Carlisle Wide Plank Floors

Reclaimed barnwood becomes work of art for Robert Talbott stores

Peter Switzer of our Stoddard offices worked with Emilia Rich and Bridget Lennon of Insite Development in New York on a project out in Gilroy, California using reclaimed barn wood.

The project was for the retail clothing store Robert Talbott, which has four high-end shops selling luxury and tailored clothing. This was the second time Insite Development and Carlisle teamed up on a Robert Talbott project. In the two photos to the left, you’ll see the end results at the Gilroy store, which was completed in October of 2009.

Now, it’s certainly not unusual for us to be working with reclaimed barnwood, but these two interior designers really turned our heads with the first Talbott project early last year. When they did a redesign of a showroom on Madison Avenue, they came to Carlisle on the advice of another vendor. When the store was all done, Emilia and Bridget sent Peter photos to show him the barnwood in place. Normally, anyone using the wood we reclaim from old barns and other structures uses only the INTERIOR of the boards—the walls or floors as one would have seen them while standing inside the building. For the showroom project last year, the Insite Development designers had asked for select grading of the boards to show the usual gray and brown tones, and Peter certainly saw to it that the grading met their specifications. But, as it turned out, the designers ended up using the boards all mixed up—a mix of the exterior and interior boards to make paneling that served as backdrop to the clothing displays. The result was not just the usual gray and brown tones from barnwood, but now there were hints of red and orange in the boards as well. You can see the New York showroom project in the photo below.

Well, Peter says he thought the treatment they gave the barn wood was fantastic—and we do, too. It was an unusual thing to do and he said he just loves it when designers can run with an idea and make a beautiful product even more beautiful. “I really love how they take the wood for what it is,” Peter said, explaining that some people are surprised by all the color variations that are to be expected in old barnwood. “They took it for what it is and they maximized the yield on it,” he said.

Putting all the color tones together created a stunning effect and Peter predicts, now that Insite Development has done this, we will be seeing a lot more of this type of artistic creation.

What do you think? Write us with your thoughts by clicking “COMMENTS” just below.

Posted on January 15, 2010 at 03:27 PM in Green Building • (0) Comments

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