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The Return From Banff Back To Local Vancouver Projects

By on May 2, 2011 in Architectural Wall Finishes, blog, Lime Plaster, Polished Plaster, Venetian Plaster Vancouver

The trip home from Banff, Alberta, was an amazing seasonal drive. As I dropped from the Rocky Mountain highs to the Okanagan, then sea level, I saw things go from end-of-winter to lush and green, full of spring life.

I greatly enjoyed experiencing all four “seasons” this year, thanks to my cold-season work in the mountains and Alberta. It was mostly rain and a really mild winter in Vancouver, not one of our best years, but also not that unusual. It was a good time for a wintery change of scenery, but it’s nice (if a little soggy) to be home.

I’m getting back to making the rounds and taking on local projects. This past week, my team worked on two Valley projects — one in Maple Ridge and the other in Langley. The lengthy drives between home and the two projects took some adjusting, but it’s a great place to drive.

We just finished work on this smaller “feature” barrel ceiling’s plaster treatment. It’s one of those little jobs that starts and finishes quickly.

Italian Venetian plaster like this is where I began working in this trade, and those days kicked off what I hope will be a long and great career. It’s a real treat to work where I got my roots.

Smaller projects like this are always fun, too. Seeing the end result more quickly is a great pay-off compared to the visual impact but long work stint that doing a huge project comes with. I enjoy having a mix of both kinds of jobs.

Decorative Paint & Plaster is back in town and we’re booking clients for the next two years. How can we help you?

Venetian Plaster Project Walk Through Video

By on April 3, 2011 in Architectural Wall Finishes, blog, feature, Full Interior Projects, home, Intonachino Lime Plaster, Intonachino Lime Plaster, Lime Plaster, Polished Plaster, Textured Plaster, Venetian Plaster Full Interiors, Venetian Plaster Vancouver, video

When you’re a guy working in the building trades, it’s not very often you get to travel for work, let alone work in a place like Banff, Alberta. This fantastic retreat in the mountains has been a dream-like project for me, and I’m happy to share with you this video of a walk-through of how the project’s coming.

As the build got further along, more plaster work got added to my slate. I love an owner getting excited about my technique and wanting more as the work progresses, especially in a place like this. By the end, Stucco Italiano’s Italian plaster was used throughout, stretching from the bottom up to the third floor.

 

Please set your viewing to high-def for all the detail!

Take a look at the waxed deep magenta plaster walls in the powder rooms, which includes that awesome entry feature and incorporates those subtle smooth textures across the walls and ceilings, on all floors.

Why would you want to use Italian plaster over both walls and ceilings? You have to consider the characteristics. No paint will match the beauty or durability over the long-term like Italian lime or Venetian plaster, and when you’re creating a mood in a room, why would you neglect the ceiling?

When the colour is fortified right off the bat, as I hand-mix plasters for application, including base coats, it gives a rich layered finish that doesn’t look man-made — it looks like it just belongs that way. It’s natural, rustic, and amazing for creating a mood in big and small spaces.

Lime plaster builds an atmosphere you just can’t get with only paint, and I’m a painter saying that.

When you’re talking about any kind of art or space, lighting means everything, and it’s definitely true with Intonachino plaster approaches I use in my Venetian/Italian lime finishes. As light moves across the room, during dusk through to dawn, and the light shifts from season to season, it changes the way the plastered surface appears, and you’ll always notice something different. It’s almost like your walls are a living part of your space.

This video will provide a perspective on the feel created with these finishes, but if the same video was shot at different times of day, you’d get more a sense of why I say that lightning — natural or electrical — is plaster’s best friend.

It’s been a while since this amazing journey began. Have a look at how far we’ve come, and how this plaster came to life. Click here to see the beginning blog posts.

Grandview Business Center, Italian Lime Plaster Interior

By on March 21, 2011 in Architectural Wall Finishes, blog, Full Interior Projects, Intonachino Lime Plaster, Lime Plaster, Polished Plaster, Textured Plaster, Venetian Plaster Vancouver

Here, have a look at South Surrey’s Grandview Business Centre, which you’ll find nestled behind Winners in the Grandview Corners Mall.

Starting any day now, we’ll be installing natural lime plaster throughout this high-end office building’s common areas, including the bathrooms.

Landing this project was a super-proud moment for me, because it’s my largest commercial project yet, and it’s yet another client who cares about craft quality, so it’s exciting to be a part of this.

Besides that, though, it’s really close to home, and I know I’ll be able to take my daughter there and show her that this is what Daddy does, because it’s a public space.

I’ll be blogging about the experience here, so please follow along as we transform this space from floor-to-floor, trowels in hand, as we take ordinary drywall and finish it into a seamless polished lime stone plaster.

Here’s proof Vancouver-and-area isn’t just a rainforest, we get snow too. This is the project under a fresh short-lived blanket of it a few weeks ago.

 

I love watching projects come together, and living so close to this build site let me catch glimpses throughout the early stages.

Here’s a shot of the braces holding up recently-erected concrete panels. Obviously this isn’t your average construction site.

The job required lifting massive tilt-up pre-made panels into place, including one panel 31-feet wide, 58.7-feet high, and a whopping one-foot thick, weighing a jaw-dropping 186,000 lbs.

When I get something wrong on a job, I might have a shade off in colour tinting, or a pit where there shouldn’t be (and, naturally, it gets fixed pretty easily). Could you imagine when guys like the panel-tilters get their jobs wrong? Man, I’m glad I’m a painter.

In an article published October 19th, 2010, by the Peace Arch News, Hannah Sutherland reported there were 26 panels to “tilt up” in this unusual construction project, averaging at 140,000 pounds per panel.

In speaking about the construction method, its “Tilt-Up” assembly, Project Manager and owner of Double-V Construction Shane Van Vliet told Sutherland, “This type of construction is typical, but the fact this is four storeys is very unusual. Four storeys gets to be a little trickier… and more engineering is required.”

A video of the assemby process can be viewed here on the BC Daily Buzz.

Now here’s what the building looked like just recently.

If you’re interested in purchasing space in this soon-to-be-awesome building, learn more about the Grandiew Business Centre on their sales site: http://www.grandviewoffice.com.

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