Our Newest Flooring Design Concept: The One Board Floor

Exactly a year ago, Carlisle’s Transformative Design Team shared its first luxury wood floor concept design, which was focused around layering color, a trend that was increasing in popularity in the market. The vibrant colors that were sprayed, spackled, and splattered on our unfinished White Oak flooring created something unexpected and caught Will Taylor’s eye.  Will is a design blogger who’s not afraid of color and he fell in love with our first concept which he included in a post called Flooring Reimagined on his popular blog, Bright Bazaar.  With the first concept floor getting so much attention, what would the team come up with next?  After wiping the slate clean, they spent the next year sharing ideas and inspiration for their next design concept:  The One Board Floor.

What flooring trends did the team explore?

For its latest concept floor, Carlisle’s Transformative Design Team wanted to expand on the art of different wood floor design patterns, such as chevron and herringbone, and explore how the placement of the planks impacts the final design of a wood floor. In standard wide plank flooring installations, the unique character of individual boards contributes significantly to the aesthetic outcome, whereas pattern floors focus primarily on layout and involve a set structure inside which individual planks exist.

“While textures and finishes are always important when designing a floor, strategically determining where to place a darker board or where to use longer planks has a notable impact on the overall feel and flow of the floor,” said Chris Sy, President of Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. “This idea led our team to consider whether we could make a beautiful and engaging floor from boards that lacked variation and instead were all exactly the same. Thus, the ‘one board floor’ was born.”

What other ideas were considered during the creative phase?

Many other ideas were considered during the initial brainstorming stages, from playing with how edge seams could become more a part of the design process, to flooring that was backlit, to 3-dimensional inlays.  The team went outside the “lines” and opened up the possibilities of what flooring could be, and nothing goes to waste from the creative process.  Everything is saved for consideration in the future so keep an eye out for the next round of creativity from this unique group.

What was the design inspiration behind this concept?

The Transformative Design Team chose to build upon the graduated color effect seen in ombré textiles. To mirror the look, Carlisle’s artisans chose a series of natural tones, including trending wood floor colors in grays and white, and then added heavy distinctions between each tone. At the same time, they made sure to preserve the grain pattern of the planks and the underlying warmth of the floor. When the planks are arranged in various configurations, the result is a series of distinctive floors with rich depth and structure.

What is most intriguing about this concept floor?

Added Sy, “We talked during our design sessions about how we are ingrained to discuss the uniqueness of each plank. We describe for our customers how the grain flows, or how the sapwood is more prevalent in some boards, or how there may be a few planks that have more knots or more mineral streaks. What’s most intriguing about our newest concept floor is the wide variety of outcomes you can achieve using a single plank as the foundation. The options are really endless.”  Here are the five designs we developed out of our One Board Floor concept.

Can these concept floors be ordered?

Currently, these floors can not be ordered.  We will gauge the interest in such a unique product and potentially move toward offering the floor to our clients in 2022.  The newest concept floor highlights how identical planks arranged in creative patterns can achieve very different aesthetics, significantly expanding the design possibilities.

However, if you are in the process of selecting flooring for your flooring, Carlisle offers a broad range of flooring choices, including Collection floors and fully customized floors, to create one-of-a-kind looks.

What’s next for the Transformative Design Team?

Since there are no boundaries and the options are endless, it will be interesting to see what the Team does for the next concept floor.  Inspiration is everywhere!