Into the Woods

Carlisle celebrates a 60-year journey of heritage, sustainability, and craft

Above Image: An elegant entrance in a Presidio Terrace residence by Kristi Will Design featuring Carlisle dark walnut planks.

By Anh-Minh Le

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“We almost always begin with the flooring material and color as the foundation or jumping-off point,” says San Francisco interior designer Kristi Will. “Since it runs throughout much of the home, it establishes the overall warmth, tone, and character of the spaces and helps guide many of the material and finish selections that follow.”

Serving as the backdrop to everyday life, flooring is a fundamental piece of the interior design puzzle. Over the past decade, Carlisle has been a go-to for wood flooring for Will, along with fellow designers such as Tineke Triggs and Kendall Wilkinson, on projects ranging from residences to restaurants, classical to contemporary.

The wine room, kitchen and bedroom in Will’s Presidio Terrace project, all featuring Carlisle flooring.

While the San Francisco showroom marks its tenth anniversary this year, the company dates to 1966, when founder Dale Carlisle struggled to find high-quality pine flooring for his home projects on the east coast. “Dale was a high school physics teacher, but in the summer he would build houses—small New England style-homes like capes and saltboxes,” shares Carlisle president Chris Sy. “He was also an artist and wanted the interiors to replicate the original style as well. Wide-board flooring was a big part of that, so he managed to convince a local mill to cut wide stock for him to use in these homes. The feedback was always that people loved the homes but more than anything they loved the floors.” Carlisle Restoration Timber was thus born in Stoddard, New Hampshire, eventually becoming Carlisle Wide Plank Floors.

Carlisle planks are still handcrafted today using time-honored techniques. “From the sourcing to the milling to the finishing to the packing, there are roughly 30 people who put hands and eyes on the material,” says Terry McLaughlin, Sales Manager of the San Francisco showroom, of the brand’s meticulous standards. Each floor—whether engineered or solid, prefinished or site-finished—is made to order. This translates to tailored widths, lengths, colors, and textures (as well as waste reduction). The brand has longstanding relationships with sustainable foresters, primarily in the Northeast, to source the various species it offers.

Every board tells a story through its natural history and Carlisle’s craftsmanship.

“From the sourcing to the milling to the finishing to the packing, there are roughly 30 people who put hands and eyes on the material,” says Terry McLaughlin.

As part of a renewed emphasis on its Curated Colors program, as of mid-June the 30 panels on display in the San Francisco showroom will be arranged by hue, from light to dark. For example, Aquila entails layering three different applications of white pigment, while the medium-brown Pine Cone has hints of black.

Carlisle’s luminous white Aquila flooring; a detail of the new Curated Colors installation in the San Francisco showroom.

For a project in Presidio Terrace, Kristi Will wanted “a warm wood tone with a refined, traditional aesthetic,” she recalls. The designer opted for Carlisle eight-inch dark walnut planks, whose “versatility allowed us to incorporate both patterned and straight-lay installations, creating visual interest through varied board layouts.” The entry’s custom parquet signifies “a special moment of arrival” while contributing another layer of exquisite craftsmanship to the overall design.

The entry of the Presidio Terrace project featuring a parquet design of Carlisle planks.

Into the Woods

By Anh-Minh Le

“From the sourcing to the milling to the finishing to the packing, there are roughly 30 people who put hands and eyes on the material,” says Terry McLaughlin.

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