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Where Artistry Begins
A soft satin lime and marble finish with visible grain, forgiving of old walls and made for whole rooms, laid by our own plasterers.
Marmorino in Liverpool is lime putty carrying graded marble grain, laid in two coats and compressed with the trowel to a soft satin rather than a mirror. It is the most forgiving of the classic Venetian finishes, and it suits the sort of walls Liverpool's older houses actually have. Zavoré supplies and installs it. We are based in Birmingham, and our own artisans travel to Liverpool to lay it.
If you want the whole room in one material rather than a single feature wall, this is usually where the conversation ends up.
Liverpool has a great many older brick houses, and their walls tell the story. Solid brick with no cavity, old lime plaster, and a century of small repairs are normal from the Victorian terraces to the Georgian townhouses and Edwardian villas. Marmorino has more body than a polished finish, so it sits over a wall that is sound but not perfect and takes some of the unevenness out rather than advertising it.
It is also breathable. A solid wall needs to let moisture move, and a lime finish lets it, where an acrylic film would trap it. It tolerates a fraction more movement than a high polish, which is why we reach for it on timber framed buildings and anywhere a hard, brittle skin would craze within a season or two.
A terrace opened up into one long living space is a classic case. Marmorino suits that, because the grain scatters light where a mirror concentrates it. A whole room reads as a calm surface rather than an event. Marmorino is a very old Venetian render that was used outside on facades as much as inside on walls, which tells you how hard it sets.
Damp is the exception. If a wall is damp, that is fixed at the source before any finish goes on. We say so at the survey, and cold, damp rooms slow drying anyway.
Of all the Venetian finishes, this is the one for covering ground. It goes on faster than a polish, it runs across a ceiling, and it takes internal corners and window reveals without the drama a reflective surface causes at a change of plane.
Not inside a shower or a steam room, where tadelakt belongs. Bathroom walls away from the shower are fine once waxed. Marmorino also keeps close to the shade you picked, so it is a gentle choice if you are matching joinery or a stone floor. See more on the marmorino finishes page.
We start with the survey, looking at the substrate, flatness, cracks, damp, movement, access and how the room is used. If the old paint is sound and well stuck, marmorino can often go over it after washing and priming. Flaking paint or an old oil coating comes off first.
Next comes the level of sheen. Left light, marmorino sits close to matt. Worked harder it comes up to eggshell or satin with the grain still showing, and waxed it picks up a low shine without ever becoming a mirror. We agree that on a sample board, and the material is tinted to the approved sample before it leaves Birmingham.
A wall has to be finished in one go, because a joint that sets before the next pass reaches it shows as a line afterwards. A large open room is a two or three person job, and we plan it that way from the start. Liverpool is away from our base, so the work is arranged in blocks of days with the team staying on site. Dates are agreed once the sample and price are signed off. See Venetian plaster installation for the full process.
If you are a decorator adding a finish to your offer, marmorino is a sensible first purchase. There is no short burnish window to miss, and the grain hides small inconsistencies. We run Venetian plaster courses in Birmingham, listed on the training page. The shop sells the plaster, primer and wax with tracked delivery across the UK, and Liverpool decorators can ask about a trade account.
For your own single room with no trowel experience, the wet edge is what catches people out. If that is you, ring us before you buy.
Marmorino sits in the middle of the range. For a mirror shine, move to polished plaster in Liverpool. For a softer, matt chalk wall, try clay plaster in Liverpool or limewash in Liverpool. For seamless floors and wet areas, see microcement in Liverpool and tadelakt in Liverpool. If the brief says grey and industrial, read concrete effect plaster in Liverpool, and for a shimmer, liquid metal in Liverpool. Our wider craft list sits under decorative specialists in Liverpool, and the area guide is Venetian plastering in Liverpool.
Same family, different grind. Polished plaster uses marble ground to a powder and is burnished until it reflects. Marmorino keeps a coarser grain, so it finishes with visible texture and a satin sheen at most. It is kinder to an imperfect wall.
Usually, if the paint is sound and well stuck down. We wash the wall, make good any damage and prime it so the lime has something to key into. Flaking paint or an old oil based coating comes off first.
It is a lime finish, which is why we suggest it for old houses. Lime moves a little with the building and lets a solid wall breathe. What cracks old walls is a hard, brittle skin laid over something still shifting, and marmorino sits at the softer end of the family.
On walls away from the shower, yes, once waxed. It is water resistant, though not waterproof. Inside a shower or a steam room the honest answer is tadelakt.
To talk about a room, call 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos and the postcode. Order a sample board, or the box of six, and hold them against your floor and joinery in daylight.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Liverpool 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.
See every area we cover.
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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