✦
Where Artistry Begins
Lime and graded marble grain, compressed to a soft satin, for whole rooms and older Surrey walls that need to breathe. Supplied tinted, or laid by our own team.
Marmorino in Surrey is for people who want the Venetian look in a whole room or a whole house, without the mirror finish. It is lime putty carrying graded marble grain, laid in two coats and compressed to a soft satin. Zavoré supplies and installs it. We are based in Birmingham and our own applicators travel to Surrey to lay it. Start with a sample board, or the box of six boards, and hold them up to your floor and joinery.
Of the classic Venetian finishes this is the most forgiving, and that makes it a natural fit for the county's older houses.
Surrey has more old houses than people expect. Farnham is known for its Georgian streets, and Guildford, Godalming and Dorking all have historic town centres. Victorian and Edwardian villas surround the main towns, and the county has a strong tradition of Arts and Crafts houses, with Lutyens and Jekyll two famous names linked to it. Add the village pubs, restaurants and country hotels that fill the lanes, and the demand is clear.
Marmorino suits these buildings for a plain reason. It is lime, so it is breathable, which matters on solid brick walls with no cavity. It has more body than a polished finish, so it sits over a wall that is sound but not perfect and softens the unevenness. It also tolerates a little more movement, which helps in timber framed buildings where a hard brittle skin would craze.
People ask us to choose, so here is how we do it. If you want the wall to reflect, a hall that reads like dark stone, we would suggest polished plaster. If you want the look of honed stone, with grain you can see across a room and feel under the hand, that is marmorino. It is also the calmer choice at scale. A whole room in high polish is a great deal to live with, while a whole room in marmorino reads as a surface rather than an event.
The sheen is set with the trowel. Left light, it sits close to matt. Worked harder, it reaches eggshell or satin with the grain still showing. Waxed, it deepens without becoming reflective. We agree the level on a sample before anyone starts.
Our marmorino finishes are used for these spaces.
It goes on faster than a polish, runs across a ceiling, and takes corners and reveals without fuss. We would not put it inside a shower or a steam room, and if you want flat, uniform and industrial, with no grain, look at concrete effect instead.
We survey the walls first, checking the substrate, cracks, damp, movement, access and how the room is used. If a wall needs skimming or a damp problem fixing, we say so. Sound existing paint can often be washed, made good and primed, while flaking or oil based coatings come off first.
Colour is agreed on the sample and tinted before it leaves Birmingham, in 48 house colours or any NCS reference. Pale tones stay chalky rather than going glassy, so marmorino is easy to match to joinery or a stone floor. The wall has to be finished in one go, so a large room is planned for more than one pair of hands, and because we travel to Surrey the job is booked in blocks of days. See the Venetian plaster installation page for more.
The shop sells fine textured lime, primer and wax paste with tracked delivery. Marmorino is a sensible first finish for a decorator, and a few days on a Venetian plaster course in Birmingham will teach you to lay it properly. Builders can ask about a trade account.
If the room needs a mirror finish, see polished plaster in Surrey. Softer, matt options are clay plaster in Surrey and limewash in Surrey. For a shower or wet room look at tadelakt in Surrey or microcement in Surrey. For a cooler industrial look try concrete effect plaster in Surrey, and for one dramatic wall liquid metal in Surrey. When a scheme needs several crafts together, read decorative specialists in Surrey, and for the wider lime plaster story see Venetian plastering in Surrey.
Marmorino or limewash are both good on solid brick and lime plaster, because they breathe. Marmorino has more body and wears harder, and limewash is softer and simpler. We check the walls and the rooms before suggesting one.
Yes, it suits hospitality interiors, and it is breathable and hard wearing. Walls near cooking or heavy handling need planning, and we agree sealing and wax at survey. Work can be planned around your opening programme.
Usually, if the paint is sound and well stuck. We wash the wall, make good any damage and prime it. Flaking paint or an old oil based coating comes off first.
It is a lime finish, so it moves a little with the building and lets a solid wall breathe. What cracks old walls is a hard brittle skin over something still shifting, and marmorino sits at the softer end of the family.
Tell us about the walls and how many rooms you have in mind. 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 Surrey 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.