Summitt Forest Products

Architectural Hardwood Surfaces: A Design Specification Guide to Summitt Forest Products

The Intersection of Craftsmanship and Customization

In the high-stakes world of interior design and space planning, the floor is frequently the largest single expanse of color and texture in a project. Summitt Forest Products, operating out of Santa Fe Springs, California, has positioned itself as a specialist manufacturer that treats hardwood flooring not as a bulk commodity, but as a custom-tailored architectural element. For the interior designer or home decorator, the brand’s philosophy centers on the removal of creative barriers, offering a "limitless" approach to species, dimensions, and finishes.

By bridging the gap between old-world artisanal techniques and modern industrial precision, Summitt Forest Products caters to a demographic of professionals who prioritize bespoke details. Their mission is to provide the design community with the exact materials needed to execute a specific narrative, ensuring that the foundation of the room aligns perfectly with the overarching aesthetic vision.

A Versatile Portfolio: From Plank to Parquet

The product offerings from Summitt Forest Products are engineered to meet the demands of sophisticated residential interiors and boutique commercial spaces. Their range is categorized into three distinct structural and stylistic formats:

• Bespoke Wide-Plank Flooring: Moving beyond standard industry widths, these planks allow space planners to manipulate the visual scale of a room. Wide planks can make a large area feel more grounded and cohesive, while narrower strips can add a sense of traditional rhythm.
• Artisanal Chevron and Herringbone: These geometric patterns are essential for designers working within transitional, classic, or "Haussmann-style" modern aesthetics. The precision of the milling ensures that the directional lines of the wood remain crisp, creating a sense of movement and architectural rigor.
• Custom Parquet Patterns: For projects requiring a high degree of ornamentation or a historical reference point, the parquet collection offers intricate wood-on-wood designs. These serve as focal points in foyers, dining rooms, or executive offices, acting as a permanent "wood rug" that anchors the furniture plan.

To ensure design continuity, the company also manufactures prefinished moldings and stair components. This allows decorators to specify a singular color and species profile that carries across transitions and vertical surfaces, a detail that distinguishes a truly high-end custom home from a standard renovation.

Design Impact: Storytelling Through Material Selection

Hardwood is a primary tool for designers looking to implement biophilic principles or create a specific atmosphere. Summitt Forest Products supports these creative applications through a deep focus on texture and finish. A wire-brushed, matte-oiled oak may be specified to provide a tactile, organic feel in a coastal modern retreat, while a smooth, deep-walnut finish might be chosen to provide the "visual weight" required for a classic, moody library.

The brand’s custom color-matching capability is particularly relevant for professionals who must coordinate flooring with custom cabinetry, millwork, or existing architectural elements. This level of visual consistency is vital for maintaining spatial flow, especially in open-concept layouts where the flooring acts as the primary unifying thread between diverse functional zones.

Technical Specifications for Professional Specification

For the interior designer, a product’s beauty must be matched by its performance. Summitt Forest Products emphasizes technical reliability through a controlled manufacturing environment. Key practical considerations include:

• Material and Construction: While they offer traditional solid options, their focus on prefinished systems provides enhanced dimensional stability. This construction type is less susceptible to the gapping or cupping caused by humidity fluctuations, a critical factor for long-term client satisfaction.
• Surface Durability: Each system is precision-finished to withstand standard residential and light commercial wear. The factory-applied finishes are more consistent and durable than those applied on-site, offering better resistance to daily traffic and UV exposure.
• Installation and Maintenance: By delivering prefinished materials, Summitt reduces the time, dust, and odor associated with on-site sanding and staining. This allows for faster project timelines and a cleaner handover to the client.
• Usage Levels: Their products are suitable for varied applications, from quiet bedrooms to high-traffic living areas, provided the appropriate finish and species hardness are specified for the intended use.

Sustainability and Long-Term Value

The design community increasingly prioritizes materials that contribute to a healthier indoor environment. Summitt Forest Products utilizes natural hardwood, which is inherently renewable and sequesters carbon throughout its lifecycle. Furthermore, the longevity of high-quality hardwood flooring aligns with sustainable "slow design" movements—investing in a surface that can be maintained and potentially refinished over decades rather than replaced every few years. The shift toward factory-applied finishes also aids in maintaining better indoor air quality by containing the finishing process within a controlled industrial facility.

Industry Application Scenarios

Consider the following scenarios where Summitt’s custom capabilities solve common design challenges:

• The Historic Restoration: A designer needs to match the unique 19th-century parquet pattern found in a historic estate’s entry. Summitt can replicate the pattern and color to ensure the new flooring is indistinguishable from the original.
• The Ultra-Modern Penthouse: A space planner requires extra-wide, long-length planks in a specific bleached-grey tone to complement a minimalist, gallery-like interior. The custom finish and dimension capabilities allow for a seamless, expansive look.
• The Integrated Staircase: A project features a dramatic floating staircase. By sourcing the treads and the adjacent flooring from the same custom run at Summitt, the designer ensures an exact grain and color match that would be impossible with disparate suppliers.

Conclusion: Partnering with Summitt Forest Products

Summitt Forest Products stands as a vital resource for design professionals who view every surface as an opportunity for expression. By combining technical confidence with aesthetic versatility, the brand empowers designers to specify with certainty, knowing the final result will be as durable as it is beautiful. For the professional whose reputation relies on the quality of their materials, Summitt provides the craftsmanship necessary to realize complex design visions.

The next step for design professionals is to explore the brand’s online portfolio to see the breadth of their custom capabilities. Requesting a physical sample or a consultation with their design support team is the best way to begin the process of tailoring a flooring system to your specific project requirements.