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Where Artistry Begins
Lime and marble grain compressed to a soft satin, kinder than a mirror polish to the repaired, imperfect walls of older London houses.
Marmorino in London is lime putty carrying graded marble grain, laid in two coats and compressed to a soft satin rather than a mirror. It is the most forgiving of the classic Venetian finishes. Zavoré supplies and installs it, tinted in Birmingham, with our own applicators travelling to London to lay it. Our sample board holds a grain you can see and feel, so start there.
The walls of an older London house carry decades of history. Solid brick, old lime plaster, filled cracks, chimney breast repairs and a ceiling that has been patched more than once. Marmorino has more body than a polished finish, so it sits over a wall that is sound but not flat and takes some of the unevenness out rather than advertising it.
It is also breathable. A solid brick wall in a Georgian or Victorian terrace needs to let moisture move, and a lime finish lets it. Marmorino tolerates a little more movement than a high polish, so we also use it on partition walls and anywhere a hard, brittle skin might craze within a season or two. That is why it is often our answer when a client wants Venetian plaster but the wall is not flat enough for a mirror finish.
The finish we use when a client wants the material everywhere rather than on one wall is marmorino. Our marmorino finishes suit these London rooms.
Colour stays close to the shade you pick, and pale tones stay chalky rather than glassy. That makes marmorino the easier finish to match to joinery, a stone floor or existing paint.
People ask us to choose. If you want the wall to reflect, like a hallway reading as a slab of dark stone, that is polished plaster. If you want stone that has been honed rather than polished, with grain you can see across the room, that is marmorino. A whole room in high polish can be a lot to live with, whereas a whole room of marmorino reads as a surface rather than an event.
The sheen is set with the trowel. Left light, it is close to matt. Worked harder it comes up to an eggshell or satin. Waxed, it deepens and picks up a low shine without becoming reflective. We agree the level on a sample before anyone starts a room. If a mirror is what you want, read about polished plaster instead. Marmorino is not suited to the inside of a shower.
We survey the walls, checking substrate, cracks, damp, movement and access, and say plainly if anything needs doing first. After the sample is approved the material is tinted before it leaves Birmingham, in 48 house colours or any NCS reference. A wall has to be finished in one go, because a joint that sets before the next pass will show as a line. A large London living space is therefore a two or three person job, and since London is far from Birmingham we plan it in blocks of days. Read the Venetian plaster installation page for more.
Of the classic Venetian finishes this is the one to learn on. A few days at our Birmingham Academy on a Venetian plaster course will have a decorator laying it properly, and the shop sells the lime, primer and wax with tracked delivery. Trade customers can ask about a trade account.
Marmorino sits between several finishes. Polished plaster in London is the shiny sibling and Venetian plastering in London covers the family. For softer matt walls look at clay plaster in London and limewash in London. Wet rooms need tadelakt in London or microcement in London. If you want flat and industrial, see concrete effect plaster in London, or for shimmer liquid metal in London. Everything else is under decorative specialists in London.
Often it is the sensible one. It has enough body to soften small unevenness and it is breathable on solid brick. We still survey first and tell you if a wall needs making good.
Polished plaster if you want reflection and the walls are flat. Marmorino if you want a calmer, grainy stone surface across a whole room, or the walls are less than perfect.
Yes. It takes ceilings, internal corners and window reveals without the problems a mirror finish has at a change of plane. The wet edge still needs planning, so large ceilings take more than one pair of hands.
Yes. It is the Venetian finish we suggest learning on, and we teach Venetian plaster at our Birmingham Academy. For a first one room job, the wet edge catches people out, so ask us.
Send photos of the room and we will say which finish we would use. 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 London 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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