Marble, laid on with a trowel.
Venetian plaster is natural lime applied in paper-thin coats and burnished by hand. The result has the depth of polished stone — no joints, no panels, and no two walls alike.
A material, not a paint
Slaked lime and marble dust, laid in two to four very thin passes with a steel trowel, then burnished until the surface takes its sheen. It is the same technique Venice has used since the fifteenth century. Light enters the material instead of bouncing off it — which is why a Venetian plaster wall looks like a different wall at nine in the morning and at six at night.
Three finishes
The finish sets how far the surface is burnished, and therefore how long it takes to lay. That is where the price difference lives — not in the material.
Wall prices. Ceilings: +$6/sq ft. Project minimum $2,600.
Where it goes
Venetian plaster goes on walls and ceilings. Never on a floor: it is a lime finish and it does not have microcement's toughness underfoot.
Feature walls
Living rooms, bedrooms, headboard walls, entrance halls. One wall is often enough to change a room.
Whole rooms
Living rooms and bedrooms carried wall to wall, ceilings included if you want the light to run without a break.
Bathrooms
Possible with a beeswax burnish, which makes the lime water-repellent. We don't take it inside showers.
Commercial
Retail, hotels, restaurants, showrooms — anywhere a surface has to look expensive up close.
Venetian plaster or microcement?
We install both. Here's how we help clients choose.
Venetian plaster
- Walls and ceilings only
- Natural lime, polished-marble look
- Depth and sheen, highly decorative
- From $18/sq ft
- $2,600 project minimum
Not for floors, and not inside a shower.
Microcement
- Floors, walls, showers, countertops
- Cementitious, matte concrete look
- Tough, waterproof, walkable
- From $16/sq ft
- $3,900 project minimum