Thursday, June 11, 2009

I Hate Venetian Plaster

It's pretty hard to work with, and not intuitive at all. Oh... and the directions aren't any better. Also, if you are hoping to use it to disguise poor walls, think again. Skim coating with drywall and painting will be MUCH easier (and what we will probably do with the rest of the house. However, despite all of the problems, the walls look MUCH better than when we started last year:
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Here's where we are today:
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Oh... and the new patch from running the doorknob through the freshly plastered wall:
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It still needs a couple coats of plaster. Mental note to NOT run door knobs into freshly plastered walls.

A Few Notes:
* Apply it paper thin. It cracks VERY easily if it is applied too thick!
* If it cracks, sand gently, and apply another thin layer of the paint.
* It takes a LONG time. Plus, it needs several coats.
* The first layer will leave you feeling that you wasted $50 and 2 hours. It DOES get better.

10 comments:

Jayne said...

Well....you just helped me decide. I'm not doin Venetian plaster. (But I'm still VERY glad you talked me into tearing the shingles off the house!)

Chris said...

This must look worse in real life for you to complain about it. I imagine it take sa lot of patience but it looks pretty nice in the pics.

Jennifer said...

Jayne~ Somebody's got to try it! We like to call our bathroom the "experiment" because it's the smallest room in the house.

Tiny Oak Park Bungalow~ It looks about the same in real life... which is GOOD. But the amount of work it took to get there was NOT! I'm mostly complaining about how LONG it took and how hard it was to get it looking good. Plus, I'm a perfectionist, and while it looks fine and about like the picture, I keep finding flaws (or generally, places where the flaws all run the same direction, or otherwise look unnatural!) I think I'm just a perfectionist. My husband likes it!

sarah said...

It looks good - great color! I hear you about the doorknobs - we now keep a supply of those little cheap doorstops that slide on over the hinge pin on hand - we have the habit of slapping doors open and we have messed up many a coast of fresh JC or paint that way!

Robj98168 said...

LOL I am laughing with you not at you! I have been there before on hime improvements- it always looks worse before it looks better!

Robj98168 said...

My new addition one of the contractors slammed the door into the wall. I just put up one of those guard things they sell at Lowes A big round circular piece of plastic.

Joanne said...

It looks pretty good in the pictures; we chose the same color for one of our rooms here, and friends of ours used it in their bathroom. It goes well with a wide range of fixtures.

Darrell Morrison said...

Traditional Venetian Plaster is one of the most difficult and time consuming finishing as it does need to be applied in thin coats. The best thing to do is get the best product on the market. What i always do when going for this look and the surface is ruff is primer the walls with a toothing primer ( adding a aggregate to make the paint like sand paper) Kills 2 latex works great. Next skim coat the walls with Intonachino Lime plaster available here http://www.stuccoitalianoinc.com/ Then proceed with your classic venetian venetian plaster application

Anonymous said...

i am decorative artisan in Boston ,MA. I use venetian plaster ALL THE TIME! the oproduct is awesome. the unfortunate thing is the writer did not prep properly, I don't know whose VP he used and what his experience is and which technique he used.

can you paint your own walls? yes
can you do your own plumbing> yes
are you ever going to be as good as a real professional> NEVER!

In italy, they call venetian plaster the "woman's plaster" BECAUSE it is so easy to apply, a woman with a full manicure can apply it and not break a sweat.

carmine@theplasterguru.com

Jennifer said...

Hi professionals. Thanks for stopping in. I didn't mention how we prepared in my post, as I am NOT a professional. I figure scrapping my walls smooth and priming is good enough for most things.

I KNOW I'm not a professional. I'll still do my own plumbing and painting. It's my house, and if I don't do it myself, it won't get done.

Also, I should probably mention that I didn't use a PROFESSIONAL product, which in retrospect was most of my problem. I used product from a big box store as a "quick fix" before our appraisal. I've heard REAL Venetian plaster is as easy to work with as you say.