Our Specialisms
Polished Plaster in Marylebone
Marylebone is a neighbourhood of contrasts within a few streets. Georgian terraces line Harley Street, Wimpole Street and the squares around Manchester Square, Montagu Square, Bryanston Square and Dorset Square. Red-brick mansion blocks fill the streets either side of Baker Street and Marylebone Road. And Marylebone High Street and Chiltern Street are full of restaurants, shops and boutique hotels. Choice Finishes applies Venetian plaster, Marmorino, grassello and Tadelakt across all three types of building. Explore all our finishes for polished plaster in London.
Finishes: Venetian plaster · Marmorino · Tadelakt · Microcement
Venetian Plaster — Lucido
Mansion flats
Marylebone's mansion flats are well proportioned but often dark in the inner rooms and corridors. A light-toned Venetian plaster with a gentle sheen catches whatever light is available and carries it along a corridor far better than flat paint. In a mansion flat refurbishment, the hallway, the principal reception room and the main bathroom are usually where polished plaster makes the biggest difference. Because these buildings are managed, we plan around building rules and access, protect common parts and keep noisy preparation to agreed hours.
Georgian townhouses
On the Portman and Howard de Walden estates, many Georgian houses are listed and some are used as homes, offices or consulting rooms. Where original features survive, we protect cornices, joinery and fireplaces, and our heritage plasterers can repair lime plaster and mouldings before any decorative finish is applied. For formal rooms we often recommend a satin Marmorino or a burnished grassello, which sit comfortably within period proportions. In a consulting room or reception area, a durable sealed finish gives a calm, professional surface that wears well.
Restaurants, cafés and boutique hotels
Marylebone's restaurants often aim for an interior that feels established rather than newly fitted out. That was exactly the brief at Balthazar in Covent Garden, a Parisian-style brasserie designed to look as though it had been on its site for a century. We worked from the design team's mood boards and reference photographs to build a specialist artisan plaster finish with hand-applied tonal glazes, working in sample panels first and varying the technique so that no two walls read the same. You can read about it in our Balthazar case study. At The Ivy Market Grill we used a Marmorino base with a bespoke distemper wash for a similar faded-elegance effect. For hospitality work we seal finishes to suit high-footfall commercial use.
Ceilings and feature walls
A polished plaster ceiling can be striking in a Marylebone restaurant dining room or the double-height entrance of a townhouse. It is more demanding than a wall because the work is overhead and every change in plane shows, so the preparation has to be exact. For feature walls, Lucido gives the highest polish, close to a mirror sheen, and suits bars, reception desks and alcoves. Spatulata offers a looser, hand-worked texture.
Bathrooms and powder rooms
For showers and wet rooms we recommend Tadelakt, the traditional waterproof lime plaster, when correctly detailed. Waxed Venetian plaster or Marmorino is ideal for powder rooms and cloakrooms, including those in restaurants, and for bathroom walls away from direct water. Microcement is an option for seamless floors.
Plastering across Marylebone
Polished plaster is one part of what we do here. Our Marylebone area page covers our cornice restoration, lime plastering and rendering work across the area's squares and mixed-use streets.
Polished plaster in Marylebone: frequently asked questions
Yes. It is a quiet wet trade once the preparation is done, which suits managed buildings. We protect common parts, work to building rules and sequence the job room by room.
Yes. At Balthazar we built a specialist artisan finish with hand-applied tonal glazes, and at The Ivy Market Grill we applied a distemper wash over Marmorino. We agree the look on sample panels before scaling up.
Lime-based finishes such as Marmorino and grassello are generally well suited to period buildings. We protect original features and can repair lime plaster and cornices first. In listed buildings the specification should be agreed with your architect or conservation officer.
Get in Touch
Planning a Marylebone fit-out or refurbishment?
Send us your drawings, finishes schedule or photographs and we will advise on the right system, arrange sampling and give a fixed quote. Call 07854 393865 or email choicefinishesltd@gmail.com.