NAME: Lori Wallace and Kate Brown BORN: Vancouver, 3B.C.; < West Vancouver; OCCUPATION: Design Consul- tant, Chintz and Company; Man- ager, Chintz and Company _ FAMILY: one son; three sons - Sunday, July 12, 1992 - HIGH PROFILES esigning women get free rein for show IT’S EVERY interior -de-. } signer’s dream: to fill a sun-drenched room in a stately Shaughnessy mdn- sion with the finest fur- niture, exotic rugs and orig- izzal artwork -— without | wiggling over petty details ’ + such as cost. . - ; _ By Evelyn Jacob : News Reporter: it was a dream come true for ‘Leri Wallace and Kate Brown of ‘North Vancouver’s Chintz and -Company, designers of the sump- -- tuous master bedroom and ensuite for this year’s Vancouver Sym- phony Orchéstra Designer Showhouse. These -designing women were given esscntially free rein to create @ new look for the stodgy Angus Drive home of former MLA ‘ Garde Gardom his wife Helen. What they've done is transform a conventional room into an opulent- boudoir complete with hand- painted screen by Vancouver rauralist Thomas Anficld and a $10,000 custom-designed steel frame bed. : They’ve added tavish fabrics and upholstery, hand-stitched rugs and plush cinammon carpet, a stunning 19th century Spanish wood cabinet and writing desk in- laid -with black pear wood and eucalyptus. : To complement the room’s rich ambience, Wallace, a design con- sultant with a fine arts background, has assembled an ‘ impressive collection of original sculpture and painting by local ar- tists Bill Koochin, Anfield and Melo Edindjikiian. Bathrooms don’t nesma!ly qual- , ify as the main attraction of any house, but Wallace and Brown . have combined just the right in- gredients — including a stunning tromp l'oeil created by Anfield — to come up with a winner. With its simple ceramic tile, marble vanity, glass shower stall and gold walls, it’s easily the most ‘ attractive room in the entire house. “The bathroom took a lot of doing,”’ admits Brown, who has worked in interior design for 15 years and now manages Chintz and Company. That's an understatement. The room's lay-out had to be significantly modified after an electrical fire broke out in the ccil- “Sa Ay * Aco Sunshine Special Australian Women’s Weekly Cookbooks only $995. 11.99 THE GOURMET KITCHEN Ps 1270 Marine Drive, NVan. aia PRE wt KATE BROWN (left) and Lori Wallace of Chintz and Company have combined just the right fabrics, furnishings and art to come up with two stunning rooms at this year's Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Designer Showhouse. The house, located at 1738 Angus Drive, is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily until July 19. ing, destroying the attic and caus- ing structural damage to the roof. The commotion put a crimp in their timetable, but they emerged from the ordeal unscathed. For Brown, who has worked almost entirely in commercial in- terior design (she designed several Keg Restavrants), the chance to work on.a residential project with a-first-rate team of professionals was areward in itself. : “We all worked together like a family.” That’s a nice change because as a designer, you're ‘usually cut off from members of ‘your profession.” Wallace, no newcomer to resi- dential design (she did the interior of the first Arthur Erickson house on the North Shore and has designed several British Properties homes), says she feit a great sense of accomplishment after seeing the showrooms emerge after long hours of planning. “There were times when it seemed -never-ending. There’s a certain satisfaction when it all comes together.’”’ _ ‘It’s not every day designers are given near-total freedom to con- ESTATE SILVER © Impressive sterling candelabra Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am to 5pm ALWAYS PURCHASING CONSIGNMENT WELCOME 1730 Marine Dr., West Vancouver 926-7710. Struct an entirely new look. This is a field, after all, where the cus- tomer’s taste and budget rarely jibe with the designers’. “It’s a very personal thing. You have to make sure that both you and the customer understand what they're getting so they won’t be disappointed,’’ notes Brown. After meeting with the owner, Wallace and Brown decided on a look that would suit the lifestyle of a mature, politically-oriented couple. “We wanted it to look like they’d lived here a long time, so we didn’t want everything to match,’’ says Wallace. “We tried to have different elements relate to each other,” adds Brown, ‘‘so it woul’::’t look like it was ali plopped down at one time. We wanted to go for the rich jewel tones in the fabric — we simply had to get away from pastels,’ she laughs, And the price tag? Brown estimates the three rooms ({in- cluding a walk-in closet) corbin- ed are now. valued at over $120,000. Well, they did say they chose the best of everything. The Van Oeveren's “ANN & ROBERT a Professional Team. We know how to get your home ] SUTTON GROUP So LD WEST COAST REALTY Call 983-9321 or 988-2186 In their own words What’s your background in design? Kate: ‘‘I studied in Lon- don and worked in Ottawa and Toronto. | came to Vancouver and opened my own commercial design company in 1978. Some of my projects were the New Westminster courthouse, law of- fices, and Keg Restaurants. After my children were born I developed my own toy business in North Vancouver called Kiddoworks. | did that for eight-nine years. I wanted to get into residential design so I chose to work with Chintz and Company.”’ ~ Lori: ‘‘I don’t have a formal degree — I attended the -Van-- couver School of Art. I worked in my grandfather’s lighting business, managed a custom fram- ing business, and worked for an ad agency. I’m a generalist.” gamer -e. - HELP Was the master bedroom and en- suite your first choice? Kate: “*Yes. We chose it because we thought we could show off some of our fabrics.’’ 4 Where did most of the furnishings come from? Lori: ‘‘Most of the pieces are Vancouver-made, and * the artists are all from Vancouver. Everything is very high quality. It just shows you you don’t have to go to'Europe to get these things.’’ Was designing the VSO showrooms stressful? Kate: “There was ‘some stress .— you weren’t here last week.’ Lori: ‘‘In this job you have to hope that the fabric arrives on time and that all the pieces come together —. there really are a million things that could go wrong.”’ BOX THE SAVINGS UPTO - 60% OFF : ¢ Allitems on sale July 13-25 Jackee’s Homecraft Gallery 926-5711 1761 Marine Dr,, W, Van _ ra haan a . :