✦
Where Artistry Begins
Lime and marble grain compressed to a soft satin, laid by our own team in Nottingham rooms where the walls are sound but never quite flat.
Marmorino in Nottingham is lime putty carrying graded marble grain, laid in two coats and compressed with the trowel to a soft satin rather than a mirror. Zavoré installs it with its own team, based in Birmingham and travelling to Nottingham for the work. It is the most forgiving of the classic Venetian finishes, which makes it a sensible choice for houses with a lot of history in the walls. Start by sending photos, then a sample board settles the grain and the sheen.
If you have ever stood in a Nottingham Edwardian hall and wished the wall had more life in it but would forgive a few bumps, marmorino is the finish we would show you first.
Much of Nottingham outside the centre is Victorian and Edwardian family housing. Rows of bay fronted terraces fill Sherwood, Carrington and Lenton, and larger semis and villas run through Mapperley Park and around the Arboretum. Further out, interwar semis and big postwar estates such as Clifton and Bilborough make up a large part of the city.
Those houses have lived. Walls have been replastered, patched around old fireplaces and skimmed over, and none of them is perfectly flat. 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 lime, which matters in solid brick houses with no cavity. The wall needs to let moisture move, and a lime finish lets it. Marmorino tolerates a little more movement than a high polish too, so it is what we reach for when a hard brittle skin might craze.
The same tub gives you a chalky bedroom wall or a hallway with some weight to it, and the decision is made with the trowel rather than by buying something different. Left light, marmorino sits close to matt, with the trowel marks reading as soft cloud. Worked harder it comes up to an eggshell or satin sheen with the grain still showing. Waxed, it deepens and picks up a low shine without ever becoming reflective.
Colour behaves differently without gloss. A polished wall darkens as it is burnished. Marmorino stays closer to the shade you picked, and pale tones stay chalky and soft rather than going glassy. That makes it the easier finish to match to joinery, a stone floor or existing paint.
Read more about marmorino finishes if you want the full story of the material. In Nottingham it is the finish we would suggest for whole rooms rather than single feature walls.
Inside a shower enclosure or a steam room the honest answer is tadelakt. And if you want a flat, uniform, industrial look with no grain, concrete effect or microcement will get you there and lime will not.
We survey the walls first, covering what they are made of, flatness, cracks, damp and movement, plus access and protection. If a wall needs stripping or a damp problem fixing, we say so before pricing. Where the existing paint is sound and well stuck, the wall is washed, made good and primed so the lime can key in. Flaking or oily paint comes off first.
The sheen and colour are agreed on a sample, and marmorino is tinted to the approved sample 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 reaches it will show as a line. That shapes how a room is set out, and a Nottingham job is planned in blocks of days with the team staying on site. See the Venetian plaster installation page.
Of the classic Venetian finishes this is the one to learn on. There is no burnish window to miss, the grain hides small inconsistencies, and a bad pass can usually be rescued with another. Our Venetian plaster courses in Birmingham suit decorators adding a finish to what they offer.
The shop carries intonachino, a fine textured lime that is the marmorino material, with primer and wax paste, all tinted and shipped tracked across the UK. Decorators can ask about a trade account. For a single room at home, the wet edge is what catches people out, and we are happy to do it.
Grain is one look. For a wall that reflects like stone, see polished plaster in Nottingham. For colour you brush on, try limewash in Nottingham, and for a softer matt wall clay plaster in Nottingham. Wet areas are covered by tadelakt in Nottingham and microcement in Nottingham, and concrete effect plaster in Nottingham gives the cool grey look. For one shimmering wall see liquid metal in Nottingham. Our whole range is under decorative specialists in Nottingham, and the area guide covers Venetian plastering in Nottingham.
It will take some of the unevenness out of a wall that is sound, because it has more body than a polished finish. It will not hide a wall that is moving or cracking, and those faults are put right first. We assess the walls on the survey and tell you which is which.
If you want the wall to reflect like a slab of stone, choose polished plaster, as long as the wall is flat. If you want stone that looks honed, with grain you can see and feel and a calmer sheen, choose marmorino. Marmorino is also kinder to an imperfect wall.
Yes. It goes on faster than a polish, runs across a ceiling and takes internal corners and window reveals well. The ceiling is finished in one go to keep a wet edge, so the work is planned around that.
Usually, if the paint is sound and well stuck down. We wash the wall, make good any damage and prime it. Flaking paint, or an old oil based coating, comes off first.
For a whole room, send us photos of the walls. 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.
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.
One list, run by the people who make the material. No noise, and nothing we would not want to read ourselves.
We email as the house has something worth saying, never daily. Unsubscribe from any email, or reply STOP to any text. We never pass your details to anyone.