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Where Artistry Begins
Mineral plaster trowelled into a soft, cloudy concrete wall, for Nottingham buildings with flat square walls and no ornament to fight it.
Concrete effect plaster in Nottingham is a smooth, cloudy grey wall laid in mineral plaster with a steel trowel, not rolled on from a tin. Zavoré supplies and installs it, based in Birmingham with our own applicators travelling to Nottingham. We use Beton Stucco, tinted to the colour you choose, laid in thin coats over a primed wall. A sample board in your colour is the place to start.
It is a finish with strong opinions. It looks right in some Nottingham buildings, and wrong in others, and we will tell you which yours is.
Nottingham has its own concrete heritage. The 1970s Victoria Centre is a landmark of concrete in the city centre, and the gallery of Nottingham Contemporary is clad in cast concrete pressed with a lace pattern, a nod to the trade that built the Lace Market. The warehouses of Hockley and the Lace Market, with their brick and big windows, suit the same cool, industrial palette. Newer apartments by the canal and the Trent have the flat, square walls that show it off.
The Victorian villa is a different story. Skip it in period rooms full of cornice, picture rail and panelled doors, because concrete fights them rather than sitting alongside. That covers a good part of the Park Estate, Mapperley Park and the Georgian streets by the castle.
You can read about the material on our page for concrete effect finishes. The places where it works well share one thing, flat square walls with no ornament to compete.
If you want one flat even colour with no variation at all, this is the wrong finish.
Most of what sells as concrete effect paint is an acrylic with grit in it, rolled on and stippled. It reads as textured paint because that is what it is. Beton Stucco is mineral plaster laid in thin coats with a trowel, so the tone sits inside the material rather than on top of it. The cloud is real depth, made by the blade and by the way each coat dries back.
It costs more and asks for a steadier hand, and it is the only way we know to get a wall that still looks like concrete from a foot away.
A concrete finish is thin, so the wall shows through. Hollows, roller stipple left from old emulsion, tape lines across plasterboard joints and soft or dusty patches all come up through the coats. We want a skimmed, flat, primed wall, and old walls usually need making good first.
Grey is not one colour. It runs from warm putty to cold blue grey, and north light pulls it towards blue. We tint to the reference you give us, NCS, RAL or a fan deck chip, so a second batch is repeatable.
Unsealed, the finish is porous and will take a mark from oil or wine. In a kitchen or a downstairs loo we seal it, which makes it wipeable and deepens the colour a little, so see that on a board first. Behind a hob or sink we put waterproofer on before the sealer. It is happy in a bathroom that gets steam and splash, but for water running down a shower wall we would use tadelakt.
We survey the walls first, covering substrate, flatness, damp, movement, how the room is used, access and protection.
Concrete reads as concrete because of scale, so a whole wall is worked in one go with a wet edge, changing the direction of the blade so no pattern repeats. The second coat is where the look is made. A Nottingham job is planned in blocks of days with the team staying on site. Colour is tinted to the approved sample before it leaves Birmingham, in 48 house colours or any NCS reference. See the concrete effect installation page for the steps.
You can lay it yourself, and whether you should depends on the wall. A small alcove or a chimney breast is a fair first job. A long open plan wall with a return is not, because the cloud has to carry across without a join. The shop sells Beton Stucco tinted to colour, primer and sealer, shipped tracked across the UK. Decorators who buy regularly can ask about a trade account.
Cool grey is one choice. For a wall that reflects, see polished plaster in Nottingham, and for stone grain marmorino in Nottingham. The seamless sibling of concrete is microcement in Nottingham. For lime colour you brush on, try limewash in Nottingham, and for a matt wall clay plaster in Nottingham. Showers call for tadelakt in Nottingham, and a single glowing wall for liquid metal in Nottingham. Our whole range is under decorative specialists in Nottingham, and the area guide covers Venetian plastering in Nottingham.
It can, but we would think carefully. Concrete fights cornice, picture rail and panelled doors rather than sitting alongside them. It works better in an extension, a loft conversion or a plain hallway than in a period reception room, and for those rooms we would suggest lime.
No. Concrete effect paint is an acrylic with texture in it, rolled on and stippled. What we sell is a mineral plaster, trowelled in thin coats, where the tone sits in the material and the cloud comes from the blade.
On kitchen and bathroom walls, yes. We seal them, and add waterproofer where water hits regularly. Inside a shower enclosure we would not use it, because tadelakt is made for that.
It is a thin decorative skin, not a slab, so it does not craze the way a poured floor can. It will follow the wall behind it, so any movement, board joint or damp shows through. Sort those first and the wall stays as it was laid.
For a wall or a whole room, tell us about it. Call 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos, rough measurements and your postcode. You can also order a sample board and start from there.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Nottingham and we will come back to you with the right finish and a clear quote.
For a quote, email photos and measurements of your walls to sales@zavore.co.uk or call 07592 929191, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm.
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We also supply the trade by post, wherever you are. The shop ships tracked across the UK, and the Academy teaches the finishes in Birmingham.
Providing luxury finishes for the most prestigious addresses in the world
Venetian plaster, limewash, microcement, tadelakt, metallics, sculptural plaster and gold leaf, supplied and installed by our own team, with Venetian plaster taught at our Birmingham studio.
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