Every week I feature bloggers and designers, but little did you know that behind the scenes of some fabulous homes, the ones whose wall colours and exterior paint colours just make the home sing are the fabulous painters that create the magic with a paint can, brush and roller! Please welcome... Heidi Nyline from Warline Paint She is.... Heidi and her husband Warren, are the owners of a successful and professional full service paint company that operates here in the Lower Mainland. Heidi, with a background in marketing and PR, along with her husband's painting know-how, have together created a top-of-the-line paint service with the customer in mind. Everyone knows that the easiest way to change a home's ambiance and bring it on trend is with paint! Warline Painting is doing just that. Not only do they offer painting service and colour consults but they cater to their customers needs and wants by the type and brand of paint they use. Not loyal to one brand or another, they select the brand that meets their customers and projects needs. Most recently they have also begun to work on historical home restorations as well, paying careful attention to the details and historical colour choices. In addition to managing their business, Heidi pens a blog where you can learn painting tips to her most recent blog post, "How to Clean Spilled Paint from Carpet!" That post is a definite must-read.....many things can be learned from their recent fiasco! Their gallery will leave you wanting to re-paint your whole house, inside and out! Some stunning before and afters! The magic of paint... {All photos courtesy of Warline Paint} Tell us a bit about your background? Your education? Has design/painting always been in your blood? Haha no. My background is marketing and PR. If you had told me ten years ago that today I would be running a painting company and blogging about colour, I would never have believed you. I have always loved pretty but never thought that it would become a part of my career. What made you decide to start a painting company? Well I guess it started when I married a painter 8 years ago. Warren got really sick and needed someone to check on a large new construction project he was working on. I volunteered to help and quickly found out a lot of what he did was project management, which I was good at. It started us talking about combining our talents and building a company that was based on our personal values, hard work and quality. We describe ourselves as being Not Your Typical Painters. Almost everyone has a story of a bad experience hiring a painter. Warren and I really want to change the stereotypes and reputation so prevalent in the painting industry. Everything we do at Warline is based on exceeding our customer’s expectations and raising the bar in the industry. Briefly tell my readers a bit about your company. The range of services at Warline is pretty broad. We do everything from large strata complexes to repainting kitchen cabinets and everything in between. Over the last few years we have really begun to specialize in the restoration of heritage homes. We love really challenging projects and unique houses where we sink our teeth into the work and show off our talents. When you start on a new project, what and how do you help clients choose the right colour and paint? What is the starting point? The first thing I always start with is what isn’t changing in or on the house. Those fixed features are going to dictate the direction we go in with paint colours. Whether it’s their furniture, the tiles in a bathroom or even the colour roof on their house you have to consider those things when you make your colour choices. Do you have a favourite paint colour? What is it? I love lots of favourite colours and they do change from year to year. Right now my favourite exterior house colour is Benjamin Moore Georgian Green. My favourite front door colour right now is Wenge. When it comes to interior colours my all time favourite colour is Manchester Tan. That colour has saved my butt on so many jobs it should be retired to the colour hall of fame. Any tips on painting a space, either inside or out? Yes. Hire a professional. I say this seriously and not to be impudent. Painting is one of the largest finishing features in your home. A good paint job starts with good prep. Nothing looks worse than a bad paint job, regardless of how nice the rest of the finishings are in your home. Do you believe that building materials and colour choice are affected by living here on the west coast? Absolutely. We get so much rain here in Vancouver that people are always looking for ways to brighten up their spaces. I think it makes a lot of people scared to use greys because they think it will be too dreary. When it comes to exteriors, we get lots of natural colours like stone and browns. That is definitely influenced by our natural surroundings as well as the greater amount of cedar we use in building. How would you describe your design style? I don’t think I’ve ever really have been able to define my style. I work in a lot of show homes and I would have thought my taste was similar to what I see in those spaces with lots of neutrals and large pieces. But I have just redecorated my living room and I was drawn to crisp bright colours and a real mix of collected pieces. My most treasured items are art from our travels, pictures my kids have painted and pieces that have been handed down through my family over the years. What is one paint faux pas that you feel should be banished? How about just faux painting on walls? Really, with the incredible wallpapers available today I have no idea why anyone would try and make their walls look like marble or suede with paint. What do you like to do in your free time? Travel. Owning our own business means we are always working or thinking about work. The only real free time we get is when we are 100% removed from the business and for us that means getting away. Tell us one thing that would surprise us! I’m really bad at painting. If you could meet anyone or do anything who or what would it be? Rid the lower mainland of every pink stucco house. What are your views on the role of Canadian design on the world stage? Do you feel that Canadians have a unique sense of style, the way we design and decorate our homes? If so, what do you think sets us apart? It is pretty great to see so many Canadian designers getting so much attention these days. We do have a unique style that sets us apart, which I think is influenced by our colder climate and our natural resources. Canadians like comfort and warmth. I see that over and over when people are choosing colours for their home. Heidi, I laughed when I read you were bad at painting! And I am in agreement with you about the pink stucco homes {sadly mine is one of them, but at least it is a very soft pinky beige....} Thanks for all your wonderful insight! XO Barbara