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 Helps New Orleans Rebuild

Posted by ChadCassin

We have partnered with Deltec Homes of Ashville, N.C. in order to build a new home in New Orleans to replace those destroyed by Katrina.

Carlisle has donated 2,500 square feet of its traditional Southern Heart Pine flooring as part of a participating effort on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". The popular TV show has asked builders and suppliers from all over the country to help out in New Orleans continuing road to recovery.

The program will air at 8/7c on ABC Sunday, May 18, 2008.

Deltec homes and buildings are of a classic round design, noted for their beautiful cathedral ceilings. So ironically, that is where Carlisle’s Heart Pine flooring will be featured.

“We say we craft our floors one board at a time, but in this case it was a ceiling,” says Don Carlisle. “We’ve known the folks at Deltec for quite a while and have partnered with them on other projects, but this one was really special. The whole Extreme Makeover: Home Edition effort to help Katrina victims is a very worthy cause and we’re proud to have contributed.”

Joseph Schlenk, Deltec’s Director Of Sales and Marketing adds: “To build a home in four days was an impossible task. We accomplished our mission because a lot of ordinary people exerted extraordinary efforts. It would have never been possible without the help of our builder coalition, the volunteers and our sponsors, especially Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. The heart pine Carlisle provided was stunning and anyone who entered the was amazed by its beauty. We thank them for their generous contribution.”

Posted on May 9, 2008 at 02:09 PM in Hardwood Flooring • (1) Comments
Podcast: Prefinishing Green Flooring with Carlisle

Posted by ChadCassin

Green Talk Radio recently had Lindsay Barczuk as a guest. She spoke with Sean Daily about the environment considerations of Carlisle's Prefinished Flooring as well as our daily green practices.
Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

Posted on May 9, 2008 at 12:55 PM in Green Building • (0) Comments
On the Road: DC Open House

Posted by Megan Sprague
I have just returned from our Georgetown design center and firstly, what a beautiful space—secondly our open house event was a great success!

We had a wonderful group of people stop in for the evening. I was able to speak with quite a few clients that our sales group is working with and help them locate some new samples, talk about the wood species they are interested and overall talk about their projects.

Jane stopped in, she is one of Lynne Rafuse’s clients and she lives in Georgetown—a short jaunt from our center. I enjoyed my chat with her about Heart Pine and how she’s really looking forward to it in the complete renovation project of her home. I also had the pleasure to speak with Sue and Jay of Maryland. They bought our Eastern White Pine from Gary Ryer a few years ago and installed the floor themselves. In their upcoming project, they want to use the Eastern White Pine again, but they want wider boards, up to 15” this time!

Throughout the night, it got the chance to meet many other Carlisle friends. The girls from Washington SPACES stopped over too! We’ve chosen to advertise in SPACES, it’s such an awesome publication—check it out.

Clare, Hannah, Janel and I had so much fun visiting with all of our guests! We thank those of you that were able to make it!

Join us for Green Drinks DC—June 10th from 6:30-9:30.

Posted on May 8, 2008 at 10:57 AM in (1) Comments
On the Road: Carlisle Design Center Open House in Chicagoland!

Posted by Megan Sprague

I’m just returning home from another Carlisle open house! Last Thursday, May 1st we opened our doors for friends, neighbors, architects, designers and the media. We were very pleased with our attendance. A few friends of mine stopped by: Melodie Bishop from Chicago Public Radio. I enjoyed showing her our “Recycling History” DVD which is all about our FSC Certified Antique wood.

Jan Parr, Editor of Chicago Home + Garden also stopped over for some goodies and a nice chat. She’s got a blog of her own. Our friendly neighbor, Doug Van Tress from The Golden Triangle also stopped by. A very nice Dean Batogowski, Publisher of Luxe Magazine’s Chicago edition was also kind to visit. The Chicago team: Brian, Eric, Erin, Kate and Katelyn had a lot of fun mingling with their clients and meeting new ones. Erin and I both enjoyed meeting the folks from the local ASID chapter, James and Elizabeth who we spoke at length with.

The event was a great success and we are very pleased to be members of the River North neighborhood.

See us at the Showcase River North, May 13th at the Holiday Inn-Mart Plaza from 4-7 pm.

Posted on May 8, 2008 at 10:14 AM in (0) Comments
True Hardwood Story - Hardwood Flooring Design That Rocks!

Posted by Lesley Anderson

Take one look at the guys at Balash and Greene, and you might mistake them for rock stars.
They definitely don't fit the mold of what typically comes to mind when you think "hardwood flooring contractor", and they like it that way. Come to think of it, they probably have more in common with a rock band than you might think-they work together in a small group, they "tour", traveling around the country to different venues they're working at, and they live to get people pumped about the awesome work that they do. Balash and Greene bring a mix of master craftsmanship with a refreshing approach to floor design that pushes the limits of what was previously thought possible with hardwood flooring, and I got a VIP pass to go behind the scenes and find out what makes their wood floors rock.

Posted on May 6, 2008 at 03:00 PM in Customer Stories • Home Building & Contracting • (3) Comments