Areas We Cover
Plasterer Chelsea London
Chelsea runs from the river at Cheyne Walk and Chelsea Embankment up to Sloane Square and Pont Street, with the King's Road running through its centre. Within that small area it holds a wide range of buildings. There are early Georgian houses facing the Thames, stucco-fronted terraces and garden squares off the King's Road, red-brick mansion blocks and the tall Pont Street Dutch houses of Cadogan Square, quiet streets around the Royal Hospital and Chelsea Green, and mews houses rebuilt behind their original fronts. Choice Finishes provides heritage and contemporary plastering across all of it, for architects, interior designers, main contractors and private clients.
Conservation areas and listed buildings
Much of Chelsea lies within conservation areas designated by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, including Cheyne, the Royal Hospital and Sloane Square, and many houses on Cheyne Walk and the older streets are listed. In these buildings, original lime plaster, lath and lime ceilings and enriched cornices form part of the building's significance. Repairs need compatible, breathable materials agreed with the architect and conservation officer, often as part of listed building consent. We repair sound original work in place where we can, and we only replace what has genuinely failed.
Riverside houses on Cheyne Walk and Chelsea Embankment
The houses facing the river along Cheyne Walk, and the later Victorian houses on Chelsea Embankment, are some of the most significant in the borough. They usually combine solid brick walls, timber lath ceilings and deep period mouldings with modern services that have been cut in over many decades. Their principal rooms take strong reflected light from the water, which shows every ripple in a wall or ceiling. For these houses we take extra care with setting out, and we sample any decorative finish on site so it can be judged in that light before a whole room is committed.
Lime plastering and lath repair
Chelsea's Georgian and Victorian houses were built with lime, and they stay healthiest when repaired with lime. Where coats have failed, we replaster in traditional lime and fix riven timber lath where the original is beyond repair, curing each area in sequence so the new work stays compatible with the historic fabric. On our Lancaster Gate restoration in Bayswater we installed 4,000m² of lime plaster from bare brickwork with a team of up to 16 specialist plasterers, and the same methods apply to a single Chelsea townhouse. Our lime plastering service explains the approach in more detail.
Cornice restoration and fibrous plaster
Reception rooms in the stucco-fronted terraces and garden squares around Carlyle Square, Paultons Square, Wellington Square and Markham Square were designed around their cornices, ceiling roses and friezes. Over time these are damaged by leaks, rewiring and later alterations. Our cornice restoration starts from what survives. We take moulds from sound original profiles, cast new sections to match, make them good into the existing work and finish the enrichment by hand after fixing. For larger losses or new ornament, our fibrous plastering team casts bespoke mouldings, arches and panels off site, as we did across the arches, coffers and cornices at Lancaster Gate.
Cadogan Square, Pont Street and mansion blocks
The red-brick, Dutch-gabled houses of Cadogan Square and Pont Street, and the mansion blocks around Sloane Square and the King's Road, are now mostly divided into apartments. We work within building rules and permitted hours, protect common parts and lifts, and keep noisy preparation to agreed times. Inside, we often re-skim walls and ceilings alongside restoring original cornices and applying decorative finishes to halls and reception rooms, so one team covers the whole plastering package.
Polished plaster for Chelsea interiors
Polished plaster suits Chelsea particularly well, from a continuous Marmorino finish running up a tall terrace stairwell to a high-polish Lucido feature wall in a mews house. Our polished plaster service covers Venetian plaster, Marmorino and grassello. For example, at Maison Estelle, a private members' club in a historic Mayfair townhouse, we applied a bespoke-tinted, Marmorino-type lime plaster across several principal rooms, hand-burnished and waxed, with a distinct tone and texture for each room. At The Ivy Market Grill in Covent Garden we laid a full Marmorino base with a bespoke smoky distemper wash for a faded, collected-over-time look, and at Balthazar we created an aged artisan finish with real depth and patina. Either approach can sit comfortably beside antiques in a Chelsea drawing room. Our page on polished plaster in Chelsea goes into finishes, colours and rooms in more detail.
Bathrooms and wet rooms
For bathrooms we are specific about what each finish can do. Tadelakt, polished with stones and sealed with olive-oil soap, is the traditional waterproof lime plaster and suits showers, wet rooms and bath surrounds when correctly detailed. Venetian plaster and Marmorino are water-resistant once waxed and suit cloakrooms and bathroom walls away from direct water. For seamless floors and wet rooms in contemporary bathrooms, microcement provides a joint-free alternative that runs from floor to wall without grout lines.
Mews houses, basement extensions and tanking
Many Chelsea mews houses and terraces have been extended downwards, and the borough's basement policy now generally limits new basements beneath a house to a single storey. That makes the space that is created all the more valuable, and it only works if it stays dry. Our tanking and waterproofing team installs below-ground systems ahead of any finish. At Lancaster Gate we brought 13 basement vaults back into use with structural waterproofing, render and screed. Because the same team plasters, we can take a lower ground floor from waterproofing to a finished wall, whether that is a smooth skim, polished plaster or microcement, without a gap between trades.
How we work in Chelsea
Every project starts with a site visit to look at the substrate, the light and the period detail. For decorative finishes, we follow that with samples tinted to your scheme. We protect floors, joinery, fireplaces and surviving plasterwork throughout, and in occupied homes we sequence the work room by room. We work directly for homeowners and alongside architects, interior designers and main contractors, and we can match colours to a designer's samples or help you choose a finish on site.
Plastering Services in Chelsea
Our plasterers in Chelsea deliver every specialism below, across Chelsea and the rest of London.
Lime Plastering
Traditional lime plaster restoration for heritage and listed buildings.
Tadelakt
Waterproof Moroccan lime plaster for bathrooms and feature walls.
Cornice Restoration
Matched cornice, ceiling rose and enriched plaster repairs for period interiors.
Fibrous Plastering
Bespoke cast mouldings, arches and ornamental plasterwork.
Cornice Repair & Fibrous Plaster
Cornice repairs, matched profiles, ceiling roses and traditional ornamental plasterwork.
Plastering
Full-service plastering for every project, from skimming to bespoke finishes.
Traditional Plastering
Skimming, re-skimming and wall & ceiling finishing.
External Rendering
Sand and cement, lime, silicone and monocouche render for heritage buildings, refurbishments and new builds.
Tanking & Waterproofing
Basement tanking and below-ground waterproofing systems.
Damp Proofing
Diagnosis-led damp repairs, salt-damaged plaster removal and appropriate replastering.
Polished Plaster
Venetian, Marmorino and Tadelakt decorative polished finishes.
Microcement
Seamless microcement floors, walls and wet rooms.
Other Areas We Cover
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Much of Chelsea lies within conservation areas designated by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and many houses are listed. We repair original lime plaster, lath and cornices with compatible, breathable materials and agree specifications with the architect and conservation officer, often as part of listed building consent.
Yes. We take moulds from surviving original profiles, cast new sections to match and make them good into the existing work, finishing enrichment by hand. Bespoke fibrous mouldings can be cast off site where larger sections are lost.
Tadelakt is the traditional waterproof lime plaster and suits showers, wet rooms and bath surrounds when correctly detailed. Microcement is a seamless, joint-free alternative for floors and wet rooms. Venetian plaster and Marmorino suit bathroom walls away from direct water once waxed.
Yes. Our team installs below-ground waterproofing ahead of the finish and then plasters the space, so there is no gap between trades. At Lancaster Gate we brought 13 basement vaults back into use with structural waterproofing, render and screed.
Yes. We work within building rules and permitted hours, protect common parts and lifts, and sequence work room by room in occupied homes, protecting floors, joinery, fireplaces and surviving plasterwork throughout.
Get in Touch
Discuss your Chelsea project
Send us drawings, a finishes schedule or photographs and we will advise on the right specification. Call 07854 393865 or email choicefinishesltd@gmail.com. We typically respond within one business day.
Get a QuoteCall 07854 393865