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Writer's pictureJake Wheeler

Transform those old brick fireplaces with the luxury of Venetian Plaster

As many of you know, and if you're looking at this, you probably also agree that you're sick of that old brick fireplace and you want to modernize your space a bit.


Well...

The help of Venetian Plastering can transform any space with its' endless range of possibilities.


You've probably looked into how much it will cost to even just demo that brick fireplace and rebuild and as we all know, it's mind blowing what labor and materials has gone up to in this world. Well, lucky for you, you might have the option of plastering over that old fireplace.

There is always that option of putting a new substrate (like framing & new drywall/cement board) on top of that brick and building around it as well. Gladly, we can help get you that gorgeous venetian plaster finish either way.


In order to apply a decorative finish like Venetian Plaster, Roman Clay, LimeWash Painting, Tadelakt, or many of these other luxurious finishes, you must have a smooth surface depending on the desired texture. All those grout lines or ugly knockdown/orange peel textures will show through as darker impressions on your final finish. Even in cases where a customer wants to refinish their textured walls, it requires a skim or two to get you to that desired smooth surface.


We go through a 5 step process to get a brick fireplace smooth and that process includes:

  1. Cleaning the surfaces with denatured alcohol and if brick is painted, roughing up with a wire brush prior to cleaning.

  2. Masking all required surfaces as you would for your normal paint job.

  3. Installing corner bead to ensure strong corners. (We prefer a stucco corner lath.)

  4. Applying a bonding agent or liquid lath.

  5. Two base coats (scratch/brown coats.)


We then unmask all this so there's not too much build up that will stop us from creating those perfect crispy lines on our final finish coats.


Now depending on the plaster used to smooth out the fireplace, we might have to prime the surface in order to prevent any staining coming through or if you smoothed the surface to a level 5 drywall finish, you are going to need some quartz mineral primer to add that grit for your Italian Venetian Plaster.


Some of the most requested finishes are usually our Matte Venetian Plasters. We have endless possibilities for plasters to achieve the desired appearance you are going for. Whether that be a normal matte venetian plaster, a limewashed matte venetian plaster, a glossy grassello venetian plaster, or even intricate marbling done to mimic your favorite stone. The possibilities don't stop there, we can do stencil art with plaster, gold leaf (gilding) additions, metallic waxes, metallic plasters, oxidizing copper finishes, and many more. With many of these plasters we can also give you less movement, more texture, more wild patterns, and many more with different application techniques.

Don't forget, the colors are endless as well. As you may know from picking paint colors, you can look endlessly until you find one. We can color match to any color code, item, or chunk of a wall.


Basically, we can bring any inspiration photo or even an idea in your head to life on your surfaces.


Not only will that new brick fireplace be stronger than ever after all of our base coats, the italian venetian plasters we use are lime based for the most part. Meaning they are from a limestone putty and you are putting a true stone veneer on your walls. Some people then worry about how stone surfaces can be porous, don't you worry we have that covered. We always quote you for the proper way of finishing your surfaces so we include some type of sealer as a price option as well. With our glossy venetian plasters, we normally wax and buff them. This process can be repeated over time to ensure durability. With any of our matte venetian plasters we have a range of sealers we can use ranging from an olive oil soap stone sealer for an area with less traffic, to many stronger sealers that will resist stains from that red wine on your gorgeous new white fireplace.





Book with us today to transform your space!

Fireplaces aren't all we do, we transform showers to a seamless and stunning surface, we transform those plain oven hoods to give you that modern plaster finish, and we transform full interiors with even something as small as a new accent wall. Or maybe you'll take it all the way and transform the area of your home.


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