Hope this post
finds you in the mist of Summer, but if your in the Vancouver area, then
you can only wish for another day of Sun and Run of temperatures
reminding us it is SUMMER! Yes?
There is reason to celebrate it is Summer though, since our Dwell
style Lime Plaster Planters Box's have turned ONE. And Yes, they have
survived a full year of a Canadian four seasons, with flying colours I
might add! You might remember this post from last August, Dwell?
We use bees wax to seal the KCC 2011 on the top of the boxes,(once in the Spring & once in the Fall) it works beautifully to help repel water.
Since the soil is most, the Lime Plaster works well in holding the
moisture through the cool winter and releasing the moisture naturally as
the temperatures rise in the summer time, no cracks appear or remain
even with the extremes of exterior climate.
Organic Lime Plaster, it is the most versatile 4000 year old product you haven't work with - yet!
We seem to be asked this question more frequently. Therefore I thought I should right a post on the merits of Lime Plaster over using Concrete, in some interior decor situations.
Here is the situation.You have waited a couple of years to get to this point, design, build and furnish your new home. Every thing is done, except a few loose ends. You have a Mantel design that seems to be just the right look and fit for your interior - finally. Now waiting to build and finish a Mantel in your occupied home can be a tricky challenge - especially when it's of this size and stature.
Idea: The client would like the Mantel to be 18' high, free standing in the middle of the house and visible on all four sides(360º).... reality might have something to say about that. The client in this case has a great eye for detail and high design when it comes to contemporary lines. In fact, the home owner created a little rendering out of LEGO to get the idea in 3D.
The Challenge: How do you build this 'LEGO' Mantel out of concrete, the weight will go through the roof(actually through the floor!) Building it inside a finished home where the client is living with a young family, is not going to work with concrete.
The Solution: KCC 2011, Kendall Charcoal Concrete to the rescue. The Mantel will be framed in with wood studs, light weight backing boards and Lime Plaster. There is no longer a weight issue.
T'is a week before Christmas and I was hoping to have completed our most recent project the 'Wine Cellar', it appears the pursuit of perfection will win, we will be close for Christmas - but not quite. Making new rooms look old takes time! The Goal: To bring a sense of 'yesterday' to this 9' x 9' room, it was really needed... pretty bland. The idea!? If you are going to have a Wine Cellar, a French theme is always a good choice and mixing in a little Lime Plaster(marmorino and intonachino) will bring it all together.
Along the beams against the walls we have installed the strip lighting to with a soft glow to the cellar.
The LED strip lights yield no heat, thus a prefect fit for a room were temperature is key.
It's usually not a lot fun to spend the work day in a small dark cool room in a basement. Unless it is for Wine!
Yes a Wine Cellar!! Do you love Wine? I do and nothing better than creating a room to provide a little ambiance to where a collection of 'nectar of the Gods' will be residing.
For this project of course it involves Lime Plaster, specifically Marmorino and Intonachino will be my go to plaster for the ceilings and walls.
Also installing ceiling beams, the neat part about the ceiling beams is that we decided to incorporate some state of the art LED Lighting... it will be installed shortly. This type of band or rope light, is like nothing I have ever seen... I will take a picture and post it, crazy technology! It's a perfect fit for what we need to do...
Our most recent Mantel comes finished just in the nick of time. Winter has arrived in Vancouver with a zest for sub ZERO. Now the owners of this updated North Van contemporary Home can enjoy the warmth of a White Surround for Winters to come. What the customer wants - they get.
The client was very particular in the desired finish for the Lime Plaster Mantel, "I want zero reflection, make it as close as possible to dead flat" - so we did, by applying 3 layers of Lime Plaster starting with the coarsest stone first, then the medium stone 2nd and the 3rd the finest.
Each layer of Lime Plaster was compressed into the previous surface, this allowed for a very tight, flat and closed surface. The Result - super smooth without a polished effect.
You have got to love this organic product, there are just so many effects to be created!
I was down at the IDS West show over this past weekend at saw some very interesting and refreshing styles/designs. I do attend a vast amount of trade shows and generally they are 50/50 take it or leave it. But IDS West was well represented with various 'new' booths and products, easy to navigate, in & out in minutes for traffic(on a Friday, that's pretty good)
One cool concept/product was MTH Woodworks, it's a distinct idea and organic in design. Very sharp and different.
This week we started the renovation of the new home for the Distinct Interiors Studio. Since there is always a creative opportunity when renovating your space, we decided to take a little architectural license and really re-think the space Distinct needs for it's new Home/Work/Rest/Play. So here we go: The ManShed.ca
Let's Get Physical! "Let me hear your body talk . . ." Olivia Newton-John
Do you remember that song, if you do, then you are product of the 80's and remember some really bad videos. But hey, that is what makes memories of the 80's great... we survived & MTV was born.
Ok, I realize that is a little different for an intro heading, yet it's the only thought that keeps coming to my mind as I try to describe our most recent feature wall project. It was very Physical to create, "no pain, no gain"!
Feature Wall
It's a display suite for a local developer. 'Necessity is the Mother of all Creation'
The challenge for this wall was to have the plaster thick enough to carve while wet, yet not heavy or it would fall of the wall! Hmm, well that is when I began testing a variety of additives to thicken the plaster to help it set to a certain state, before it becomes impossible to work with, to hard. Vuala! I found something to allow this to occur, ...wasn't easy discovery especially on the hottest days of the summer, but it seemed to work out really well. The Finished Product The Original Reference from the Designer You design it. Spec it. And we create it.
