Stucco finishes are high-end coatings for your interior walls. Lime paint finishes offer many of the same properties for a more moderate price. Stucco and lime paint finishes are made of natural organic materials and applied by humans and can not be controlled like paint or wallpaper. They have mottling effects and reflective qualities unlike any other coating. A good stucco applicator has honed his or her skills for years in order to be able to trowel product in the manner necessary to achieve the desired outcome. As with all construction work you should seek out a licensed contractor that is bonded and insured, and ask the usual questions. How long have you been applying stucco? Do you have references and or a portfolio? Can I visit your work? After selecting your applicator you will be asked to select the type of stucco or lime paint finish you would like. You will then need to select between levels of texture and levels of sheen. Although a stucco finish can have a textured look it should still feel smooth to the touch. Texture usually comes from mottling or from stucco containing fine marble aggregate, called "marmorino". If you do not want the flame-like texture of a marmorino then you would specify a smooth "grassello" stucco. Lime paint can go over a marmorino basecoat or textured joint compound for a textured look or it can go over smooth joint compound for a smooth look. If you want a matte finish you would request an unburnished lime paint finish. Apart from an unburnished lime paint finish, all stucco and lime paint projects are polished (burnished) and require perfectly smooth walls as a foundation. The amount of sheen achieved is controlled by the amount of pressure applied when burnishing. For even more sheen you can request a sealed or waxed finish. You should always have a sample made for your specific job. You may select a "type" of finish from a previously prepared sample but you need to know that the technician for your job is capable. Samples can come from manufacturers or be another's work. Sample in hand, you can now see that your color selection can be matched and that the technique meets with your approval. Signing off on the sample is a good way for all parties to protect themselves from misunderstandings. You should prepare yourself to pay for samples as they take a greater part of a day to make. Sample boards make excellent mobile swatches for you to reference when incorporating fabrics, tiles, and other design elements into your room. Trims, crowns, mantels, etc. all need to be finished before stucco finishes can be started. Some of the finishes require prep work to repair or flatten the texture and condition of your walls. You don't want to pay all this money to have your sheet rock nails pop through later. The stucco is to be floated onto the walls without a lot of trowel or spatula marks showing. The stucco keeps a memory of every time there is a pass of the blade. When the wall is burnished or polished, every pass, from every layer, will be highlighted. This is how you achieve the mottling effect. Walls should not look overly busy or have a lot of half circle ridges from the blade. Also undesirable are seams and veins of darker color or action called "joint marks". Joint marks occur when an applicator doesn't move fast enough across the wall and working edges begin to dry. Over all you want all the walls to look consistent. Lighter colors will not show as much troubled technique but they will also not show as much mottling or sheen. Darker colors show a persons skill level! If you or another person damages the walls during the process, the process will have to start over from scratch to ever be flawless again. You or the person who damaged them can expect to have to pay more to get the walls repaired. This is why stucco applicators come across as very protective of their job site and why you would want to schedule them at the end of construction. It is possible to fill small dings and scratches but patches are hard to blend with the original work. Your new finishes can last a lifetime if you take care of them. Just to warn you, guests will want to touch your new walls. Decide carefully where you desire to hang artwork and mirrors. It is good to keep an airtight container of the original wet color in case you need to reference it down the line.
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