For the Dogs

What the next trend in interior decor, Doggy showers!
Yes the pooch is getting the pampering these days in custom homes. My client obviously has a passion for her FIVE dogs and the Stars & Stripes too.

Big enough for me, yet not for me - it's a dog's Life!

This is the mantel / Regency gas fireplace, where we will be installing a Lime Plaster Intonachino Mantel.
It's starting off white, but not for long. Colour is the flavor for this client, colour they will have. Stay tuned...


 

Can you guess?

Or maybe it is all three? Email us with your answer.

How time can Fly

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.

Cellar Dweller... but for a Good Cause

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...

Beginning the layout

in the new Restoration

Yesterday was one of those fantastic and rare autumn days in Vancouver, warm, supper sunny, great to be outside and in the city with the family. We went to a favorite, Stanely Park for a walk, then window shopping, ducking in and out of shops on West 10th and South Granville. It's always interesting to see what the major home finishing stores like Restoration Hardware have in mind for the season to come.
Interesting...what do you see in this cover?

It's Restoration Hardware furniture, lights and accessories. Obviously, a very nice Old World Mantel too.
But I would look closer, what is the Mantel made of? Plaster, most likely and so are the walls. In fact, out 300 pages in the new catalog, 60% of the photos involve Plaster Walls and Plaster Mantels. Pick one up, have look for your self.


...Always the interesting part when it comes to staging a picture or staging a room for a certain look.
The one with a keen eye, sees the some is greater than all of the parts. Just as all of the parts must look and be complimentary to each other. Therefore, start with something great, Lime Plaster Walls and Lime Plaster Mantels - Picture Perfect!


Great to see the big boys catching on to the most authentic, versatile and 'green' architectural finish of our times.

If you would like to see samples similar to these Lime Plaster Walls and Mantels up close and to touch, contact us today!

"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..."

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"!

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.

. . . do You Dwell?

Not on the Past or the Future . . .
More as in the magazine - Dwell. It is one of my fave's for sourcing creative ideas and inspiration for when you look at the box (house) and think what can I do with this one!? That is the question that I have been pondering for a while since we bought our own little Love Shack in 'The Beach Community'.
The home is 36 years old with no updates until we moved in. Slowly I have been chipping away with small reno projects, one at a time. In the past weeks I decided to take on the window facade since it was just so blahhh. Therefore, Dwell was the place of inspiration, since there are always dozens of updated homes with a contemporary 70's vibe. I personally enjoy the cottage/contemporary look and that is the direction for our home...if we ever finish ;)



Lime Plaster Planter Box
Often there is left over material from other projects, thus I decided to take Lime Plaster outside for the ultimate test. I designed the box to be built out of plywood and then took the same steps as you would with a shower walls, sealed with concrete and applied my Lime Plaster over the concrete.
The Challenge
We also needed to warm up the exterior, what better than adding more of what BC is good at cedar! Using the cedar in lengths of 2" x 8' strapping the box and to help create a linear vibe with 1/4" spacing between that is more common is design these days.
The rest was what I love to do! Play with Plaster...

Funny part in the end

I actually didn't like the 1st colour of the plaster, (HC 107) Gettysburg Gray once we mounted it. Since we used the French cleats, just pulled it off and applied another coat of Lime Plaster to change the colour (HC 166) Kendall Charcoal and set it back on the cleats - easy.

Lime Plaster is more than...