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.

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
MONDAY MORNING MAILBAG: Longleaf Heart Pine is the answer for this North Carolina living room

Posted by Christine Halvorson

A couple in North Carolina sent along pictures of their living room as they prepare to do some more of their house.

Their living room was done with premium grade Longleaf Heart Pine then finished with Autumn Leaf stain and Tung Oil.

Gregg and Marsha Martin are looking to other parts of their house and doing it in prefinished county pine with the challenge of matching the new with the existing living room.

Posted on October 26, 2009 at 02:48 PM in Home Decor • (0) Comments
It’s the pictures telling this story of ultra-modern decor mixing with traditional wood floors

Posted by Christine Halvorson

While it’s cliche to say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, it’s easy to see how the cliche came to be when you look at the pictures of this home owned by Heidi Mellin. The recently completed home was built by Old Greenwich Builders and the floor was installed by Front Range Floor Specialists Nate Sauer. But, it’s the photos that tell the story.

The home style is described as “mid-century modern.”

The floor is all 6-inch wide select and premium grade White Oak with micro beveled edges. The finish is White WOCA oil with Naturale as the final top coat. You can see more about these types of custom finishes here.

Photo credits: (cr) Copyright 2009, Ryan Policky – flickr.com/ryanpolicky

Posted on August 31, 2009 at 09:50 AM in Home Building & Contracting • Home Decor • (0) Comments
Red Oak highlights rustic kitchen

Posted by Christine Halvorson

Nancy, a customer in Stow, Mass., did her kitchen floor with pre-finished Red Oak and the result, as you can see from the photos, is striking.

The flooring, done in 10-inch widths, mixes beautifully with the other touches in the kitchen, especially the 1850s-era reproduction cast iron cookstove.

In combination with the floor, the kitchen, the cabinets, the appliances and the cabinetry give it all a rustic, homey look and feel.

After completing the floor and living with it a few weeks, Nancy wrote us to ask how best to clean it. Should she use vinegar and water? Yes, we answered! That’s the best way to clean our floors.

Posted on August 26, 2009 at 09:03 PM in Hardwood Flooring • Home Decor • (0) Comments
Each board had to have character in this Heart Pine floor

Posted by Christine Halvorson

A customer in New York had a very particular need about the wood flooring for her home in the Catskill Mountains.

“I wanted each board to have a knot or character, and he made it work,” customer Regina Moline said of the wood she wanted and of the care she received from Rick at Carlisle.

The order was for 2,200 square feet of old growth Heart Pine — 9-inches wide and pre-finished with Concord Honey.

From the kitchen, the flooring project will extend into the living room, after a wood fireplace gets installed, with enough left over to do a little attic office.

“Friends have come up here and they all love it,” Regina says. And … her sister- in-law is now thinking about calling Carlisle for a floor project of her own.

Posted on August 25, 2009 at 01:29 PM in Hardwood Flooring • Home Decor • (0) Comments