Plaster Finishes, Murals & Sculptural Walls | Designing the Perfect Backdrop

Hi friends,

We’ve been working on such a mix of projects lately—murals, sculptural walls, plaster, furniture, lighting… even exterior finishes. It’s honestly one of my favorite parts of what we do—no two homes feel the same.

Different homes, different styles… and the same materials and tones can feel completely different depending on how they’re used.

Like this home, where we used layered gray plaster over planking—softening it to feel more refined and architectural—and carried it into a SegretoStone™ sink, using a different plaster system designed for durability.

And this one, where we embedded mirror into a gray plaster to create a much more dramatic effect.

But interestingly, the same idea keeps coming up.

Impact doesn’t always have to be bold.

It needs to be considered—taking into account everything going into the space and how the home flows.

The backdrop of a space is often overlooked, but it’s actually what defines everything.

Before the furniture goes in, before lighting, before all the layers… it’s the walls. The surfaces. That’s what sets the tone.

And sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is not make it the star. That’s where plaster comes in—bringing warmth and a quiet depth to drywall surfaces, enhancing everything else in the room.

And then there are moments where we do the opposite—where the finish becomes the feature.

A dramatic plaster finish that shifts the entire feel of a space.

A mural that becomes the moment everything else responds to.

Or a sculptural wall that brings depth where there wasn’t any before.

We are working on a project where we explored the same sculptural relief in a few different tones—and it changed the entire feeling of the piece. The same design can read so differently depending on color and finish.

It’s a good reminder—you don’t always need a new design. Sometimes just a shift in color or finish can completely change the outcome.

The key is determining how you want the room to feel—and the composition and color palette that support it.

Right next to that, we’re usually pulling things back.

Soft plaster walls.

Quiet finishes.

The kind that don’t compete—but make everything else look better, like this example where the plaster ceiling enhances the linen walls with brass inlay details.

That balance is what makes a space feel right.

One of the most challenging things we do is create a durable finish that looks like nothing has been done at all.

Toning natural wood so it reads the same after it’s sealed—when sealers usually change the color completely—isn’t easy.

And some of the biggest transformations we see aren’t about changing materials.

Same brick. Same stone.

Just softened, toned, and rebalanced through limewashing. It can completely shift the feeling of a home without replacing a thing. Sometimes it’s about working thoughtfully with materials to achieve the right look.

In this case, solid stone would have been extremely heavy, so the base and underside of the window were built from a lighter substrate instead. We then hand-painted the ribs and detailing to read as authentic carved stone.

In an authentic English Tudor like this, it was important that it felt true to the architecture—a finish so believable most people would never realize it wasn’t solid stone.

It’s a good reminder-you don’t always need to start over to get to something beautiful.

Then there are the small things.

Details that don’t interrupt—painted vents, plates, and plugs…

In this room, the molding phrases were hand-painted onto the trim to coordinate with the wallpapered ceiling, while the vents and light cans were painted to blend into the pattern from every angle.

These are often the touches people don’t immediately notice—but they’re what make a space feel complete.

Or a subtle metallic detail that quietly refines cabinetry.

In this case, we used a gold leaf paint carefully matched to the hardware, though in other applications we may use genuine gold or metal leaf depending on the effect we’re after.

These quieter elements are often what bring cohesion to a space.

At the end of the day, we keep coming back to the same idea:

Something should stand out—whether it’s art, fabrics, stone, or finishes—and everything around it should support it.

In this room, the plaster acts as a quieter backdrop, allowing the eclectic mix of sculptural and modern pieces to feel layered, balanced, and collected.

That’s really the work.

In this space, the mural conceals a hidden passage door while the plaster ceiling, SegretoStone™ table, and sculptural plaster bowl all work together to create layers without competing for attention.

Not just creating impact—

but making sure everything works together and belongs.