Working with my colleague Joan, we recently transformed this fireplace surround with a beautiful Venetian Plaster finish!
When we started, the 20-foot high fireplace had a plain drywall finish – painted in the same off-white as the surrounding walls. Our client called us in to elevate the look of the fireplace, while still making sure it didn’t dominate the space.
After looking at some samples, the client decided a Venetian plaster finish would accomplish this goal – but we still needed to settle on a color. To tie in with the surrounding elements in the room, we decided to go with a multi-color finish using varying shades of taupe. After showing a sample board to make sure we had the colors right, we were on to creating the final finish!
Venetian Plaster is applied with metal trowels and takes multiple coats to build the depth and character of the final look. Once each coat is dry, the next thin coat is applied, burnishing (polishing with the blade) as you go to bring out the variations in texture and color. To accentuate this, we also used different shades applied together in the second coat – creating even more motion.
The final step was to burnish the entire fireplace surround once it was dry – which creates a very organic shine across the surfaces – making it look (and feel!) very much like polished stone.
In the end – this custom polished stone look is exactly what our client was looking for to elevate the fireplace and the entire room!
Below is a picture from across the room to show the scale of the surround. The last photo is taken looking up at the fireplace to show a closer view of the motion of the plaster plus the reflection of the lights to give a sense of the shine.
Enjoy!!
Jason
The reflection of the lights at the top gives an idea of the shine