Why the whole house is finished in lime
Lime plaster is older than cement, softer than paint, and the reason a wall by the sea can breathe. A note on the finish you will feel the moment you walk in.
People ask, often on the first evening, why the walls feel the way they do — warm, a little uneven, matte in some places and burnished to a low shine in others. The answer is lime.
An old material, for a good reason
Lime plaster is what buildings were finished in for the two thousand years before cement. You slake quicklime into a putty, mix it with sand and a little marble dust, and trowel it onto the wall in thin coats. As it dries it takes carbon dioxide back out of the air and slowly turns to stone again — the wall you lean on is, quite literally, setting for years after it goes up.
Near the sea that matters. Lime is breathable: it lets damp move through and out rather than trapping it behind a skin of modern paint, which is why the old coastal houses that kept their lime are the ones still standing straight.
Burnished, or left as wash
We finish the house two ways. Most walls are a lime wash — matte, chalky, the colour of the rose sand it is made from. The bathrooms, and one wall in every bedroom, are tadelakt: the same lime, pressed and polished with a river stone while it is still green until it turns waterproof and takes a soft sheen.
You can tell them apart with your eyes closed. The wash is dry and cool; the burnished lime is smooth and holds the warmth of the room. It is the single thing guests write to us about most, and it costs nothing but the hours it takes to do by hand.