, home decor, green building products, trends and more.

Monday Morning Mailbag: Family room in Maryland benefits from prefinished Antique Hickory

Posted by Christine Halvorson

Homeowner Bruce Silver sent along these photos of the floor just installed in the family room of his Maryland home. The floors are done in our prefinished Antique Hickory, in 3- to 8-inch widths. The final coating is Amber.

Here’s what Mr. Silver wrote to us when he sent the photos:

The whole family is really thrilled with the new family room Antique Hickory flooring. The wood itself is so rich and warm and full of character. The installation was expertly performed, right down to the specially crafted shoe molding Keith made from a couple of leftover planks.

Many thanks to Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring and to Valued Homes!

Got questions about Carlisle’s prefinished floors? Check them out here.

Posted on February 8, 2010 at 07:52 PM in Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments
Hickory makes for a stunning kitchen floor in Vermont

Posted by Christine Halvorson

This remodeling project was done for a Vermont couple who loves to entertain and cook, and they also did the installation and finishing of the floors themselves. The kitchen designer was kind enough to send over these photographs of the remodeling. The kitchen shows Carlisle’s Hickory, done in a 50-50 blend of 6- and 12-inch widths and finished with an Amber stain. In the upstairs of this home, the customers also installed our Heart Pine.

Posted on February 1, 2010 at 07:20 PM in Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments
Velvet and Linen—and wide plank floors for the bathroom

Posted by Christine Halvorson

Last year about this time, the folks over at the Velvet and Linen blog were asked whether it was a good idea to use hardwood floors in a bathroom. Blogger and interior design consultant Brooke Giannetti answered just as we would have—“Of course!”

Ms. Morelan points out that wood can add a feeling of warmth to what is otherwise a room with a lot of cold surfaces. We couldn’t agree more. To the left are two examples of Carlisle’s Heart Pine in a bathroom. The first one is installed over radiant heat. (See about installing our floors over radiant heat here.)

Go check out Ms. Giannetti’s blog post for a whole array of photos showing wood floors in bathrooms. (The floors aren’t necessarily ours.) The person who wrote to Ms. Giannetti ended up installing one of our Eastern White Pine floors in her bathroom.

Posted on January 22, 2010 at 05:10 PM in Hardwood Flooring • Home Decor • (0) Comments
Five good reasons to use Tung oil on your reclaimed, hard wood floor

Posted by Christine Halvorson

We most often recommend Tung oil as the final step in creating your beautiful floor. Tung oil, which is pressed from the nut of the Tung tree, often makes the most perfect finish to a Carlisle wide plank floor for these reasons:

1. Tung oil is easy to apply and maintain.
2. It is a great alternative to harsh polyurethane or varnish – and gives the floors an authentic “hand-rubbed” look, rather than a “plastic” shine.
3. It penetrates the wood and permanently becomes a part of the floor. This gives the color a richness and depth that isn’t possible with other finishes that sit on the surface of the wood.
4. The floor will never have to be sanded or refinished if Tung oil is used. The oil can be re-applied I high traffic areas—such as a doorway or in front of the sink or refrigerator—when need be.
5. The Carlisle brand of Tung oil is a specially formulated mixture for floors that contains polymers and resins. This gives it the ability to harden, and therefore protect your floor from spills and traffic.

Tung oil has been around a long time. It was used by the Chinese over 500 years ago to waterproof the keels of seagoing ships. Due to its elasticity and penetrating capabilities, Tung oil forms an almost permanent barrier against moisture. Tung oil is still often called “Chinawood Oil,” but it comes from Tung tree farms in the southern United States and Argentina now, too.

This unique oil is used as the protective base that Carlisle recommends for a beautiful finish on every one of our floors. We have experimented with many different finishes. However, we have never found a better finish for sealing and wear protection that, at the same time, creates an antique appearance to your floor.

Original wide plank floors were finished with a mix of Tung and linseed oil, beeswax, and wood ash. This created a hand-rubbed, low luster finish that enhanced the natural characteristics of the wood. In order to recreate this look in today’s floors, and ensure the beauty and long life of your floor, Carlisle recommends only our high resin Tung oil.

Got questions about Carlisle floors? You can request a brochure here, but rest assured, we’re always happy to talk on the phone. Call us at 1-800-595-9663 and we’ll give you a virtual tour our favorite floors.

Posted on January 19, 2010 at 11:11 AM in DIY • Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments
Carlisle’s foot-worn distressed Walnut wide planks goes sky high in Chicago’s Hancock Tower

Posted by Christine Halvorson

Our Sales and Design consultant Gary Ryer sent along this photo as a kind of “sneak peak” into an upcoming magazine spread that will include this above-the-clouds flooring project. We’re talking the 92nd floor of Chicago’s Hancock Tower.

It may be our wide plank Walnut that already has a lot of old-world character to it, but this apartment still manages to pull off a pretty swank metro feel to it, don’t you think? (That’s not surprising to us, but we get a lot of questions about putting wood floors in modern buildings.)

The floor shown here is an 8-inch, select grade Walnut, that has been “distressed” with a foot-worn feel. The boards were then finished with a clear matte finish that was applied after installation.
We’re pretty excited about the project and, apparently, so was the owner—he’s already ordered another 3,000 square feet for a couple more units he bought next door to this one!

Here’s another example of a footworn Walnut, using a fancy tile inlay technique and more about the footworn distressed style.

And another way you can see how the traditional and the modern can blend pretty well in a variety of settings.

Posted on December 30, 2009 at 12:01 AM in Hardwood Flooring • Home Decor • (0) Comments