How do I achieve this old World look?

[Kasio]

Dear forum,

Thank you for accepting me.
Although this post refers to a French chateau it is regarding period restoration work, so I hope my post will be accepted.

For a long time I have adored the look of the wall and ceiling finish of an old French chateau that was restored. I suppose that lime plaster and limewash was used to achieve the looks, but after hours of researching I have not been able to find out the exact approach to do the finish. I am sure that it is some sort of traditional method, so no faux painting, etc.

The look can be seen on the attached pictures. It is somewhat rustic and aged, and the walls are not perfectly straight/even thus giving a play of shadows and light.

Question 1:
With a kind of flat mortar wall as my base, how do I achieve a soft, 'uneven' wall base finish like in the pictures?

Question 2:
How do I achieve the aged, rustic look of the walls? My guess is that it is either colored lime plaster or a finish coat of lime wash over a plaster base. If so, I am not sure of the exact application to achieve the look. I have seen walls finished with colored plaster applied in criss-cross or circular motions that gives kind of a distressed look, but not the natural aged finish of the pictures.

I really hope that somebody will be able to lead med Ib the right direction.

Wishing you all a very nice evening and thank you for reading my post.

 

[steveb]

Could be a variant of tadelak - oiled and polished lime plaster, or Venetian polished marbled plaster? Those phrases will give you something to spend hours researching if nothing else

Steve

 

[livias]

Venetian polished marble plaster is called Marmorino ... to give you another word to search

Both Tadelakt and Marmorino will be expensive if you pay someone else to do the work and neither is simple to learn yourself. Another option would be a simple limewash finish which could give the right colour and a matt surface texture. If you want the walls to be wavy then there is nothing better than a bit of amateur lime plastering :lol:

Getting a limewash finish like in the pictures is not difficult because limewash is usually built up of three or four layers each of which is slightly translucent. First coat paint rightleft second coat updown to get the effect in the first picture. Try just two rather randomly painted coats to get the effect in the third picture

 

[CliffordPope]

You do need a warm climate to appreciate that!
Sitting in a cold farmhouse in Wales I'm feeling distinctly chilly just looking at those pictures, lovely as they are.

 

[Kasio]

Thank you for your replies.
I do not think it is polished marble plaster as the surface is matte. I have attached a close up that I found.

Actually I tried to limewash the walls in my livingroom, but unfortunately I did not get the result I was hoping for. The walls did turn out somewhat rustic, but not anything near the finish in the pictures. I have attached a picture for you to see
The approach was: two layers of white limewash painted. Then one layer of yellowish limewash. All painted with up/down strokes.

So - I think that another method is used in the chateau, but unsure how it is done. I've seen similar looks in other chateaus that have been restored.

 

[Abi Cott]

I had a cross purposes conversation on the subject of "clay paint " with a French lady. They do use a tinted plaster to achieve a totally matt effect. Applied by specialists. She was quite excited when I said I was going to use CLAY (paint) for my walls because her parents in France had done something similar recently. On further discussion it wasn't even slightly similar, but it was matt. That probably doesn't help much, but it's the best I've got lol

 

[worms]

Are you sure that the chateau pics are not simply very old original lime plaster that was painted when new and has aged for 100+ years? The reason I say this, is that it looks surprisingly similar to what we saw when my parents stripped the wallpaper off the hall in their Victorian semi in Glasgow before re-papering. Probably a very difficult look to recreate artificially.

 

[Me!]

Well, how's your French? Mine's not good, but I've found this -
http://www.chaux-labasse.com/images/Lait-de-chaux.pdf
Please supply alternative translations, but I think the general gist of the instructions are that you initially paint your walls with limewash and then the following two stages -
The first a coat called "Strong water" which is a very diluted "lime milk", the most fluid mixture. It is applied to the limewash to give transparency effects and variations in colour finishes. It allows you to vary the appearance of the underneath layers. Mix a volume of lime with 4 to 6 volumes of water. This mixture is used mainly to add colour.
Secondly The Patina coat. This mixture makes it possible to blend-in the coats and give it an impression of aged by time. It is mostly applied on to limewash or strong water coats, using a pig bristle brush or sponge. Mix a volume of lime with 15 to 20 volumes of water. Pigments are often added.

If you Google a phrase like -
chaux patine du temps
Then there are lots of results, but beware that many of them refer to using types of acrylic glaze to give the finish coat, and that will I'm sure make the surface shiny rather than the matt lime that I personally love.

 

[paulc]

Both Tadelakt and Marmorino will be expensive if you pay someone else to do the work and neither is simple to learn yourself.

If you can do regular plastering. Marmorino isn't that difficult to do. Getting the final polish is all about timing, the rest of it is getting the plaster on in a thin enough layer. I've been doing some around the house... Basically, slap it on and scrape it off (I liken it to lightly buttering bread). Top coat,apply thin layer in one direction, scrape it off at 90 degree angle, then burnish with the edge of the trowel. Quite a few videos on youtube demonstrate the basics.

Tadelakt is applied in much thicker layers (typically 5mm), and finishing is all in the timing - I'm planning on doing the bathroom with the stuff when I get to doing that room.

 

[Kasio]

Thank you all for your inputs.

I am quite certain that the walls are restored to this finish. I read that the chateau has won a prize for the exceptional restoration, but I have not been able to fine more information regarding this matter nor before/after shots.

Unfortunately my French is non-excisting - but thank you very much "Me!" for the link and your translation of the approach. I think we are going on the right direction with the "lime milk". I did a couple of hours searching on the Frenh phrase you refer to and found two interesting links that I will share in case somebody else is looking for the same:

Link 1: a video showing using a barbecue brush to make patina. As I understand from Google translate (unfortunately I cannot translate the text on the video) he first applies one coat of limewash. Then he scratches it with the BBC brush. Then he applies another layer with another color. With this layer he squeezes the brush to make sure that it is not very wet and then applies this layer. Because he makes sure that the brush is reasonably dry the color of the second layer does not float into the scratches thus making the first layer come through in these areas. https://blog-patrimoine-facades.com/b-a-ba-du-badigeon/

Link 2: a site explaining a little about lime wash, "strong water" and "lime milk". From Google translate I understand that the lime milk is just a dilluted limewash used to vary the color variations a little because it is more transparent. The strong water is used to add color as a regular limewash will not be able to create very bright colors (?). I am, however, not sure why that is the case? http://www.ocres-de-france.com/recettes/badigeon-de-chaux-aerienne.html

I think we are getting closer, but I still have not found the exact approach to recreate the look on the pictures. So if anybody can shead some light on the exact application method / tools it could be very interesting.

Thank you all so far.

 

[livias]

I suspect that strong water is what we would call lime water. That is water which has had lime putty mixed into it and then allowed to settle so it only contains the lime which is in suspension

Lime milk will be thin lime wash

 

[Kasio]

But what is the difference of mixing pigments into lime water versus clean water - and why will it allow a stronger color compared to a limewash?

 

[TheForge]

Clean water and pigment will have no binder or filler. Once the solvent (water) evaporates you’ll just have pigment, assuming it was a powdered pigment most of which will no longer be on the wall.

I can’t see why you should get stronger colour with like water than limewash. The strength will be dependent on the type and amount of pigment.

 

[paulc]

Lime milk will be thin lime wash

"Lime Milk" - Could this be a lime & casein based paint rather than very dilute lime wash ?

 

[worms]

My reading of this would be that the water from the putty tub - presumably what is being referred to as “lime water” or “strong water” has two useful properties. It is a very good binder on top of previous layers of lime mortar or onto looser substrates. Also, while I guess the pigment will suspend better in a weak lime solution than plain water, if you use weak limewash, the colour will surely go milky, losing the brilliance of the pigment - dissolving it in the lime water would avoid this, but still let it dissolve properly and bind well to the plaster.