Travertino and Intonachino.

Everything else in our lime range is compressed smooth. These two are not. They are the same aged lime and marble as Marmorino, with a larger grain and a second coat that is worked while it is still soft, so the finish has relief as well as colour. Light falls across them rather than into them. They suit exteriors, large walls, stairwells and anywhere a dead-flat surface would feel too polite and because the texture hides the hand, they are also the most forgiving lime finishes we install on a wall that is less than flat.

Travertino

A one-millimetre marble grain, applied in two coats to about two millimetres, then scraped while fresh at a steep angle to the wall in one direction, horizontal or vertical, before the raised grain is softened back once the plaster starts to set. The result is the banded, pitted surface of cut travertine stone. Two versions. Travertino Natural comes a pale golden beige from the tub and carries that warmth into any colour added to it; it is the one for a stone look. Travertino White is a neutral base and takes any colour cleanly, which is the one for chalky whites and cool greys. Variations on the method give horizontal grooves glazed over for a Roman look, vertical grooves for a Tuscan one, mica for a fine sparkle or a scatter of dark grains for a salt-and-pepper surface.

Intonachino

A finer tool. Two coats at least a day apart and the second worked a few minutes after it goes on. A dry sponge float gives an even, uniform tooth, which is the understated finish most people choose. A wet float gives a soft chiaroscuro where the wetter areas dry lighter. A tilted steel trowel moved in changing directions gives a pitted surface; a flat plastic trowel in circles gives a rustic one. The fine grain is 0.7 mm and the medium 1.2 mm and the medium takes the pitted and rustic textures better. Around two millimetres finished, like Travertino.

Inside and out

Both are made for exterior walls as well as interiors, which is unusual in a decorative lime and worth having. Outside they need what any lime needs: a wall with at least a modest overhang, no heavy rain for three days after application, no frost for two, no hot wind while they cure and shade cloth on the scaffold in summer. The surface carbonates in hours; the depth takes weeks and outside more than a month, during which a soaking can mark it. A breathable mineral water-repellent is brushed on after three days wherever the wall faces weather or a polluted street and it stops the temporary darkening after rain.

Protection and care

Inside, a textured lime in a living room or hallway needs nothing on it at all. On a bathroom or kitchen wall, or behind a basin, it takes the same penetrating mineral water-repellent as outside, two brushed coats, which is invisible and keeps the wall vapour-open. These finishes are not for the wet zone itself; for a shower wall the answer is Tadelakt or microcement. Care is a soft brush for dust now and then. Texture holds dust where a smooth wall does not, which is the one thing worth knowing before you put Travertino in a room with an open fire.

Colour

Pigmented in the studio with lime-compatible colour and confirmed on a sample panel in your own light. Texture changes colour: the same mix reads darker in the pits and lighter on the high points, so a textured lime always looks a shade more varied than the swatch. On Travertino Natural the golden base shifts every colour warm, which is why we make the panel before we quote the room.