Venetian Plaster · Genuine Lime · Melbourne
Light, held in lime.
Venetian plaster is a genuine slaked-lime finish, troweled in thin layers and burnished by hand until it holds the light. Made in Italy from lime and marble dust, tinted to order — a wall with depth you can't paint or print, on feature walls, ceilings and interior detail across Melbourne.
- Material
- Slaked lime & marble dust
- Origin
- Made in Italy (Decora)
- Finish
- Matte to high-sheen
- Applied
- Hand-troweled
Decora Lime Finish · Feature Wall · Carlton
A finish with
movement.
Venetian plaster is genuine slaked lime and marble dust, troweled onto the wall in thin successive layers and burnished back as it cures. Each coat catches and holds light differently, so the surface shifts as you move past it — depth that's in the material, not printed on top.
We install the Decora range: handcrafted Italian lime finishes, tinted to order through the Decora colour system. It breathes, it ages well, and it's repaired and re-burnished rather than ripped out.
- Slaked lime
- Marble dust
- Hand-burnished
- Made in Italy
Walls that hold
the light.
Venetian plaster is a finish for the surfaces you look at — specified to the room, the light and the level of sheen you want.
01Feature Walls
One wall given depth and movement, from a soft matte to a deep polished sheen. The room's quiet centre of gravity.
02Full Rooms
Carried wall to wall and onto the ceiling for a seamless, enveloping shell — tonal, tactile and jointless.
03Ceilings
The surface no one finishes properly. Burnished lime overhead turns a flat ceiling into part of the room's material story.
04Fireplaces & Detail
Wrapped around fireplaces, columns and architectural detail, where lime's hand-worked surface flatters form a flat paint never could.
05Kitchens & Living
Warm, natural, stone-look walls for the rooms you gather in — the feel of stone without its weight or cost.
Older than paint. Better than paint.
Lime plaster predates almost every modern wall finish, and it has outlasted them for a reason. It's breathable, so it manages moisture instead of trapping it. It's mineral, so it doesn't off-gas like synthetic coatings. And it carries pigment in a way paint can't fake — colour sitting within the surface, lit from inside rather than rolled across the top.
Genuine slaked lime and marble dust, handcrafted in Italy — the depth of stone with the warmth of something made by hand.
- Breathable
- Mineral
- Genuine lime
- Ages well
Same wall. Different depth.
A painted plasterboard wall does the job. A burnished lime wall does something else entirely — this is what you're paying the difference for.
Flat / Painted Plaster
- Flat, uniform colour
- Sits on the surface, rolled on
- Reads the same from every angle
- Touch-ups show as patches
- Replaced when it dates
Venetian Plaster
- Depth, movement and tonal variation
- Colour within the surface, burnished in
- Shifts with the light and your position
- Repaired and re-burnished, not patched
- A finish that ages into character
What the finish does.
Breathable
A mineral lime surface that manages moisture instead of trapping it.
Low-VOC
Natural lime, low-odour, no synthetic off-gassing.
Tunable Sheen
From textured matte to a deep, polished shine.
Tinted to Order
Custom colour through the Decora tinting system.
Repairable
Re-burnished and patched in place, not torn out.
Figures indicative · Final specification confirmed at consultation
Four finishes. One
material.
We install the Decora range of genuine Italian slaked-lime plasters — each a different character, all tinted to order. Final finish is matched to a hand-troweled sample in your light. More detail on each is available through Decora.
- 01
Incanto
A natural, slightly irregular lime surface that reads differently as light moves across it. Warm and tactile — feature walls and dining spaces.
Textured matte - 02
Carrara
A refined, polished finish with subtle depth, named for the Italian marble region. Polished but not mirror-bright — feature walls and considered interiors.
Semi-gloss - 03
Teseo
The earthy warmth of natural travertine stone, without the weight or cost. Kitchens, living areas and hospitality.
Mineral stone look - 04
Tatto
A soft, velvety finish with quiet, tactile depth. Bedrooms and private spaces where restraint is the point.
Velvet satin
4 Decora finishes · Tinted to order · Sheen and colour matched on site
Twelve colours.
Four finishes.
Each Decora finish is tinted to order in the same twelve colours as our microcement, so plaster walls can sit with microcement floors. Screen colours are indicative; final colour is matched to a hand-troweled sample in your light.
- Chalk White[MF-VP-001]
- Pearl[MF-VP-002]
- Greige[MF-VP-003]
- Urban[MF-VP-004]
- Anthracite[MF-VP-005]
- Oat[MF-VP-006]
- Limestone[MF-VP-007]
- Mushroom[MF-VP-008]
- Mocha[MF-VP-009]
- Clay[MF-VP-010]
- Eucalypt[MF-VP-011]
- Plaster[MF-VP-012]
12 colours · 4 Decora finishes · Tinted to order · Matched on site
Installed from $180 per square metre.
Professionally installed Venetian plaster in Melbourne starts from $180/m², depending on area, the Decora finish, sheen and number of coats. Higher-sheen finishes sit at the top end. Every wall is quoted on its own terms — we'd rather measure than guess.
Quoted whole
Area, finish and sheen, not a teaser rate.
Finish-dependent
Higher-sheen finishes cost more.
Includes prep
Substrate, base coats, burnishing and sealing.
The things
people ask.
For anything specific to your space, the studio is happy to advise.
Ask the StudioMore questions? Read the full FAQ →Both are mineral and troweled by hand, but they do different work. Venetian plaster is a lime finish about depth and light, for feature walls and ceilings. Microcement is a hard-wearing, water-tolerant coating for floors, walls and wet areas. One you look at; the other you live on. For bathrooms and wet areas, we specify microcement.
Genuine slaked lime and marble dust, handcrafted in Italy. We install the Decora range, tinted to order through the Decora colour system — so the colour sits within the surface rather than being painted on top.
It’s tinted to order in our twelve colours, Chalk White through Plaster — the same range as our microcement — through the Decora tinting system. Final colour and sheen are always matched to a hand-finished sample in your own light, because lime reads differently wall to wall.
It depends on the room and the sheen you want: Incanto for a textured matte, Tatto for a soft velvet satin, Carrara for a refined semi-gloss, Teseo for a travertine stone look. We’ll walk you through samples at consultation.
Lime is flexible and forgiving, and minor marks can be re-burnished rather than repainted. It ages well with simple care, and unlike paint it’s repairable in place.
A specialist practice,
not a general trade.
Medida Forma is a Melbourne architectural surface studio. Venetian plaster is troweled and burnished by hand, one wall at a time — sample honed to the room's light, every coat worked for depth and movement.
We install genuine Italian Decora lime finishes, not paint effects. It's the work.
- Hand-burnished
- Coat by coat
- Genuine Italian lime
- Decora range
- Detail driven
- Edge to edge
- Melbourne wide
- & surrounds
Start the Conversation
Tell us about
the wall.
What's there now, the room, the light, the finish you're after. Photos help. We'll come back with a recommendation, not a sales pitch.