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North Van team provide unique decorative touch

ACTOR MICHAEL
Douglas can’! get enough of
it. Interior design magazines
are full of them. And a
Nerth Vancouver couple is
hoping to capitalize on its
growing popularity.

By Evelyn Jacob
News Reporter

What has all this. new-found
power and prestige? Maus
finishing. It can save you a life-
time of off-white walls and
sparkle-flecked stucco ceilings
supporting fake chandeliers.

Faux can make cramped rooms
appear larger, add warmth and
texture to walls and ceilings and
even mask unsightly wall blem-
ishes.

Sean Smyth and Gioria Van
Dyke have worked wiih one-of-
a-kind painted finishes — colored
tints, sumptuous gold teaf and
chemically etched translucent
glazes — for the last four years,
turning ordinary rooms into ex-
quisite expanses.

Using their aux skills’ a
‘poo! table appears sculpted from a
solid gold block; an ordinary
wooden pillar is transformed into
a stately Old World marble col-
umn.

“A lot of cathedrals in Europe
are made of marble, and when the
marble became damaged the resi-
dent artist was called in to paint
patches and make it fook like

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there had never been anything
wrong, That was the beginning of
faux painting,” explains Smyth, a
self-described frustrated artist
who began experimenting with
faux painting 14 years ago.

Smyth, who formed Sean Smyth
and Associates Decorative Arts
eight years ago, and Van Dyke,
his partner in life and business,
work with award-winning interior
designers on mainly private resi-
dences in upscale Lower Mainland
neighborhaods.

Last fall they took part in Co-
quitlam'’s Street of Dreams, a
showcase block of houses with is
teriurs done over by leading inte-

tior designers and craftspeople.

In the living room, they added
chemically etched gold leaf to an
Art Deco-style fireplace, giving it
an antique look, and covered the
ceiling in translucent glaze.

How do they decide what finish
to use? The general rule of thumb
is, get to know the client and
everything else will follow.

Explains Smyth: ‘‘Our goat is to
reflect aspects of a client's per-
sonality. We might be dealing
with a formal person, who is very
professional on the exterior but
with a passion inside that hasn’t
had a chance to express itself. An

See Faux page 54

Photo submitted

FOR THE last four years the duo have been turning ordinary

rooms into exquisite expanses.

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1593 - Netth Shore News - 33

eine

NEWS photo Mike W;

me

akotiold

SEAN SMYTH and Gloria Van Dyke are turning heads with their

custom-made finishes.

7

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