With a wide selection and knowledgeable staff, Divine Flooring can help create inspired spaces at every budget.
Janelle Erickson and Stephanie Smith take an entirely collaborative approach to their design work, resulting in projects that benefit from the pair’s dynamic strengths and variety of influences.
At their boutique interior design studio, SmithErickson Designs, the duo pulls from their combined expertise to create inspired spaces for their clientele, exemplified in their vintage foyer vignette at Calgary’s Divine Flooring Showroom. Starting with Divine’s Cosmopolitan Naked oak hardwood, the foyer was assembled to create a lasting first impression through timeless design and decor choices.
Here, Smith and Erickson explore how they worked to evoke a vintage Parisian feel in the vignette, and how Divine Flooring can help realize a vision while staying within your budget.
Janelle Erickson: We were asked to design an interior space with Divine [as part of the #Reveal2018 series], which we drew from a box for. And we were fortunate enough to get vintage and foyer.
Stephanie Smith: We were very excited to get the foyer because we feel it’s the first impression to your home, so we had this opportunity to create this very grand and elegant space as you walked in.
JE: With the blonde oak, we drew inspiration from Parisian apartments. We started pulling up photos and really appreciating moulding details. We felt like that was really important to add texture and depth to our foyer.
SS: With the Parisian theme, we also really drew inspiration in laying floors in different patterns. So this particular floor has a chevron pattern, which offers a very old-world feel.
JE: With our designs, we like to juggle with the highs and lows. So we don’t like to keep it consistent with lower price point materials, because we find it will sort of read that way. You balance it — you bring in a higher price point floor, but balance it out in different materials with a lower price point.
We actually do, a lot of the time, start with flooring. So if it’s a renovation that we’re doing — say a main floor or a kitchen renovation — we’ll start with the floor and work from the ground up. Divine has huge selection, so it’s always a great starting point, from our darks to our lights, narrow planks to wider planks, as well as different materials like LVP (luxury vinyl plank).
SS: LVP is a great budget friendly option, too. It’s a great alternative that looks just like hardwood.
Wood Option: Naked Chevron, European Oak / Cosmopolitan Collection
Wood Option: Naked Planks, European Oak / Cosmopolitan Collection
Wood Option: Natural Oak / Amarosa Collection MSRP
Vinyl Option: California Dreamin’ / Voyage II Collection MSRP
JE: When we bring in a client, even the finishes in the showroom are clean and crisp, so it’s really easy to envision and to see the flooring as its own. It really highlights the natural tones, the colouring in it, it’s a nice clean slate.
SS: If you come down to Divine, they have a lot of knowledgeable staff that will be able to help you out, and so many products to look at on any budget — from affordable options to high-end alternatives. This is a great starting point to start your renovation and get some ideas.
Divine Flooring is headquartered in Rocky View, AB and is a curator and service provider of flooring and accessories specializing in engineered hardwood, luxury vinyl and laminate with some supplemental tile and carpet.
In its flagship showroom in Calgary, the company has six in-store vignettes to help inspire the consumer along their floor purchasing journey. Each vignette is fashioned after a distinctive style theme: traditional, Hollywood Regency, vintage, rustic, modern and minimal.
Find luxury for every budget at divinefloor.com
Through a wide array of options, Divine Flooring helps create elegant spaces at any price point.
Alykhan Velji has become a mainstay in the Calgary design community, creating residential and commercial interiors that brim with signature energy and character.
Faced with the challenge of adding his signature flair to a Regency-style bar vignette at Divine Flooring’s Calgary showroom, Velji and his team from Alykhan Velji Designs (AVD) worked from the ground up based on the Montpellier hardwood from Divine’s Louis XIV collection. The result is a space that blends comfort and luxury through carefully curated contrasting materials, textures and patterns.
In conversation, Velji reflects on the design at Divine’s showroom and how creating a classic, luxurious look of your own is attainable regardless of budget.
The vignette that we created for Divine Flooring was based around Regency, so we really wanted it to be a reflection on how AVD likes to design, but also based on the flooring we were given. We love to mix different styles, different patterns and different textures, so we really wanted it to be a reflection as well showing the customer how you can do that — how you can mix metals, how you can mix different woods, and how you can create a bar space that not only looks really chic, but also can be affordable.
Side-by-side: Rendering (using Montpellier Planks, French White Oak) and Alykhan’s Regency style vignette (using Montpellier Parquet, French White Oak)
The feeling that I was trying to evoke is one of luxury. When you think of a bar area, you think of mixing cocktails with friends, entertaining, being happy — so these are definitely kind of the emotions we were trying to reflect in this space.
I think a lot of people when they think about luxury think expense, but that’s not necessarily the case. There are many different ways you can utilize different materials to get that lux look for less.
When it the flooring choice, there is so much available. When you go with a parquet, for example, that’s a little bit more expensive. A straight lay will be less expensive. You can definitely get colours in the same look and same pattern that you want, but for a more affordable price.
Wood Option: Montpellier Parquet, French White Oak / Louis XIV Collection MSRP $21.99 / sqft
Wood Option: Montpellier Planks, French White Oak / Louis XIV Collection MSRP $14.99 / sqft
Wood Option: Icicle, European Oak / Cosmopolitan Collection MSRP $9.99 / sqft
Vinyl Option: Bocaccio ’70, Vein Cut Travertine / Passage Collection MSRP $4.69 / sqft
Working with Divine is so fantastic because they offer such a wide range of products. If you find something that is a little higher priced, there’s going to be something in their array of products that will come in on budget and still give you the look you want.
For example, I recently brought in a customer who had selected a floor that was out of their price range. We came in and worked with the amazing staff here and were able to select a floor that came into budget and actually looked a lot better too, so it worked out really well.
Divine Flooring is headquartered in Rocky View, AB and is a curator and service provider of flooring and accessories specializing in engineered hardwood, luxury vinyl and laminate with some supplemental tile and carpet.
In its flagship showroom in Calgary, the company has six in-store vignettes to help inspire the consumer along their floor purchasing journey. Each vignette is fashioned after a distinctive style theme: traditional, Hollywood Regency, vintage, rustic, modern and minimal.
Find luxury for every budget at divinefloor.com
Through a wide array of designer options, Divine Flooring helps create breathtaking spaces at any budget.
Designer Nyla Free of Nyla Free Design Inc. has built expertise around delivering masterfully crafted spaces that meet both her clients’ needs and their budgets — a balance that’s assisted by the breadth of options at Divine Flooring.
Free’s craft is currently on display through her traditional powder room vignette at Divine’s Calgary showroom. The vignette incorporates a cohesive use of varying materials to achieve a timeless look, tied together by Divine’s Farmhouse Collection Corsanello hardwood.
Here, Free explains how she approached the vignette, and how working on a budget doesn’t have to mean compromising your vision.
We wanted to create a feeling of a life well-lived and a life well-loved, and a sense that not everything was done all at the same time — maybe the materials and the different layers were added year over year. We were really looking to tell the story of the people who would be enjoying this space.
Side-by-side: Rendering (using African Queen / Voyage Collection in plank format) and Nyla’s traditional powder room vignette (using Corsanello Walnut Hardwood / Farmhouse Collection in Herringbone format).
We were really inspired by the European style — that old-world feel of traditional materials and a focus on the classic, whether it be the colour combinations or timeless materials that never go out of style.
We have the Farmhouse Collection laid in a herringbone pattern in our vignette at Divine, which is more costly as far as the material and installation process is concerned. However, if you wanted to minimize cost, you could apply the same floor in a straight lay situation, which would still look beautiful and would cost less for materials and require less labour.
Divine also has a fantastic vinyl flooring option that is very similar to the overall look, again lowering the cost as well as the installation. So you have three different options here that could still help you achieve a look like this.
I highly recommend talking to the experts at Divine Flooring. They’ll have great insight and advice that will be very useful. Also, take a look at what you currently have. There may be something there that can be given a new lease on life if some things are changed around the room.
In respect to kitchens and bathrooms, if you’re moving plumbing, that is going to add to cost. If you can, use the location where the plumbing is currently. That will definitely result in savings.
The Divine showroom is impeccable. It’s thoughtfully designed, it’s easy to navigate and all of the samples are in one area, which is a fantastic tool that makes it so much easier to determine the exact right floor.
Another great thing about Divine is they have large working tables. They’re a white surface, which gives you the flexibility of looking at different colours and samples on a very clean surface. So you can feel free to bring in anything that you’re working with, whether that is existing materials or inspiration images, or anything that’s already been selected for your space, because those will be great tools as jumping-off points for the team at Divine to help you move forward.
Divine Flooring is headquartered in Rocky View, AB and is a curator and service provider of flooring and accessories specializing in engineered hardwood, luxury vinyl and laminate with some supplemental tile and carpet.
In its flagship showroom in Calgary, the company has six in-store vignettes to help inspire the consumer along their floor purchasing journey. Each vignette is fashioned after a distinctive style theme: traditional, Hollywood regency, vintage, rustic, modern and minimal.
It's a trend that Ashley Scott, Showroom Manager for Divine Flooring, says reflects buyer's overall search for products that are attractive, while being more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
"They want wood to look like wood," she says.
So what does going 'au naturel' mean for the floors and overall design of your home, whether contemporary, traditional or rustic? Here are some examples:
Classic meets class. With a matte finish, Naked natural hardwood from Divine's Cosmopolitan line adds to the movie-ready looks showcased in a stunning, timeless staircase or in the simple, clean lines of the traditional white kitchen, augmented by the detailed mouldings, hardware and personal touches of colour.
Photo credit: Michelle Johnson Photography
Divine's Naked European Oak from its Cosmopolitan Collection - the store's most popular choice - complements the rustic design of a living area, with its exposed brick painted white, wood ceiling beams and layers of natural fabrics and tonal textures. The floors, with a matte finish and a few knots, bring the cozy room together without overwhelming the space.
Photo credit: Nicole Gerhardt Photography
A natural flooring can also highlight black stained cabinets and farmhouse chairs, wicker pieces and white shiplap in the kitchen.
A modern, sophisticated bedroom can sport even cleaner and chic lines with the addition of a chevron pattern in natural colouring. Melissa Ennis Design of Edmonton combined traditional elements with a minimalist approach in this bedroom renovation featuring the Naked European Oak in a chevron pattern.
Photo credit: Tracey Jazmin Photography
Using popular design patterns can bring additional style to your 'naked' floor. Whether using chevron, herringbone or parquet, Scott says there is a floor pattern to suit any size or style of room or home.
Interior Designer Karin Bohn created a parquet insert in the same colour as the main floor hardwood resulting in an area rug-like detail in the dining room of this estate home in Southlands. The natural tone of the hardwood pairs well with the gold accents used throughout the Art Deco inspired home. 
Photo credit: Amanda Oster, Provoke Studios
Speaking of size, the notion that design should work for any sized space has been embraced by North American lifestyle influencers Monika and Troy Hibbs. The Canadian husband and wife duo unveiled their own tiny home store (on wheels), which includes Naked hardwood as a backdrop for the abundance of white and pastel accents throughout the small space. They wanted a floor that was aesthetically pleasing without detracting from their store's merchandise.
The natural flooring trend started in Europe and has stretched across all of North America. It's not surprising that what is trending in Toronto and New York is also trending in Vancouver and Calgary, says Scott.
"In Europe, while you can find any sized house, they are traditionally smaller, with a more minimalist, chic look."
All buyer demographics have embraced the classic and more natural and organic finishes, Scott says; they're not only easier to maintain because they are generally lighter, but they can also be easily refreshed by simply changing a room's accessories.
"Floors really have become the centrepiece of the home," Scott says. "We often have people bring in cabinet samples to the store and fit it with their floor. There will always be new trends, but I believe the natural look is truly classic and will withstand the test of time."
Karin Bohn is a Canadian award-winning Interior Designer, Business Woman, Speaker and YouTube Personality. Her self-titled YouTube channel has over 60,000 subscribers and attracted over 5 ½ million views. Her 24-episode web-series ‘#Bohnafide’ takes you step by step through the renovation of her own home, which we’ve highlighted in this blog entry. 
"I am really loving the look of the black cabinets balanced out by the white tile back backsplash and the brass/gold accent. I love how the gold accents elevate the kitchen while the black cabinets are dramatic and moody and the white subway tile keeps the space casual. My perfect mix."
Kitchen Millwork color: Benjamin Moore, “Black”
Kitchen Island Counter top: IKEA
Flooring: Divine Flooring, Cosmopolitan Collection in “Rome”
Wall Paint: Sherwin Williams, Snowbound
Paint Trade: Fresh Paint
Karin Bohn chose Rome from the Cosmopolitan Collection which she also happened to have designed for Divine.
“Light wood flooring has been extremely popular over the last few years because of its clean, modern look and the ability to brighten up any space. I don’t see this trend going anywhere anytime soon, which is why I knew I wanted to go light. I also knew I wanted character in my wood floors and Cosmopolitan Rome has a beautiful wire-brushed finish that exposes the natural grain of the wood and helps hide any wear and tear over the years.”
Karin cleverly used Des Fleurs, rustic oak floor planks with bow-tie inserts, to create ceiling beams that traverse the expanse of her living and dining area.
"Because the ceiling isn't super high it just adds a fun sense of drama that I love. I think ceilings are a very underutilized surface."
"If you look closely at this surface from the Farmhouse Collection, it has so much character to it and I just love that its also got a weathered and textured rustic quality. To me, that was super important in the design that this townhouse feld modern and edgy but still a little rustic and still a little North Vancouver. So I definitely think that I achieved this with these ceiling beams."
Karin continued the look of the main floor hardwood onto the stair with custom stair treads made from flooring material.
"The treads are in the beautiful, light Rome colour from the Cosmopolitan Collection. I just love these light colour treads with the barn board markings in them."
Be sure to check out the full project gallery of Karin's Vancouver Townhouse
BARLEY & SMOKE GRILLIN’ FOR A CURE
This past August, chefs and brew masters in Calgary teamed up to give cancer a grilling. In support of Kids Cancer Care Alberta, ten teams competed in four categories: best beer, best slider, best ribs and best team in this inaugural event.
A panel of judges made up of local celebrities, writers and industry leaders determined the winners of the event. Upward of 40 sponsors, restaurants and craft brewers took part in the event with a common goal to help raise over $100,000 for Kids Cancer Care.
BY THE NUMBERS
550 VISITORS I 10 COMPETING TEAMS I 15 FOOD & BEER SAMPLES I 5 PRIZE CATEGORIES
Judging from the numbers, the event was a phenomenal success! Kids Cancer Care is a registered charity that supports Alberta families facing childhood cancer. Funds raised through events like Barley and Smoke enable Kids Cancer Care to offer essential programs at no cost to children and their families.
Check out the video of the event highlights
BEST RIBS WINNER: PRAIRIE DOG BREWING
Prairie Dog Brewing won BEST RIBS prize for their St. Louis style ribs. Pork side ribs were rubbed in their house-made pork spice blend and smoked for four hours over BC birch and applewood.
BEST BEER WINNER: BANDED PEAK BREWERY
The winning beer was awarded to Banded Peak for their Guavamorphology. This ultra-refreshing kettle-soured gose was packed to the rafters with juiced pink guavas and Ekuanot hops to create an aromatic citrus fruit bomb. A simple malt base of craft 2-row barley and flaked wheat was infused with modest boil additions of Hima - layan rock salt and lactose, delivering a pillowy soft mouthfeel and an intensely refreshing finish that pairs all too well with the spring melt.
BEST SLIDER WINNER: JANE BOND BBQ
The winning slider was awarded to Jane Bond BBQ for a Canadian Style 20-hour smoked brisket slider on a ciabatta bun with Carolina mustard BBQ sauce, honey vinaigrette slaw and a nibble of a pickle.
BEST TEAM WINNER: COLD GARDEN • JANE BOND BBQ
The jovial team spirit and southern hospitality charm of Cold Garden and Jane Bond BBQ won over the hearts of the judges. When they presented their pairing of East Calgary Lager and 20-hour smoked brisket slider, they first handed out bibs to the guests in the VIP section then had everyone raise their glass and give a toast to their neighbours.
But wait... there's more! Local Calgary designers and builders teamed up to create five reading forts for Camp Kindle, owned and operated by Kids Cancer Care. Programs like Camp Kindle, education support and scholarships are designed to meet the needs of children and families at each stage of their cancer journey, from diagnosis through treatment and beyond.
BEST FORT WINNER: LEANNE BUNNELL INTERIOR DESIGN, UNIQUE PROJECTS, CEDAR SHOP
“It’s been challenging and exciting and creative so all of that is good for us, but in the end when it (reading fort) actually lands out at the camp, I’m really excited for the kids to be using it.” – Leanne Bunnell
All funds raised from the Barley & Smoke event will go toward Kids Cancer Care’s essential programs designed to support young people, like 15-year-old Ryane Nethery, during their cancer journeys and beyond. Nethery is a cancer survivor who shared her experience with guests at the event.
Divine Flooring was among this year's sponsors who made this amazing event possible.
“The generosity of spirit displayed by these sponsors feels like a miracle right now during this economic downturn.” Christine McIver, founder and chief executive officer of Kids Cancer Care.
For more information of the event, visit Barley & Smoke and Kids Cancer Care Alberta. Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2020 date.
Why should your feet have all the fun?
Beautiful flooring is nirvana to the toes and candy to the eyes, connecting the flow of your home’s rooms.
But it can be so much more, says Divine Flooring’s Calgary showroom manager Ashley Scott. She highlights these creative ways to use flooring.
When you wake up in the morning, how calming to see a beautiful ceiling detail of floor planks instead of boring stubble. Installing wood planking on the ceiling offers a warm, design feature sure to catch guests’ attention.
Using floor planks to create spectacular barn doors is one of the applications Scott says is growing in popularity thanks to HGTV shows and the boom of social media platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram. “Consumers are way more savvy and already know what they want before they come in.”
Whether it’s stair risers or treads, wood planks add sophistication and unique detailing while continuing the upscale flow of your floors. You will feel like a queen or king ascending the majesty of a curvaceous staircase, or you can add clean, bright lines with light floor planks.
Yes, we all need storage. But instead of just taking up space, storage can be a thing of beauty, as award-winning Vancouver designer Stephanie Brown shows in this backdrop for sports gear or as a backdrop on the kitchen island in this Whistler vacation property.
Grab a book, put your feet up, and enjoy the view out your window, sitting on the window seat created from floor planks. Saskatoon’s Haven Builders created this beautiful window seat — and added storage, too!
Create timber beams from floor planks for beautiful architectural features — Scott suggests also just wrapping a beam with floor planks. They can highlight inlays over a kitchen island with a dropdown ceiling, or simply add unique ceiling rafters.
Offering beauty and purpose, floating shelves from wood planks add a bold accent to the stylish kitchen of this Daytona Homes show home in Edmonton.CNJ Developments
Scott says floor planks are being used extensively behind great room fireplaces, as insets above bathroom vanities, or as wall accents anywhere in the home. “They add texture, detail and warmth to any room. These touches go a long way towards the esthetic of the home — and to your investment in it. They bring a lot of bang for your buck.”
Whether a customer has caught something on a TV show, on social media or seen it in a new show home, Scott says Divine Flooring can make it happen in their home.
And all these great finishing details are possible because of Divine Flooring’s in-house wood working shop — “it is not just a woodworking shop, they are talented carpenters,” says Scott, adding that the companies team or installers are artisans as well.
This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division.
You sashay across the Parquet de Versailles hardwood of your luxurious French chateau, looking onto the verdant lawn, fountains and parkland beyond.
But wait. Is it all just a dream?
Chances are you’re not in a chateau in France. But you can feel like you are with unique, patterned hardwood. It can bring Old World charm and elegance to the floors, ceilings or walls of your home, no matter how modest or grand its design.
Classic, patterned hardwood flooring — parquet and its sisters chevron and herringbone — has been adding beauty to European homes, large and small, for centuries. It is becoming a much-requested staple (in large part due to social media sites such as Pinterest) in our homes here because of its versatility and beauty, says Ashley Scott, Calgary showroom manager for Divine Flooring.
The company, with showrooms in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Chicago, has developed a wide variety of specialized hardwood products for every customer’s lifestyle.
Here’s a closer look at three patterns turning heads these days:
This classic hardwood pattern of geometric design built around square borders with angular insets is often the main, eye-catching feature of a room. While it started in Europe, Scott says it is gaining popularity in New York, Chicago and now Canada. Large diagonal squares (Parquet de Versailles) were first introduced in 1684 and replaced marble flooring, which required a lot of washing that led to rotted floor joints! Parquet quickly became the formal flooring of choice for French chateaux, and in the grand buildings of Russia’s St. Petersburg.
This pattern, made up of equal-sized rectangular pieces typically laid in a staggered zigzag pattern, was first employed by the ancient Romans who used herringbone bricks on roads. The design became popular in wooden floors in the 1600s in Europe. Herringbone offers a casual, less formal esthetic, with more knotting and distressing in the planks.
The lengths can be relatively short — from two to three feet — to up to six feet. Scott says it’s particularly well suited for larger open spaces.
Want traditional with a twist? Combine herringbone and regular planks in the same colour tones. Award-winning Vancouver designer Jamie Banfield says this detail is subtle but “makes a big difference with layering all elements of the home.”
The herringbone configuration can also be adapted in creative ways by stacking the planks in groups of two or three to create bolder zigzag patterns.
You can get creative with the herringbone theme depending on how you place the planks. Besides the traditional arrangement, top left, Divine Flooring suggests, clockwise from top right, Murato (brick pattern using three planks), Triplo (Herringbone using three planks) or Scale (planks laid in a railroad pattern).
Where herringbone employs square corners on rectangular boards, chevron uses mitred or angled corners and diagonal lines to conjure the sense of wealth and grandeur associated with historic estates. It offers a more minimal and modern look, says Scott.
And it doesn’t just look great on the floor. Calgary designer Rochelle Cote took a contemporary approach by using chevron hardwood on the ceiling, around recessed lighting, in a spectacular lottery show home.
As with herringbone, chevron can also be adapted to create eye-catching, almost mesmerizing, patterns by stacking the same shaped boards atop each other.
Scott says whether your lifestyle design motif is rustic, modern, traditional, minimalist, regency or vintage, Divine Flooring has the patterned hardwood that fits any room, in eight colour tones from light to dark.
“They can be used throughout the whole home, or to add interest to smaller areas. And that applies, whether it is in a small apartment, a townhome, or a larger home, and whether in a bedroom, dining room or a hallway.”
The uniqueness of the patterned hardwood itself — and its versatility — means that every customer, “Can play around with them and make them their own,” says Scott.
This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of Divine Floors.
