FYI Colour!

In case you missed it, the colour of 2011 is Honeysuckle Pantone 18-2120.


This striking Redish/Pink colour represents "... the happy rediscovery of growth and energy of looking forward rather than bemoaning what we have lost." According to Keith Recker, colour forecaster. Sounds good to me, but I venture there won't be much call for Honeysuckle Mantels.

Colour is funny thing in the industry of interior design in Vancouver. We seem to trend to the whites, off whites and shades of Gray for the most part, seldom do you walk into a residence that is full of bright & rich colours. This became apparent to me today, since I am starting a Lime Plaster Mantel in very colourful new residence.

My first reaction as I walked into the home was, ...Woh!... but after few moments and taking in the environment, the colours provided a different feeling. There is no right way or wrong way when it is your home, if works for you, then good for you!

I will share some picture of the colourful project I'm working on in the week ahead.

Santa's Mantel is ready

In our latest Lime Plaster fireplace Mantel, we just completed the frame up in the nick of time for Santa to make his grand entrance.
May the Spirit of Giving and the spirit of Joy, be with you and your Family - Merry Christmas!

Ready for Stockings

Since it is the beginning of December it's only fitting to have a rush on Mantels ready for the Holidays.
Here is a recently completed Marmorino Lime Plaster Mantel - a traditional look. A simple idea to enhance the Mantel's style, we added a 3" header for more depth with clean lines... perfect for adding stockings.

We completely covered the old brick, creating a smooth surface with the Marmorino Plaster, the natural properties of the plaster allow for a soft 'to the touch' feel once polished with bees wax. Yet remaining strong as stone.

'In order to be beautiful you have to be ugly first?'

Or maybe the Eagles said it best:"in order to get to Heaven, you've gotta go through Hell"
Okay, well that is where we will start with this one, this Mantel is in need for an updated!
We are converting the all to typical red brick Mantel in Vancouver, to a clean line Lime Plaster product called Marmorino from Italy.

The Goal
The client has requested the Mantel colour in an 'earth white' tone, with little texture, smooth to the touch - so today we started the transformation.


The Before.... more to come....

"If you want a plastered fireplace, Randy Orr's your man"

Distinct Interiors Lime Plaster Fireplace Mantels featured in:



"Everything is not quite as it seems with Randy Orr's achievements: Beautiful, rich mahogany that's not actually wood, concrete that isn't, well, concrete..."

Bloom Collection

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.

On an Old Idea with a new Twist

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"!

BLOOM BOX: Heard of it?   . . . You Will

Not that this has anything to do with interior decorating, but it has more to do with sustainable living which may indirectly down the road(a long road at that) would certainly render more disposable income for other ventures at home.

Consuming less energy, means more energy for other things!

Beach Time ... anyone?

... easy as 1,2,3

I must remember this one, 'the key to building a warm environment (minus the fireplace) is to make sure you have a water view at every opportunity to place a mantle. Then just sit down, relax and take it all in.'

That is exactly what we have been doing for the past week and will for the next couple of weeks, since we are currently creating 3 very Distinct custom Lime Plaster Mantles.

You design it.  Spec it.  And we create it.