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.”

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.”

Attendees had the chance to see and hear ideas for building their dream home or remodeling their current home in an environmentally friendly way against a backdrop of the infamous New England foliage, live music and food.

Vendors like Crown Point Cabinetry (another Carlisle partner), Landscape Design Architects, Interiors East Design and Green ICF Building solutions had the chance to address the attendees about their products inside a model home that featured Carlisle’s 4- to 8-inch pre-finished Antique Oak.

Visitors got to see Carlisle’s 4-to-8-inch Antique Hickory floor, which was installed in the Abode Design Center.

Normally, a log is plain sawn, i.e. it is first cut into a rough square by taking off four sections of the outer bark and sapwood, and then sawn with a series of parallel cuts — as if a loaf of bread were cut lengthwise to yield long slices. Grain-wise, this typically gives a floor a little bit of everything: straight lines as well as a variety of swirls and “cathedral patterns” — several swirls inside one another. This is the way most floors are cut.

Quarter sawn cuts generally only apply to Oak and a few other hardwoods. They are made by first cutting the log into four pie-shaped wedges and then making a series of cuts which are more or less perpendicular to the tree rings, which produces straighter grain. Without getting too technical, let’s just say that quarter sawn White Oak produces more “rays” or “flecks,” which is the hallmark look of Mission furniture/cabinetry. In addition to being visually interesting, this grain pattern produces extremely stable boards.

Various stains can then be used to further enhance the grain or make it more subtle.

This Long Island, New York residence features a beautiful mixture of quarter sawn, rift sawn and plain sawn White Oak. Note the contrast between the various grain patterns.

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.

Two hundred and fifty years ago the 3,000-acre plantation and farm was the site of 100 buildings. The apples grown on this land near Boones Mill, Va., were harvested and shipped to England and played a role in the nourishment of soldiers from the Civil War to the Second World War. Today only a few buildings made from the plantation trees almost three centuries ago remain, but the wood from these structures are still playing vital roles in today’s construction. It’s the story of the Many Lives of An Apple Farm Tree and the Green alternatives it provides for your home.

Their first lifetime was spent as majestic trees providing shelter and shade for forest animals as an integral part in the eco-system. They grew to great proportions and were likely more than 200 to 300 years old before being harvested.

Their second lifetime was spent as components of the Apple Farm’s many buildings: the large packing barn where slaves prepared apples for shipment to England was built of chestnut; the farmhand’s quarters were constructed of heart pine; and the main building was oak.

In 2002 when the Apple Farm structures were dismantled, the wood was reincarnated again to live out a third lifetime as Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. Some of the wood found new life in the Jeffersonian-style Southern National Bank in Sugarland, Texas, which was being converted into a museum. The customer requested antique oak flooring with a historical connection.