Limewash walls you will love in every light
Soft, cloudy color that shifts from your first coffee to the last lamp you turn off.
Talk with Greg or Gabriel now, until 10 p.m. Text us any time. Greg or Gabriel will reply first thing in the morning.
Limewash walls for homes
Limewash painters for homes north of Indianapolis
Limewash painters for homes
Limewash for brick and stone, inside and out
Limewash brick and stone for homes
A transparent wash that calms busy brick or stone and lets its character show through.
Book a free consultation
Text us a photo of your brick or stone
How much do limewash walls cost?
Limewash gives walls soft, cloudy color that drifts with the light all day, brushed by hand onto interior walls and ceilings in homes north of Indianapolis. Limewash walls are an investment from about $5 per square foot in simple rooms with 8- to 9-foot ceilings and walls in decent shape; a 12-by-14-foot bedroom runs about $1,900.
Limewash, up close
Our own work, in Indiana homes.
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Cypress Ink limewash kitchen with a cream marble backsplash, Zionsville
A kitchen in soft gray-green Cypress Ink limewash, above a backsplash of polished cream marble with no grout lines. The same home has an oxblood bedroom and a lavender bathroom.
Cypress Ink above the cream marble 
The cream marble backsplash Along the way
The limewash going on, in the same home 
Halfway across another wall -
Stone-texture cabinets and shelves with a Cypress Ink limewash wall, Geist
Designed during the free consultation: ready-made floating cabinets and shelves plastered to read as natural stone, a Cypress Ink limewash wall, and natural oak acoustic panels we installed to complete the room. The same home has a Ponderosa clay wall, a Marmorino ceiling, and a play area with boards in the plaster.
The wall, the cabinets, and the oak 
The whole room, the clay wall beyond 
Up close: cabinets that read as stone 
Up close: Cypress Ink Along the way
Scaffolding to the peak 
The limewash going on, high on the wall 
Two stories up, cutting in at the ceiling 
A clean line at the ceiling, by hand 
Laying out the wall below the TV 
A cabinet taking its stone coat
Why the brush matters
Limewash is brushed, never rolled. The feathered tips of the brush drag the lime across the wall and leave countless small shifts in depth, a chalky, velvet mottling that drifts like clouds. In a practiced hand it moves evenly from corner to corner; in a beginner’s, it turns patchy.
Limewash ceilings and color-drenched rooms
Carry limewash across the ceiling, and the whole room is drenched in one color, calm by day and enveloping by lamplight. Or start smaller, with a limewash accent wall or a limewash fireplace.
Limewash over brick and stone
Brick or stone whose colors fight each other, or whose color you no longer love, can change without losing its character. A transparent limewash lets just enough of the old color through to keep the variation and beauty of the masonry, and calms the rest into something cohesive and modern. We limewash brick and stone fireplaces, walls, house exteriors, and even patios.
Ways to finish your walls
Tips from the studio
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Brush and trowel leave different marks
Limewash is brushed: feathered strokes leave soft, cloudy depth. Clay and plaster are troweled: steel leaves crisper lines, layered into patterns. Both look even only in a practiced hand.
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Warm bulbs for mineral walls
Lime and clay glow under warm white light, the kind marked 2700K on the box. Cold, blue-white bulbs drain them, and warm colors turn gray. Change the bulbs before you judge a color at night.
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Limewash ages gracefully
Limewash softens and gains character over the years, like the walls of an old Mediterranean village. When you want it fresh, a light new coat is enough; there is nothing to strip.
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Caring for limewash
Dust limewash with a soft, dry cloth, and lift a mark with a damp sponge and a light hand, never a scrub. Over the years it gains a soft patina that only adds to its character.
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Try a finish on one wall first
Unsure about a whole room? Finish one accent wall and live with it for a season, through bright mornings and winter evenings. Then decide on the rest.
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Why first attempts look patchy
A beginner’s wall often shows skips, hard lines, and patches with different patterns, because the hand changes rhythm as it tires. One even, beautiful movement across a whole wall takes years.
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Carry the finish onto the ceiling
When you love a finish on the walls, take it up and over. A plaster or clay ceiling wraps the room and softens every lamp beneath it.
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Sunny rooms and deep colors
Lime and clay take their color from mineral pigments, which hold up well in strong sun. A south-facing room can carry a deep color without it washing out.
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Plants love a mineral wall
Green leaves against limewash or clay look painted by the light. Put your best plant where side light falls across a textured wall.
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A finish behind your art
A softly mottled limewash or clay wall gives paintings depth behind them, the way museums hang art on colored walls. Art looks richer against movement than against flat white.
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Stencil one shade apart
A stencil in limewash on limewash, one shade lighter or darker, reads as a whisper rather than a pattern, found only when the light turns.
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Let a little imperfection in
A wall with gentle movement rests the eye in a way flat paint cannot. If that idea speaks to you, read about wabi-sabi walls.
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Wood and lime belong together
Natural oak, walnut, and cane beside a mineral wall feel calm and grounded: two natural materials that soften each other.
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Lime breathes in a steamy bathroom
Lime lets moisture pass through instead of trapping it, which suits a bathroom. Ventilation still matters, and near the shower we seal it or switch to tadelakt or microcement.
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Quiet a tall room
Oak slat acoustic panels beside a limewash wall soften the echo of a tall room, and the warmth of the wood answers the warmth of the lime.
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Wet walls look darker
Lime and clay dry lighter than they look while wet, and can take a few days to show their true color. Judge the color once the wall is dry.
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Treat the ceiling as the fifth wall
A ceiling a shade lighter than the walls lifts a low room. A deep one brings a tall room down to a human scale and makes a large space feel intimate.
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Choose a dark made for mineral walls
Deep colors are the hardest to get right in lime. The Turn, our own collection, is built around its darks, so a moody room starts from colors made for limewash and plaster.
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Know which way your light comes
North light is cool and steady, south light warm and changing, and west light turns golden at dusk. Choose color in the light the room actually gets.
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Walk through it twice
See the finished room twice: once in daylight, once in the evening with your lamps on. A mineral wall has two characters, and you should love both.
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Practicing at home? Start on boards
If you want to try limewash yourself, practice on boards before a wall, and read what doing it yourself really takes. A closet or a laundry room is a kind place to learn.
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Judge a color on your wall, never on a chip
A chip under store lights tells you little. We look at real samples on your walls in the morning and the evening, because north and south light can make one color two.
What you can count on, in writing
- What we quote is what you pay.
- Greg or Gabriel is on every job and answers your call.
- Every project carries a five-year workmanship guarantee.
- Under our Change-of-Heart Guarantee, if you dislike a mineral finish within 30 days, we repaint the wall at no charge.
The investment in limewash walls
Your free consultation ends with one fixed quote, in writing.
| Limewash walls | from about $5 per sq ft of wall |
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| One wall in limewash or clay | from $500 |
| Whole-home finishes | typically $10,000–$50,000 |
What shapes your investment
- Wall condition and repairs
- Ceiling height, ladders, and scaffolding
- Ceilings and hard-to-reach surfaces
- Outlets, crevices, and tight corners a trowel can barely reach
- Niches, curves, and returns
- Which stone we reproduce, and in how much detail
- Framing for mantels and built-ins
- Small projects, which carry a minimum
- Rush schedules and overnight work
Estimate a room
Questions about limewash
What is limewash?
Limewash is a matte, breathable mineral finish that gives walls and ceilings soft, cloudy color and a chalky, velvet surface. We use San Marco, Color Atelier, Portola, Bauwerk, James Alexander, or Romabio limewash.
How is limewash different from paint?
Paint sits on the wall and reflects light; limewash holds it, so its color shifts through the day, from morning light to lamplight, and it softens with age into a gentle patina.
Why do some limewash walls look patchy?
Usually because the hand changed rhythm. Limewash has to be brushed while its edge is still wet, with strokes that cross and feather; stop halfway, or lay a stroke over a drying edge, and hard lines and patches of a different pattern appear. An even, cloudy movement across a whole wall comes from experience, which is the first thing to look for in a limewash painter.
Can you paint over limewash?
Yes. We level the wall’s texture and repaint it. Within 30 days of completion, the Change-of-Heart Guarantee covers that at no charge.
Can limewash go in a kitchen or bathroom?
Yes, on kitchen walls and in powder rooms. Like Roman clay, limewash is not waterproof on its own, so it belongs where water does not splash it. A protective coat or a special formulation can help, but a coat can wear or be damaged by cleaning and let water through, so it needs gentle cleaning and an occasional new coat. Where water does reach the wall, as on a backsplash or in a shower, a different finish is the better idea: microcement or tadelakt.
Can you limewash brick or stone?
Yes, inside and out, patios included. A transparent limewash changes the color and calms busy contrast while the character of the brick or stone shows through. We see the masonry in person before we quote it.
Is limewash easy to apply yourself?
It is the easiest of these finishes to learn. Use the primer the maker specifies, practice on boards, keep the edge wet, and expect your first wall to teach you a lot. Before you start, read what DIY limewash really takes.
Tell us which room you are picturing
Greg or Gabriel replies today, or by the next business day.
Prefer to talk? Call or text (317) 795-6378.
Thank you
What happens next
- We reply today, or by the next business day at the latest, to check your dates and set a time for our visit.
- We visit with samples in the colors and textures you like.
- You receive one fixed quote, in writing.
Before we visit, gather two or three photographs of looks you love, and keep any fabric, tile, or stone you want us to match nearby.
To speed things up, text us a photo of the space.
Greg and Gabriel