The view, the acreage, the location – the King family had plenty of reasons to purchase a home on Snohomish’s Dutch Hill.
The living room fireplace wasn’t one of them.
It was huge, marble and topped with an oak mantel. The scale and ornate design felt out of step with the home’s French country vibe.
In the search to find something to replace the marble monstrosity, homeowners Cheri and Kelly King discovered a solution that transformed the feel of the room.
They hired a local business, Majestic Decor, to create a custom fireplace from a secret synthetic material that can be applied like mud and molded like clay.
Its creators call it Earthstone. When it sets, it looks like a natural material. It can be smoothed over the top of an existing brick fireplace to create a new look or used to make stone tables, corbels, columns, man-sized urns or friezes.
The finish can be rough or smooth or patterned. It can be tinted any color. It’s durable and can be easily repaired if it gets chipped or damaged, its creators say.
The Kings now have a fireplace surround and mantel that looks like it’s carved out of pale stone. The business also created an oversized mirror frame above the fireplace and stonelike panels on the wall.
The room feels warm, inviting, classy. Just what the Kings said they wanted.
That pleases Majestic Decor’s owners, Adam and Valerie Campbell. The couple moved to the area last year and took over their daughter’s storefront on Colby Avenue after she suffered a debilitating accident.
Before moving to Everett, the Campbells operated a studio in Kenmore and showcased their Earthstone work in the Seattle Design Center’s showrooms before that.
Adam Campbell worked with a chemist for three years to develop Earthstone in the early 1980s. Cement didn’t cut it and neither did plaster. He wanted to create a material that was strong and durable but could be shaped.
The two work as a team: She provides inspiration and design, and he creates the pieces in his Marysville shop and installs them.
They’ve created original work for wineries, department stores and private homes. The couple can create any look from Old World to contemporary, Val Campbell said. But their signature pieces have a Tuscany feel. Her affinity for cherubs and lions and other classic motifs shows up in her designs.
They charge about $5,000 for the average fireplace, she said. A custom wall frieze they have hanging in their showroom costs $1,500. The business gives individual estimates based on the scope of the project, she said. It takes six to nine weeks for the average project from conception to completion.
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@ heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
