Since early June, I’ve been working on this large full-interior lime plaster project. By “large,” I mean a whopping 10,000 square feet.

For me, I find it really amazing to see all the progress as I watch the Venetian plaster come together, and I thought I’d share some photos of the process so far, since I think you’ll like it.

This really is a massive project and something like this needs a lot of careful work even before it begins. With 10,000 square feet to dress up, it took a lot of colour-picking with the clients. We had eight colour changes and it was quite the struggle to nail the exact texture, but we stuck to the discussion until everyone was happy — something I don’t take lightly. I’m always up for making sure my clients have what they want on the palette before we get going. Isn’t that the whole point of the work? The client?

To start the project, I finished the ceilings off with Stucco Italiano’s Intonachino X-Fine because, with it, I could create the perfect amount of distressing in the texture.

We got the ceilings done before a final colour had been chosen for the walls. Was that a dilemma? Yup, you bet it was. We started on the walls anyhow, and the whole project slowed to a crawl because we could only basecoat the walls while I continued working towards the orangey-gold tones the client was after.

I find one of the tough things for clients is how to visualize the way things will look in the end. I’m an artist, I can visualize, but I understand why they can’t. Thankfully, technology’s starting to really make life simpler that way. I recently picked up an Apple iPad and loved how easy it made the client’s colour decision after I used it to highlight a few scenarios.

With my iPad, I pulled up some photos of both projects and concepts I thought would work well in this client’s space. I used it to show how using two colours can add a great deal of interest and movement on the walls. Doing all of this on a jobsite on a Sunday was a great deal of fun for me. I showed the client on the iPad, then jumped right into mixing a sample and showing the client how it all comes together in reality, right then and there.

With the iPad showing a wider vision and my skills showing the up-close in-person look, the colour and finish got approved, and here I am, already done with the main floor!

Here are some of the pictures of what’s happened so far, and I hope you enjoy them as much as the client does.