Tips for creative plastering work

When design­ing the interi­or of their homes, many house­build­ers and ren­ov­at­ors take a hands-on approach and are happy to wield a brush and trow­el them­selves. Our expert explains how plasters can be used to cre­ate a beau­ti­ful ambi­ence and gives advice on which product to choose.

Tip 1: Create your own room style

With plasters, you can not only give facades a face, but also effect­ively design the walls inside your home. Wheth­er smooth or tex­tured, white or colored, matte or glossy, wheth­er liv­ing or din­ing room, bed­room, chil­dren’s room or bath­room – every room offers count­less pos­sib­il­it­ies for cre­at­ively styl­ing walls and ceil­ings with plasters. You can even go all the way and use the refined Vene­tian plaster tech­nique with its marble effects. Let your ima­gin­a­tion run wild – there are vir­tu­ally no lim­its. How­ever, when design­ing a room, less is some­times more. For example, not every room should be plastered in a dif­fer­ent col­or – the effect may be too gaudy. It is also advis­able to choose a uni­form sur­face fin­ish. This not only con­nects the rooms, but also makes it easi­er to do the work your­self.

Tip 2: Test your own skills with a dispersion plaster

Plas­ter­ing work can def­in­itely be done by an exper­i­enced do-it-your­­selfer. For this pur­pose, it is recom­men­ded to use a dis­per­sion plaster. Its high flex­ib­il­ity pre­vents crack­ing or spalling – even when room tem­per­at­ures and humid­ity levels fluc­tu­ate sig­ni­fic­antly. Altern­at­ively, a spe­cial dis­per­sion plaster can be used that con­tains min­er­al ingredi­ents. There are, for instance, products that have been mixed with silic­ates and sil­ic­ones, some of which are open to dif­fu­sion. This means they can absorb and release mois­ture from ambi­ent air. If you’re not sure wheth­er your plas­ter­ing skills are suf­fi­cient, get your­self a buck­et, a trow­el and a float, go down to the cel­lar and mix the plaster there. You can also use a paste-like product that is imme­di­ately ready for use. Choose a cel­lar wall where you can try out your skills and test the desired applic­a­tion tech­nique and sur­face fin­ish. After­wards, you can still decide wheth­er it might be bet­ter to hire a pro­fes­sion­al for plas­ter­ing your liv­ing space.