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.
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J. Crew turns to Carlisle’s reclaimed wood to make its retail stores stand out
Posted by Christine Halvorson
agreed and Peter got the Carlisle mill crew on the task of meticulously grading the boards. “I’m thinking some 35 pairs of eyes probably inspected and re-inspected the board choices for the first J. Crew floor,” Peter said.
In the end, no one could tell the difference between the two woods, thanks to the grading and to the WOCA white oil. “The guys in the mill just love this type of work. They love the challenge of it,” Peter said.
Carlisle completed the Madison Avenue floor for J.Crew—done up in 4-inch wide planks and installed in a Herringbone pattern—in August of 2008.
Shortly thereafter, the project manager for the Madison Avenue store contacted Peter again. This time they were thinking of J. Crew’s Malibou, California location and wanted a pre-finished floor to save time. Peter agreed that Carlisle would apply the stain at its custom shop and ship the floor ready to install.
“But it turned out to be tough to get the hand-rubbed look they wanted using a pre-finished stain,” Peter explained. Again, they mixed two woods to keep costs down—Premium Old Growth White Oak and Antique White Oak, for a total of 6,000 square feet.
“We just worked through all the problems,” Peter says, “and that’s what makes this a good relationship.”
Which takes us back to New York City. Carlisle was enlisted for two more J.Crew stores—one at 1200 Madison Avenue and one at 44 Broadway. For 1200 Madision Avenue, they chose a mixture of Antique Oak and White Oak, and for 44 Broadway, a hand-graded Milled Barnwood was used. Another store planned for the Stroughton/Hampton area will also use Milled Barnwood.
Peter says the J. Crew stores are a challenge he relishes. “You have to work fast. You have a short time period to get in there and get it installed right,” he said. “When retail is closing for remodeling, they’re not making any money, so there isn’t any down time.”
Posted on November 3, 2009 at 03:16 PM in Stains & Finishes • Wood Grains & Styles • (0) Comments
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MONDAY MORNING MAILBAG: Perfectionism noticed in Carlisle floor installation
Posted by Christine Halvorson
We made happy customers out of Jackie and Paul Duso down in Carrolton, Georgia, where we recently installed our prefinished Birch and Cherry with a custom-coat that was meant to look like Tung oil.
Thiese customers found us when doing a search on the web and they were helped by our Matt Farhm, who also arranged to have his firm, Farhm Fine Floors, install the new floor in this remodeling project. Farhm Fine Floors travels all over the country to do floor installations and has apparently installed over 50,000 square feet!
Here’s what customer Paul had to say about his experience:
“Matt—You are right, we do love our floors. It is surprising to me that we get the most ooooohhhhs and aaaaaahhhhhs from our birch floor in the bedroom. I really can’t decide which I like the best, both are outstanding. I couldn’t believe how easily they were able to fit the wood to the walls and in the bedroom around the glass block wall. It looks fantastic. (Installer) Chris was here most of the time with Micah coming on the last day and I must say he was a joy to work with and be around. Carlilse is lucky to have you guys. You are all such perfectionists.”
Read more about our prefinished floor options.Posted on November 2, 2009 at 09:11 AM in Customer Stories • Stains & Finishes • (0) Comments
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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 Home Decor • Stains & Finishes • (0) Comments
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